Benefits of Implementing Lean Practices and the Impact of the Lean Aerospace Initiative in the Defense Aerospace Industry and Government Agencies

In the 1980’s, many United States industrial organizations started developing new production processes to improve quality, reduce cost, and better respond to customer needs and the pressures of global competition. This new paradigm was coined Lean Production (or simply “Lean”) in the book The Machine That Changed The World published in 1990 by researchers from MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program. In 1993, a consortium of US defense aerospace firms and the USAF Aeronautical Systems Center, together with the AFRL Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, started the Lean Aircraft Initiative (LAI) at MIT. With expansion in 1998 to include government space products, the program was renamed the Lean Aerospace Initiative. LAI’s vision is to “Significantly reduce the cost and cycle time for military aerospace products throughout the entire value chain while continuing to improve product performance.” By late 1998, 23 industry and 13 government organizations with paying memberships, along with MIT and the UAW were participating in the LAI.

The Benefits of Re-Evaluating Real-Time Fulfillment Decisions

At the time of a customer order, the e-tailer assigns the order to one or more of its order fulfillment centers, and/or to drop shippers, so as to minimize procurement and transportation costs, based on the available current information. However this assignment is necessarily myopic as it cannot account for all future events, such as subsequent customer orders or inventory replenishments. We examine the potential benefits from periodically re-evaluating these real-time order-assignment decisions. We construct near-optimal heuristics for the re-assignment for a large set of customer orders with the objective to minimize the total number of shipments. We investigate how best to implement these heuristics for a rolling horizon, and discuss the effect of demand correlation, customer order size, and the number of customer orders on the nature of the heuristics. Finally, we present potential saving opportunities by testing the heuristics on sets of order data from a major e-tailer.

An Extension to the Tactical Planning Model for a Job Shop: Continuous-Time Control

We develop an extension to the tactical planning model (TPM) for a job shop by the third author. The TPM is a discrete-time model in which all transitions occur at the start of each time period. The time period must be defined appropriately in order for the model to be meaningful. Each period must be short enough so that a job is unlikely to travel through more than one station in one period. At the same time, the time period needs to be long enough to justify the assumptions of continuous workflow and Markovian job movements. We build an extension to the TPM that overcomes this restriction of period sizing by permitting production control over shorter time intervals. We achieve this by deriving a continuous-time linear control rule for a single station. We then determine the first two moments of the production level and queue length for the workstation.

Logistics Network Design with Differentiated Delivery Lead-Time: Benefits and Insights

Most logistics network design models assume exogenous customer demand that is independent of the service time or level. This paper examines the benefits of segmenting demand according to lead-time sensitivity of customers. To capture lead-time sensitivity in the network design model, we use a facility grouping method to ensure that the different demand classes are satisfied on time. In addition, we perform a series of computational experiments to develop a set of managerial insights for the network design decision making process.

Análisis del caso empresarial: caso estratégico de internacionalización REDCOM Limitada

REDCOM Ltda. Es una compañía especializada en proyectos de alta ingeniería en el sector de las telecomunicaciones. Sector de inigualable crecimiento y un inmenso potencial en el desarrollo de nuevas aplicaciones y soluciones. Por lo tanto REDCOM tiene un campo de acción grande donde debe empezar a dejar a un lado su visión regional para prepararse a ingresar al mercado mundial. El propósito principal del presente trabajo de análisis de la empresa REDCOM, es identificar las fortalezas y determinar las debilidades de la empresa, las cuales serán el punto de estudio para establecer un plan de mejoramiento, con metas a alcanzar en todos los departamentos: Mercadeo, Recursos Humanos, Finanzas, Aseguramiento de la Calidad y Tecnología, consolidadas en un análisis de inversión para llevar a la compañía a un nivel de competencia internacional. Estudios previos indican que REDCOM tiene excelente potencial de exportación, aunque en la actualidad, la empresa carece de la experiencia real de exportación. La meta de este cuerpo de trabajo no solo es demostrar que REDCOM puede lograr expandir su mercado y ser un competidor internacional sino también describir los beneficios que este tipo de expansión le traerá a la compañía. Si REDCOM toma la decisión de aventurarse a expandirse e internacionalizarse, el presente trabajo es una guía importante. La herramienta de diagnóstico que fue creada en la línea de investigación y aplicada en éste proyecto, arrojó un puntaje en cada una de las áreas y en sus sub-ítems a fin de que la compañía pueda medir su efectividad. Además, ésta herramienta de diagnóstico es un gran potencial de ayuda a aquellas compañías locales, nacionales y regionales para ampliar su visión en el mercado mundial.

Planning essays and assignments

This is a 13 min 10 second audio recording produced by the University of Southampton. The podcast is designed to help students develop their skills in planning their academic work in writing assignments and essays. You can choose from an MP3 version or WMA version of this item. A transcript of the audio recording is also provided.

Escenarios del retail en Bogotá

Durante los últimos años el principal motor de la industria es el comercio, esta actividad económica de la ciudad ha permitido un trabajo en conjunto con las empresas productoras que conlleva beneficios y rentabilidad para ambos sectores satisfaciendo las necesidades de los habitantes de la capital. La importancia de la planeación estratégica por escenarios en el comercio al por menor permite un acercamiento sistémico que relata la interacción de este con su entorno, brindando herramientas para la toma decisiones por parte de la alta gerencia de las empresas del Retail en la capital basándose en la identificación de variables claves que permiten la generación de escenarios a futuro por medio de hipótesis.

Planning and presenting research seminars

A presentation on planning and presenting research seminars for SOES 6018. This module aims to ensure that MSc Oceanography, MSc Marine Science, Policy & Law and MSc Marine Resource Management students are equipped with the skills they need to function as professional marine scientists, in addition to / in conjuction with the skills training in other MSc modules. The module covers training in fieldwork techniques, communication & research skills, IT & data analysis and professional development.

Posing the question: an academic guide to planning essays

This guide will give you advice on picking your subject, question and methodology for an extended essay. It will also give you hints and tips on how to research for and structure the essay.

Workshop Planning at WSA

A presentation from 2009 on who to enable staff to plan workshops within the School.

Learning, Teaching and Lesson Planning

This resource was designed for use with MSc Web Scientists as an introduction to a coursework that requires them to produce some teaching materials.