Transitioning technology from R&D to production

Corporate research and development (R&D) drives progress in the high-tech industries. Companies that advance the state-of-the-art in product performance enjoy significant advantages over the competition. However, although technical achievement may be required for competitiveness, it is far from sufficient. The successful creation of a prototype is in no way an indication that large quantities of identical units can be economically or reliably produced. Indeed, transitioning a new technology from the laboratory in which it was created to a production environment can be as challenging as the actual development. Many of the obstacles on the path to production stem from process variability. The randomness inherent in every manufacturing operation introduces risk into the transition process. As products increasingly become more technologically complex, the need for close coupling between R&D and production groups also grows. However, current trends toward distributed development and outsourced manufacturing work to segregate these groups, increasing the chances that risk factors will be overlooked. This thesis examines the process by which new technologies are transitioned from the laboratory to the shop floor, and addresses some of the risks related to process uncertainty that arise. In particular, it focuses on those challenges that are difficult to recognize. Research for the project was conducted during a six month internship at the Raytheon Company. The transition-to-production process was segmented into three phases, and three related products were used as cases with which each phase could be studied. The problems that appeared in these cases were addressed, and the "lessons learned" were then generalized into a set of guidelines applicable to a broader range of situations.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Pulitzer, Seward Webb, 1974-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Duane Boning and Roy E. Welsch.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Sloan School of Management.
• 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/1721.1/44742

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/44742