Helicopter final assembly critical path analysis

Helicopter final assembly involves the installation of hundreds of components into the aircraft and takes thousands of man-hours. Meeting production targets such as total build days and total aircraft man-hours can be difficult when faced with challenges related to parts, workforce, and scheduling. A tool to identify key installations on which to focus efforts for maximum benefit can help improve performance to targets. The Critical Path Method was developed as a project management tool to aid in scheduling large and complex projects. Its application to manufacturing can provide the insights necessary to improve performance in an environment such as helicopter final assembly. This thesis provides a case study of helicopter final assembly. A critical path analysis is performed on the assembly process, using predecessor, duration, and resource data. The results of the analysis are used to draw conclusions about the system as a whole and to make recommendations to improve system performance.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Daigh, Sara L. (Sarah Louise), 1981-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Roy Welsch and Daniel Whitney.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Mechanical Engineering.
• Leaders for Global Operations 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/1721.1/73413

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/73413