Robust decision making for agile systems development Part 1: exploring the paradigm

The need for agility in operational systems within the defence enterprise and procurement domains has been identified by many authors, and over time, there have been a number of initiatives and programmes that have sought to identify the nature of agility, and the means by which it can be defined and employed within individual cases and scenarios. These have identified impediments to the successful realization of agile practices and methods, particularly the resilience of agile decision making throughout the conceptual understanding, design and implementation of the operational system. To further investigate the extent to which this process can be implemented in a robust and reliable manner, Cranfield University created the ‘Robust Enterprise-based Approach for Agility in Capability Through-life (REA2CT)’ framework, which provides a number of functional steps to institute a systems development lifecycle approach to producing agile solutions for use in networked systems and systems-of-systems. This paper briefly examines the Customer Need (CN) for the enterprise-based delivery of system (of systems) agility into the operational domain. Axiomatic Design (AD) theory is used to describe the REA2CT framework, identifying Functional Requirements (FRs) which might satisfy the CN for agility. Initial Design Parameters (DPs) are proposed to satisfy the FRs

Lean Manufacturing Tools Applied to Human Resource Management and its Impact on Social Sustainability

This research reports a structural equation model relating Lean Manufacturing Tools associated with Human Resource Management to the benefits obtained in the maquiladora industry of Ciudad Juarez (México). A questionnaire is designed and applied to the regional industry to obtain information about the implementation levels regarding the A3 problem-solving: Decentralization and Multifunctional Working Groups and their relationship with Social Sustainability. The variables are related through six hypotheses validated with empirical information from 411 responses to the questionnaire, giving statistical validation. After quantifying the relationships, findings indicate that the relationship between Multifunctional Working Groups and A3 problem-solving is the strongest of the model. It is concluded that there is enough statistical evidence to state that these tools influence the Social Sustainability in Mexican maquiladora industries, so it is recommended that the Top Management focus its efforts on Human Resource Management to guarantee it, facilitating decision-making in the productive, reducing labor risks and increasing well-being.Esta investigación analiza un modelo de ecuacio-nes estructurales que relaciona las herramientas de manufactura esbelta asociadas a la gestión de Recursos Humanos con los be-neficios obtenidos en la industria maquiladora de Ciudad Juárez (México). Se diseña y aplica un cuestionario a la industria regional para obtener información acerca de los niveles de implementación respecto de la solución de problemas A3: descentralización y gru-pos de trabajo multifuncionales y su relación con la sustentabilidad social. Las variables se relacionan a través de seis hipótesis valida-das con información empírica de 411 respuestas al cuestionario, otorgando validación estadística. Tras cuantificar las relaciones, los resultados indican que la relación entre los grupos de trabajo multifuncionales y la resolución de problemas A3 es la más fuerte del modelo. Se concluye que existe suficiente evidencia estadística para afirmar que estas herramientas influyen en la sustentabili-dad social en las industrias maquiladoras mexicanas, por lo que se recomienda a la dirección enfocar sus esfuerzos en la gestión de Recursos Humanos para garantizar la sustentabilidad social, facilitando la toma de decisiones en lo productivo, reduciendo los riesgos laborales e incrementando el bienestar

Teamworking under Lean in UK public services: lean teams and team targets in Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

The authors of The Machine that Changed the World were in no doubt about the importance of teamworking in lean production: ‘in the end’, they say [Womack, J., Jones, D, & Roos, D. (1990). The machine that changed the world. New York: Rawson Associates, p. 99], ‘it is the dynamic work team that emerges as the heart of the lean factory’. It is with this bold statement in mind that we seek to explore and develop our conceptual and practical understanding of how teamworking operates under Lean. We examine these issues in the context of a high-profile case of Lean implementation in the UK public sector, the Pacesetter programme of the UK's tax assessment and collection service, Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC). We find that although the teams themselves were ostensibly set up on a lean basis, they were largely unable to operate as such as a result of the pressures they faced to meet their work targets. The operation of the teams thus retained, and was shaped by, characteristics of the pre-existing ‘target-based’ mode of teamworking. This, in turn, suggests particular ways in which we might better understand how Lean interacts with the context or environment into which it is introduced. These findings also to some degree run counter to the overwhelmingly negative account of Lean put forward in other recent studies of HMRC [e.g. Carter, B., Danford, A., Howcroft, D., Richardson, H., Smith, A., & Taylor, P. (2013a). Taxing times: Lean working and the creation of (in)efficiencies in HM Revenue and Customs. Public Administration, 91, 83–97]

