2026-09-19T11:35:08Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/348382022-01-28T21:15:29Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Daniel Whitney and Jan Klein.
Glomski, Paul T
Leaders for Manufacturing Program.
Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sloan School of Management
2006-11-08T16:46:56Z
2006-11-08T16:46:56Z
2005
2005
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34838
63190939
Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2005.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-77).
Throughout the vehicle development process, automotive manufacturers must work to meet a variety of customer needs. One increasingly important attribute is vehicle exterior perceived quality, which is largely dependent on how well exterior parts fit together. Before vehicles are produced and sold to customers, manufacturers utilize several processes and tools to "tune in" vehicle exteriors. This thesis examines one manufacturer's approach to delivering vehicle exterior quality, including a recent change initiative to improve the tune in process. The overall vehicle development process is introduced, and then detail is provided for areas of the process that relate closely to vehicle exteriors. Two areas that are explored in depth are the manufacturer's tune in build strategy and a new exterior fitting fixture implementation. An assessment of build strategy is provided and a framework is proposed. The framework is based on functional build theory and Key Characteristic (KC) chains. Functional build is a process to ensure that the vehicle exterior meets specifications while allowing engineering teams to determine the best way to solve dimensional problems, which may or may not include forcing a component in the assembly to design intent.
(cont.) A KC chain analysis is one way to view how vehicle exterior requirements relate to each other and engineering organizational structure. Viewing build strategies with these two techniques illustrates how build decisions are impacted by organizational and technical complexity, as well as material rigidity. At an automotive manufacturer, several fitting fixtures are used during the tune in process. An initiative to implement a new fitting fixture is assessed. Both technical and organizational issues are addressed. The conclusion of this thesis is that several factors that are both organizational and technical must be considered in order to gain the benefit of the new fitting fixture. Some of the major factors include: build strategy alignment with the fixture, learning systems to support continuous improvement, and organizational leadership and ownership aligned to quickly solve problems.
by Paul T. Glomski.
S.M.
M.B.A.
77 leaves
4134510 bytes
4137702 bytes
application/pdf
application/pdf
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Sloan School of Management.
Mechanical Engineering.
Leaders for Manufacturing Program.
Achieving world-class perceived vehicle quality through improved engineering and manufacturing tools
Thesis
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<Abstract>Throughout the vehicle development process, automotive manufacturers must work to meet a variety of customer needs. One increasingly important attribute is vehicle exterior perceived quality, which is largely dependent on how well exterior parts fit together. Before vehicles are produced and sold to customers, manufacturers utilize several processes and tools to "tune in" vehicle exteriors. This thesis examines one manufacturer's approach to delivering vehicle exterior quality, including a recent change initiative to improve the tune in process. The overall vehicle development process is introduced, and then detail is provided for areas of the process that relate closely to vehicle exteriors. Two areas that are explored in depth are the manufacturer's tune in build strategy and a new exterior fitting fixture implementation. An assessment of build strategy is provided and a framework is proposed. The framework is based on functional build theory and Key Characteristic (KC) chains. Functional build is a process to ensure that the vehicle exterior meets specifications while allowing engineering teams to determine the best way to solve dimensional problems, which may or may not include forcing a component in the assembly to design intent.</Abstract>
<Abstract>(cont.) A KC chain analysis is one way to view how vehicle exterior requirements relate to each other and engineering organizational structure. Viewing build strategies with these two techniques illustrates how build decisions are impacted by organizational and technical complexity, as well as material rigidity. At an automotive manufacturer, several fitting fixtures are used during the tune in process. An initiative to implement a new fitting fixture is assessed. Both technical and organizational issues are addressed. The conclusion of this thesis is that several factors that are both organizational and technical must be considered in order to gain the benefit of the new fitting fixture. Some of the major factors include: build strategy alignment with the fixture, learning systems to support continuous improvement, and organizational leadership and ownership aligned to quickly solve problems.</Abstract>
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