Managing preventative maintenance activities at Intel Corporation

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 51).The work for this thesis was completed at Intel Corporation in Colorado Springs, Colorado at Fab 23, a semiconductor fabrication facility making flash memory. The project focused on evaluating and managing preventative maintenance activities to improve WIP (Work in Progress) management and cycle time. Equipment runs a factory, but effective maintenance of that equipment is often overlooked for improvement efforts due to constrained technical resources. However, preventative maintenance (PM) activities can provide process stability and increased throughput if scheduled and executed efficiently. This thesis evaluates the benefits of coordinating PMs among functional areas and the effectiveness of existing PM practices at a 24 hours per day, 7 days per week facility. Using a WIP model, I show that wait times can be significantly reduced by scheduling PMs on sequential tools at the same time, so WIP only waits once for PMs. Additionally, the goal of an effective maintenance team is to spend more scheduled time maintaining equipment and less time doing unscheduled repairs. A base line of PM performance at Fab 23 is completed showing that they have opportunities to improve their PM processes by learning from other Intel facilities and implementing off-line repairs.by Rebecca Cassler Fearing.M.B.A.S.M

Productivity of Passenger Rail Transportation Services in the Northeast Corridor

Technological changes, capital investment, organizational reforms, and external factors can impact railway productivity. Using non-parametric single-factor and multifactor productivity (SFP and MFP) Törnqvist trans-log index approaches, we evaluated the performance of high-speed rail (HSR) lines in the U.S. during FY 2002-2012. Intercity rail transportation in the NEC experienced considerable yet highly volatile productivity growth during FY 2002-2012, in the range of ~1-3% per year. Amtrak increased its ability to economically exploit the available capacity, but did not perform equally well on the supply side. The NEC became cumulatively 20% more productive on the demand side but only 3% on the supply side of productivity with respect to 2005 levels. Service changes, technical problems with trains, targeted capital investments, and economic recession and recovery were the main drivers of productivity change. The main train services, the Acela Express and Northeast Regional, were very sensitive to external events, had large economies of scale, and implemented slow adjustment of capacity via rolling stock and infrastructure improvements, which varied depending on the service. In the face of ongoing planning efforts, the NEC could consider the resurgence of demand and recent substantial productivity improvements to launch ambitious plans for HSR. Additional ideas of organization and coordination of rail could reveal hidden opportunities for future HSR development