System dynamics and process improvement : can the U.S. Navy acquisition community learn from industry behavior?

Abstract

System dynamics is a powerful management planning tool for process improvement programs. Industry experience has contributed to a model that allows decision makers to simulate their actions and the resulting system response before committing to the actual policies. The resulting understanding of fundamental system behavior and interactions allows more productive and effective decision making and process improvement. Application of such a tool for U.S. Navy major acquisition programs (e.g., ships and submarines) would be invaluable in terms of cost savings, cost avoidance, schedule reductions and overall efficiency improvement. This effort conducts a review of the Science and Technology (S&T) portion of current Navy acquisition policies as a case study. The feasibility of applying the Navy system behavior to the existing MIT System Dynamics Group Simulation for Continuous Improvement Programs (SCIP) "management flight simulator" and model will be presented. This work will contribute to the ongoing efforts of MIT system dynamics research as well as the Navy acquisition reform initiatives.