Evaluating Opportunities for Improved Processes and Flow Rates in Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 Reparable Items Supply Chain

This research focuses on improving the F-15 reparable parts supply chain process in the Royal Saudi Air Force. The F-15 reparable parts supply chain process currently requires too much time to repair and return parts which affect the capability of aircraft operational missions. Because the F-15 is the first line of Saudi Arabia s defense, it is essential that they be fully mission ready in the shortest time possible. That can be done by improving relationships, communication, reducing batching before shipments and by efficient use of the available qualified workforces, tools and equipment. Consideration is given to applying an existing management technique to the Royal Saudi Air Force s F-15 supply chain. The selected techniques are supply chain mapping, Lean management approach and gap analysis. The research suggests that those techniques can improve the F-15 supply chain process in the Royal Saudi Air Force

GTTC Future of Ground Testing Meta-Analysis of 20 Documents

National research, development, test, and evaluation ground testing capabilities in the United States are at risk. There is a lack of vision and consensus on what is and will be needed, contributing to a significant threat that ground test capabilities may not be able to meet the national security and industrial needs of the future. To support future decisions, the AIAA Ground Testing Technical Committees (GTTC) Future of Ground Test (FoGT) Working Group selected and reviewed 20 seminal documents related to the application and direction of ground testing. Each document was reviewed, with the content main points collected and organized into sections in the form of a gap analysis current state, future state, major challenges/gaps, and recommendations. This paper includes key findings and selected commentary by an editing team

Development of a relationship management framework and related performance matrics for outsourced aircraft maintenance

Driven by an intensely competitive world, the use of outsourcing is extensive and growing especially in the service business area. Outsourcing provides companies with benefits such as cost reduction and performance enhancement. Despite these advantages, companies need to be aware that successful outsourcing requires an appropriate long term strategy in managing the relationships with their providers. In turn, the providers have to develop collaborative relationships with their customers in order to improve customer satisfaction. Although relationship management of relevance to outsourcing is recognised as an important concept, it has not received attention from both practitioners and researchers, especially with regard to aircraft maintenance outsourcing which is considered to be critical outsourcing associated with high financial and strategic risks. Therefore, the aim of this research study is “to improve aircraft maintenance outsourcing through relationship management”. This research has been divided into three stages to achieve the research aim. The first stage related to an exploration of the key factors for the management of outsourcing relationship, starting with a review of the relevant literature. A multiple case study was then selected to investigate today’s practices of the management of the IT outsourcing relationship, which has similar characteristics to aircraft maintenance outsourcing. A questionnaire survey was also conducted to explore key factors of relationship management for aircraft maintenance outsourcing. With these three sources of evidence, a conclusive finding is that relationship management of relevance to outsourcing comprises six key factors which are clearly defined requirements, agreement, delivery governance, service delivery, performance evaluation and inter-organisational coordination. The second stage focused on exploring how the relationship between an aircraft maintenance provider and an aircraft maintenance customer is managed. The three cases study relationships featuring the four case companies were selected to carry out an in-depth investigation of relationship management for aircraft maintenance outsourcing. The researcher used interview, observation and documentation to collect data from these four case companies. The findings showed that the six key factors identified in the first stage influence the establishment and development of the relationship between the aircraft maintenance provider and customer. Moreover, external factors also have an impact on the way that both parties manage their relationship. The third stage was to develop a proposed approach to performance measurement which is viewed as a key factor of the management of the relationship between an aircraft maintenance provider and an aircraft maintenance customer. The researcher conducted an action research in cooperation with the main subject of this research. The study discovered that the gap model is applicable for performance measurement in aircraft maintenance outsourcing. The improved version of performance measurement model includes new performance metrics that are essential for monitoring the gaps between the provider and customer

A dynamic systems engineering methodology research study. Phase 2: Evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques for applicability to NASA's systems projects

A study of NASA's Systems Management Policy (SMP) concluded that the primary methodology being used by the Mission Operations and Data Systems Directorate and its subordinate, the Networks Division, is very effective. Still some unmet needs were identified. This study involved evaluating methodologies, tools, and techniques with the potential for resolving the previously identified deficiencies. Six preselected methodologies being used by other organizations with similar development problems were studied. The study revealed a wide range of significant differences in structure. Each system had some strengths but none will satisfy all of the needs of the Networks Division. Areas for improvement of the methodology being used by the Networks Division are listed with recommendations for specific action

