Applying an analytical framework to production process improvement

As the medium voltage switchgear industry moves from air insulated to gas insulated technology, Siemens Frankfurt factory is introducing a new gas insulated product line that will improve their relative market position. It is their intent to design a product and supporting production system that will enable substantial cost and lead time reduction over existing Siemens gas insulated switchgear products. This thesis outlines a framework for analyzing the existing production process from 'customer order to customer delivery', identifying areas of opportunity, valuing projects aimed at achieving these opportunities, and prioritizing highest value projects for implementation. To provide a rigorous analytical approach to project selection, it was important to rethink existing ways of valuing inventory holding costs, material handling costs, and lead time. By uncovering hidden costs and benefits for each, projects that otherwise seemed unattractive become important to achieving overall factory objectives. Conversely, other projects that had been historically pushed by factory leadership were shown to generate little overall return on investment.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Authors dc:creator

• Underwood, Curtis J. (Curtis James)
• Wood, Jacob R

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Stephen C. Graves and David Simchi-Levi.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39694

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39694