Manufacturing variability; effects and characterization through text-mining

Researchers and developers of new materials and processes often underestimate or neglect the effects of manufacturing variability and, as a result, make overly optimistic assumptions about their technologies. In this thesis, I explore the effects of manufacturing variability and find ways to characterize the manufacturing variability of emerging manufacturing processes. I develop a framework that connects manufacturing variability to environmental impact and economic costs through the concept of overdesign. I study examples using this framework and find that around 19% of concrete production is used solely to overcome issues of manufacturing variability, and that reducing the variability when producing fiber composite parts for a Boeing 787 reduces fuel consumption by millions of dollars and saves ktons of CO₂ from entering the atmosphere. I further explore the effects of manufacturing variability by considering its impacts on the commercialization process of new technologies.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2019

Author dc:creator

• Van Grootel, Alexander Willem Anton.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Elsa Olivetti and Duane Boning.

• Institute for Data, Systems, and Society.
• Technology and Policy Program.
• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122216

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122216