A qualitative mapping and evaluation of an aerospace supply chain strategy

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-56).An effective supply chain is critical to the success of the products and services sold by companies. Companies must have an explicit understanding of what the supply chain strategy is in order to evaluate it. While most organizations have well-documented business strategies, they lack the same for their supply chain strategy. The methodology proposed by Perez-Franco, Singh, and Sheffi (201 1a; 201 1b) is a way to evaluate a supply chain strategy by using interviews, surveys, and discussions. The goal for this project was to test the applicability of the Perez-Franco et al. methodology to the aerospace industry through an applied case. We conducted a qualitative mapping of the supply chain strategy for a specific satellite program in Lockheed Martin Space Systems (LMSS). This thesis research is the first time the methodology has been applied and tested with a company in the aerospace industry. As a whole, LMSS has increased focus on their supply chain, and works to directly align their supply chain with their business objectives. For our case, we selected a specific project within the Space Systems division that lacks an explicitly stated supply chain strategy and has a potential gap with objectives. Through our research, we found that the Perez-Franco et al. methodology is applicable to the aerospace industry. As a result of this case application, we propose and present potential deviations and additions to build upon the methodology that yields interesting insights. The results with LMSS revealed areas of disagreement identified through evaluating themes of support, consistency, and sufficiency. Additionally, the methodology allowed us to conduct a diagnostic of the supply chain strategy against business goals. The primary conclusion in the diagnostic was a perceived conflict between quality and affordability initiatives. This is the key recommendation that the company should investigate further to locate the root cause(s) of the disagreement. Outcomes from this case show that the methodology can be applied to a wide number of industries.by Jonathan Hung and Nicholas Pierce.M.Eng.in Logistic

LAI Whitepaper Series: “Lean Product Development for Practitioners”: Program Management for Large Scale Engineering Programs

The whitepaper begins by introducing the challenges of programs in section 4, proceeds to define program management in section 5 and then gives an overview of existing program management frameworks in section 6. In section 7, we introduce a new program management framework that is tailored towards describing the early program management phases – up to the start of production. This framework is used in section 8 to summarize the relevant LAI research

Project dynamics: An analysis of the purpose and value of system dynamics applied to information technology project management

Project failure in the Information Technology (IT) sector is well documented in the literature; project managers miss their target budgets and schedules more than twice as often as they meet them. Traditional project management methodologies initially developed for the large-scale engineering projects of the 1950’s, while still relevant and useful, are reductionist in nature and are therefore missing a systems approach that concentrates on knowledge creation before, during and after a project. The research presented herein will demonstrate the role of system dynamics in augmenting a project’s control processes, as well as the skill set used by the project manager. Research from a wide variety of projects within the information technology sector will be synthesized, some using system dynamics methodologies, and will serve as the basis to comparatively analyze the value added using this novel project management approach. The project dynamics and lessons learned within will illustrate the complex interactions and feedback structures inherent in all projects, as well as seek to educate project managers on their cause-effect relationships. Furthermore, the research will illustrate problematic project dynamics, using various conceptual models, and suggest the need to integrate system dynamics methodologies for project management into traditional project management processes and bodies of knowledge instead of solely relying on them as a post-mortem tool for project analysis

Program Management for Large Scale Engineering Programs

The goal of this whitepaper is to summarize the LAI research that applies to program management. The context of most of the research discussed in this whitepaper are large-scale engineering programs, particularly in the aerospace & defense sector. The main objective is to make a large number of LAI publications – around 120 – accessible to industry practitioners by grouping them along major program management activities. Our goal is to provide starting points for program managers, program management staff and system engineers to explore the knowledge accumulated by LAI and discover new thoughts and practical guidance for their everyday challenges. The whitepaper begins by introducing the challenges of programs in section 4, proceeds to define program management in section 5 and then gives an overview of existing program management frameworks in section 6. In section 7, we introduce a new program management framework that is tailored towards describing the early program management phases – up to the start of production. This framework is used in section 8 to summarize the relevant LAI research

Issues in NASA program and project management

This volume is the third in an ongoing series on aerospace project management at NASA. Articles in this volume cover the attitude of the program manager, program control and performance measurement, risk management, cost plus award fee contracting, lessons learned from the development of the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrometer (FIRAS), small projects management, and age distribution of NASA scientists and engineers. A section on resources for NASA managers rounds out the publication

Framing the MH17 disaster – more heat than light?

Despite the reductionist analyses produced by politicians and the Fourth Estate, the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was a systems accident – a product of the interactions between the actants that compose the commercial aviation system network-space. As an antidote to reductionism’s ‘fundamental attribution error’, this paper presents a systems-thinking-informed analysis of the MH17 disaster. To this end it draws on Actor-Network Theory and the work of Reason, Toft, Dekker, Hollnagel and other systems-thinking advocates. Whether intentional or not, politicians’ reductionist analyses generated political capital. European Union and American finger-pointing distracted from aviation authorities’ and airlines’ ill-advised routing policies. Russian finger-pointing distracted from that country’s economic dysfunction and adventurism. The risk-management community must redouble its efforts to publicise the benefits of the systems-thinking approach to risk assessment and accident investigation

Workshop Report Air Force/LAI Workshop on Systems Engineering for Robustness

Workshop repor

Managing Knowledge in Project Environments

Projects ought to be vehicles for both practical benefits and organizational learning. However, if an organization is designed for the long term, a project exists only for its duration. Project-based organizations face an awkward dilemma: the project-centric nature of their work makes knowledge management, hence learning, difficult

Issues in NASA program and project management. Special report: 1995 conference

This volume is the tenth in an ongoing series on aerospace project management at NASA. Articles in this volume cover the 1996 Conference as follows: international partnerships; industry/interagency collaboration; technology transfer; and project management development process. A section on resources for NASA managers rounds out the publication

Lessons Learned in Engineering

This Contractor Report (CR) is a compilation of Lessons Learned in approximately 55 years of engineering experience by each James C. Blair, Robert S. Ryan, and Luke A. Schutzenhofer. The lessons are the basis of a course on Lessons Learned that has been taught at Marshall Space Flight Center. The lessons are drawn from NASA space projects and are characterized in terms of generic lessons learned from the project experience, which are further distilled into overarching principles that can be applied to future projects. Included are discussions of the overarching principles followed by a listing of the lessons associated with that principle. The lesson with sub-lessons are stated along with a listing of the project problems the lesson is drawn from, then each problem is illustrated and discussed, with conclusions drawn in terms of Lessons Learned. The purpose of this CR is to provide principles learned from past aerospace experience to help achieve greater success in future programs, and identify application of these principles to space systems design. The problems experienced provide insight into the engineering process and are examples of the subtleties one experiences performing engineering design, manufacturing, and operations