Developing the Broad Process Excellence Program

Abstract

This thesis is based on the author's experience as an intern at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The Broad Institute has been working on applying and implementing traditional manufacturing process improvement tools to customize and select tools that can be adapted to its needs. Its unique production environment necessitates the requirement to customize and select tools that can be adapted to its needs. The objective of the thesis is to identify such tools and recommend methods to sustain them. The scope includes the following: * Conduct a benchmarking survey to understand what other organizations are doing in the area. * Conduct a stakeholder analysis involving relevant team members in Sequencing Operations. * Design a system that brings together the lessons learned from the benchmarking and stakeholder analysis exercises. * Conduct a project to showcase some of the tools. The objective of the project is to identify key process levers and improve the performance of the Duncan Cycler, a key DNA processing step. This problem solving exercise acts as a proxy for situations where tools recommended by the program can be used.