Low NOx heavy fuel combustor concept program

A total of twelve low NOx combustor configurations, embodying three different combustion concepts, were designed and fabricated as modular units. These configurations were evaluated experimentally for exhaust emission levels and for mechanical integrity. Emissions data were obtained in depth on two of the configurations

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

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

Evaluation of the relation between lean manufacturing, industry 4.0, and sustainability

Nowadays, Lean Manufacturing, Industry 4.0, and Sustainability are important concerns for the companies and in a general way for the society, principally, the influence of the two production philosophies, Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, in the three main pillars of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social. According to the literature review done in this work, these relations are not well known and are dispersed by different sustainability’s criteria. To address this gap, this research proposes a structural equation model, with six hypotheses, to quantitatively measure the effects of Lean Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, in Sustainability. To statistically validate such hypotheses, we collected 252 valid questionnaires from industrial companies of Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain). Results show that: (1) it is not conclusive that Lean Manufacturing is correlated with any of the sustainability pillars; and (2) Industry 4.0 shows a strong correlation with the three sustainability pillars. These results can contribute as an important decision support for the industrial companies and its stakeholders, even because not all the results are in line with other opinions and studies.This work has been supported by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Projects Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019, and UID/615/2019. Moreover, the authors thank the 2100 Projects Association for the monetary support to develop this study, the three experts that contributed for survey validation, and also the enriching improvement suggestions of the Journal reviewers.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Agile and Lean Systems Engineering: Kanban in Systems Engineering

This is the 2nd of two reports that were created for research on this topic funded through SERC. The first report, SERC-TR-032-1 dated March 13, 2012, constituted the 2011-2012 Annual Technical Report and the Final Technical Report of the SERC Research Task RT-6: Software Intensive Systems Data Quality and Estimation Research In Support of Future Defense Cost Analysis. The overall objectives of RT-6 were to use data submitted to DoD in the Software Resources Data Report (SRDR) forms to provide guidance for DoD projects in estimating software costs for future DoD projects. In analyzing the data, the project found variances in productivity data that made such SRDR-based estimates highly variable. The project then performed additional analyses that provided better bases of estimate, but also identified ambiguities in the SRDR data definitions that enabled the project to help the DoD DCARC organization to develop better SRDR data definitions. In SERC-TR-2012-032-1, the resulting Manual provided the guidance elements for software cost estimation performers and users. Several appendices provide further related information on acronyms, sizing, nomograms, work breakdown structures, and references. SERC-TR-2013-032-2 (current report), included the “Software Cost Estimation Metrics Manual.” This constitutes the 2012-2013 Annual Technical Report and the Final Technical Report of the SERC Research Task Order 0024, RT-6: Software Intensive Systems Cost and Schedule Estimation Estimating the cost to develop a software application is different from almost any other manufacturing process. In other manufacturing disciplines, the product is developed once and replicated many times using physical processes. Replication improves physical process productivity (duplicate machines produce more items faster), reduces learning curve effects on people and spreads unit cost over many items. Whereas a software application is a single production item, i.e. every application is unique. The only physical processes are the documentation of ideas, their translation into computer instructions and their validation and verification. Production productivity reduces, not increases, when more people are employed to develop the software application. Savings through replication are only realized in the development processes and on the learning curve effects on the management and technical staff. Unit cost is not reduced by creating the software application over and over again. This manual helps analysts and decision makers develop accurate, easy and quick software cost estimates for different operating environments such as ground, shipboard, air and space. It was developed by the Air Force Cost Analysis Agency (AFCAA) in conjunction with DoD Service Cost Agencies, and assisted by the SERC through involving the University of Southern California and the Naval Postgraduate School. The intent is to improve quality and consistency of estimating methods across cost agencies and program offices through guidance, standardization, and knowledge sharing. The manual consists of chapters on metric definitions, e.g., what is meant by equivalent lines of code, examples of metric definitions from commercially available cost models, the data collection and repository form, guidelines for preparing the data for analysis, analysis results, cost estimating relationships found in the data, productivity benchmarks, future cost estimation challenges and a very large appendix.SERCU.S. Department of DefenseSystems Engineering Research Center (SERC)Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) Contract H98230-08-D-0171

