2026-09-19T16:24:41Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/1327932025-10-30T17:51:28Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Steven Spear and Kamal Youcef-Toumi.
Daigle, Lea
(Lea A.)
Sloan School of Management.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Leaders for Global Operations Program.
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT
2021-10-08T16:47:51Z
2021-10-08T16:47:51Z
2020
2020
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132793
1241968972
Thesis: M.B.A., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, in conjunction with the Leaders for Global Operations Program at MIT, May, 2020
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-73).
Company Z is a ubiquitous name and prominent leader in the aerospace industry,
maintaining dominance in part by continuously seeking to improve. Company Z is now
embracing a charter to become a Global Industrial Champion in manufacturing by
developing strategies to improve manufacturing quality, speed, and cost. As part of this effort
Company Z is implementing Novel Production Method (NPM) on a new aircraft, Aircraft
ABC. This document focuses specifically on Assembly A, a primary assembly in Aircraft
ABC. NPM is a process in which all piece part holes are drilled precisely and accurately upon
manufacture and later assembled with no match-drilling necessary on the assembly line. This
promises to significantly reduce cycle time while simultaneously improving assembly quality
and speed.
Accurate tolerance decisions for piece part hole diameters, hole positions, and hole
patterns are imperative for NPM success on Assembly A. As Assembly A is in the early design
stages, no measurement data exists to aid in determining which tolerances will yield a successful
assembly. To supplement this data gap, measurement and pass/fail data from other aircraft
were used to simulate Assembly A pass/fail rates using Close Ream, Class 1, and Class 2A
tolerance quality tiers. Results from this analysis indicate probable Assembly A NPM success
using Class 1 quality hole tolerances for non-complex parts and Class 2A hole tolerances for
complex parts.
It is also imperative to restructure Assembly A organizational architecture to
accommodate the radical innovation required to implement NPM. The existing organizational
model invites many improvement opportunities in communication, collaboration, and shortened
learning cycles. A high velocity learning approach is used to examine the current organizational
structure and offer adaptation strategies. It is recommended that the current Agile team structure
be adapted to include more diverse job functions and to include other Company Z aircraft
organizations as well as strategic suppliers as partners. It is additionally recommended that a
larger emphasis be placed on data distribution across business units. The implementation of
these organizational changes and the aforementioned engineering strategies will vastly improve
the efficiency of NPM implementation in Assembly A.
by Lea Daigle.
M.B.A.
S.M.
M.B.A. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management
S.M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering
73 pages
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Sloan School of Management.
Mechanical Engineering.
Leaders for Global Operations Program.
Organizational Architecture Design and Assessment of Statistical Feasibility for NPM Implementation in an Airplane Subassembly
Thesis
application/pdf
2021-10-08T16:47:51Z
Publication
Master
Sloan
MechE
unknown
unknown
<Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="9b2c8478-3033-43d9-a615-8b9fe7ed7907">
<Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type>
<Language>eng</Language>
<Title>Organizational Architecture Design and Assessment of Statistical Feasibility for NPM Implementation in an Airplane Subassembly</Title>
<PublishedIn>
<Publication>
</Publication>
</PublishedIn>
<PublicationDate>2020</PublicationDate>
<Authors>
<Author>
<DisplayName>Daigle, Lea
(Lea A.)</DisplayName>
<Affiliation>
<OrgUnit>
</OrgUnit>
</Affiliation>
</Author>
</Authors>
<Editors>
</Editors>
<Publishers>
<Publisher>
<DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName>
<OrgUnit />
</Publisher>
</Publishers>
<License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License>
<Keyword>Sloan School of Management.</Keyword>
<Keyword>Mechanical Engineering.</Keyword>
<Keyword>Leaders for Global Operations Program.</Keyword>
<Abstract>Company Z is a ubiquitous name and prominent leader in the aerospace industry,
maintaining dominance in part by continuously seeking to improve. Company Z is now
embracing a charter to become a Global Industrial Champion in manufacturing by
developing strategies to improve manufacturing quality, speed, and cost. As part of this effort
Company Z is implementing Novel Production Method (NPM) on a new aircraft, Aircraft
ABC. This document focuses specifically on Assembly A, a primary assembly in Aircraft
ABC. NPM is a process in which all piece part holes are drilled precisely and accurately upon
manufacture and later assembled with no match-drilling necessary on the assembly line. This
promises to significantly reduce cycle time while simultaneously improving assembly quality
and speed.
Accurate tolerance decisions for piece part hole diameters, hole positions, and hole
patterns are imperative for NPM success on Assembly A. As Assembly A is in the early design
stages, no measurement data exists to aid in determining which tolerances will yield a successful
assembly. To supplement this data gap, measurement and pass/fail data from other aircraft
were used to simulate Assembly A pass/fail rates using Close Ream, Class 1, and Class 2A
tolerance quality tiers. Results from this analysis indicate probable Assembly A NPM success
using Class 1 quality hole tolerances for non-complex parts and Class 2A hole tolerances for
complex parts.
It is also imperative to restructure Assembly A organizational architecture to
accommodate the radical innovation required to implement NPM. The existing organizational
model invites many improvement opportunities in communication, collaboration, and shortened
learning cycles. A high velocity learning approach is used to examine the current organizational
structure and offer adaptation strategies. It is recommended that the current Agile team structure
be adapted to include more diverse job functions and to include other Company Z aircraft
organizations as well as strategic suppliers as partners. It is additionally recommended that a
larger emphasis be placed on data distribution across business units. The implementation of
these organizational changes and the aforementioned engineering strategies will vastly improve
the efficiency of NPM implementation in Assembly A.</Abstract>
<Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right"
>
</Access>
</Publication>