Does it work? evaluating a new pay system

This report focuses on the evaluation of the impact of new pay systems in large, unionised multi-site organisations by the organisations themselves. Evaluation of the effectiveness of a pay system, however, does not take place in a vacuum and relates to the aims and objectives of the pay system concerned. Moreover, evaluation is not an end in itself. It is, therefore, relevant to consider if any further steps were taken as a result of evaluation. Accordingly our research questions were: • What were the aims and objectives of organisations when introducing new pay arrangements? • What data did organisations collect and review to inform their evaluation? • What steps have organisations taken as a result of their evaluation? We re-appraised our data from 10 NHS trusts in England which had introduced some innovations in pay and grading in the 1990s. Additionally, we looked at seven multi-site unionised organisations outside the NHS in both the public and private sectors, which had recently made changes to their reward systems, carrying out interviews and inspecting documents. The main output is a template for the evaluation of Agenda for Change by NHS organisations

Adaptations in SCOR Based Performance Metrics of Airline Catering Supply Chain during COVID-19 Pandemic

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.Purpose: There is the propensity of airline catering supply chains to adapt their performance measures in order to meet desired service level due to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of metrics for airline catering organisations and explore the choices of SCOR based performance metrics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: Case study approach involving an airline catering supply chain organisation is adopted in this research. The SCOR framework is applied in the context of the case study supply chain to develop a performance metrics model for the chain. The performance metrics model is analysed and validated by a set of experts in the case study organisation. The experts are formed into a focus group. The performance metrics were prioritised using MoSCoW method based on the experience of the focus group participants on COVID-19 challenges. Findings: A hierarchical performance measure framework is proposed, and a set of 55 metrics from the SCOR framework is identified and validated for airline catering supply chains. MoSCoW based prioritisation of the metrics by the focus group participants results in 7 Level-1 SCOR metrics and 13Levels 2 & 3 SCOR metrics been considered as necessary to better mitigate COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Research limitations/implications: This research is based on a single case study and a small number of participants, which limits the generalisability of the results. Practical implications: With the development of performance metrics and the prioritisation presented in this paper, airline catering organisations can monitor their catering logistics performance and use techniques such as MoSCoW to decide performance measures priorities in situations such as theCOVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: The work contributes to measuring performance in the airline catering supply chain and the need for considering adapting performance metrics using techniques such as MoSCoW, during challenging periods as in the COVID-19 pandemic.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Understanding, modeling and improving the development of complex products : method and study

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (p. 90).Development of new aerostructure designs frequently occurs through a complex process that is difficult to understand and control. Tight requirements for weight, cost, strength, and aerodynamic behavior create many interdependencies in the product design, which translate through to the design process. An increasing fragmentation of the commercial aerospace industry has also added a dimension of complexity to the process - outsourced component designs are often interdependent with in-house component designs, resulting in frequently changing requirements for supplier components during the design process. This thesis offers an analysis of the product development processes of a first-tier aerostructures supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. Although this host company provides the context for analysis, the method is meant to be generally applicable to the development of any complex product. The Design Structure Matrix (DSM) methodology is used to capture the required interaction between tasks of the development of a propulsion structure for commercial aircraft. The task times, time variations, work loads, interdependencies, likelihoods of rework, and learning curves are then quantified and applied to a discrete-event Monte Carlo simulation model which outputs probabilistic completion time and workload of the project. The model is then used to show how changing the customer requirements at different points in the development cycle affect the cost and schedule of development.(cont.) The failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is applied to quantify risks and ensure proper control of their likelihoods and consequences A holistic industry-level analysis provides insight into the complexities of developing an interdependent product across multiple organizations. Potential recommendations to improve the development process are outlined. Finally, the "Three Lens" methodology is applied to identify implementation obstacles. This paper builds upon product development process simulation theory by introducing process independent externalities into the model to show how changing customer requirements may impact the cost and schedule of development. It also proposes a new framework for optimal staffing based upon the maturity of the customer requirements. Finally this paper shows that a disintegrated, sections-based design process architecture, like that used for the Boeing 787, is sub-optimal for product development, and it proposes a new architecture for developing aircraft.by Bradley W. Rogers.S.M.M.B.A