A Framework For Sustaining Lean Thinking With Systems Thinking In Malaysian Aerospace Companies

The purpose of this study is to explore how lean thinking can be sustained with systems thinking in Malaysian aerospace companies.Literature indicated that various companies failed to achieve full lean benefit.Lean has been treated as a piecemeal and should be viewed as a system.Systems thinking is an approach that sees the organization as a system that consists of interacted elements and subsystems.The study started with investigating the status of lean,the challenges encountered by the companies when practicing lean,the extent existence of systems thinking traits and to what extent the companies exhibit a learning organization. Conceptually,this study is framed within lean principles, two approaches of systems thinking with learning organization as the foundation.This study adopted qualitative multiple case study as the methodology.Three main steps in the case study protocol were followed.The data was collected through semi-structured interviews of sixteen respondents from four different companies in the aerospace industry.Thematic analysis was conducted for every case study together with the cross-case analysis. The results of this study verified that all companies faced resistance from the employees.However,there is evidence of lack of commitment from the top management and the influence of culture in the local companies.The research also confirmed that all the respondents acquired the basic systems thinking traits and the companies exhibited some characteristics of a learning organization.A framework was developed for sustaining lean thinking with systems thinking.This framework served as the foundation for enhancing the performance of lean aerospace companies.The output of this study contributed to the realization of Malaysian aerospace industry in becoming the number one in South East Asia (SEA) for parts and components sourcing before 2030

A Methodological Framework for Analysis and Theorization of Circular Supply Chain at the System Context Level

Circular Economy concept (CE) revolves aims enhancing resource efficiency through product lifecycle in technical or biological cycles. The former aims to enhance resource efficiency through waste reduction, recycling, reuse, reducing material consumption, and so on. While in the latter, biodegradable materials are returned to earth through processes like composting. There is a lack of comprehensive theorization of CE concept, when focus is supply chain management/value regeneration at technical cycle. Such a lack and consequently a generic understanding can hinder realizing the full potential of CE. This research aims to propose a theorization of CE in the technical cycle through a supply chain management lens. To this end, the systems engineering approach and life cycle assessment (LCA) are integrated to analyse and theorize the circular supply chain/value regeneration. This paper proposed the novel perspective of supply chain as a system of systems (SoS), which allows identifying the enablers, players, and interactions that influence the realization of CE by implementing its known R-strategies. This paper suggested modification of the existing functional unit definition in LCA method such that the proposed definition takes into account the dynamic/evolving boundary of a supply chain when integrating the R-strategies. Moreover, this paper proposed the 'CE system context' for the supply chain SoS. The proposed structured approach allows the development of the Supply chain SoS within its CE context (Supply Chain SoS-CE context). Certain measures are introduced to assess the effectiveness of integrating R-strategies assuring they contribute to CE realization while network theory concepts are used to assess the criticality of various players in Supply Chain SoS-CE context. A roadmap for development of 'Supply Chain SoS-CE context' is introduced in the light of Industry 4.0