2026-09-27T05:43:52Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/98022021-07-05T14:03:20Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
Kirkor Bozdogan.
Miller, Russell F
Sloan School of Management
2005-08-19T20:16:49Z
2005-08-19T20:16:49Z
1999
1999
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/9802
42962557
Thesis (S.M.M.O.T.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Management of Technology Program, 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (leaf 101).
In recent years the Department of Defense (DOD) has launched several initiatives to contain support costs for weapon systems. Recently a new weapon system sustainment concept advanced by industry, known as Prime Vendor Support (PVS), has been either under consideration or already adopted as a means of reducing support costs. PVS requires that the DOD relinquish the weapon system support processes to the prime vendor. The research reported in this thesis presents a comparative evaluation of the support processes associated with two weapon systems., one currently in the process of implementing PVS the other still supported by the conventional organic Army support system. The Lean Enterprise Model (LEM), developed by researchers at MIT under the auspices of the Lean Aerospace Initiative, is used to assess these two distinctly different support processes, to determine whether and to what extent the PVS concept offers any tangible benefits to the Army. The LEM, which represents a framework for organizing, storing and retrieving lean principles, practices and metrics in the aerospace industry, presents a template for best practices that are applicable to the defense sustainment community. The LEM is adapted to the government environment, by proposing a two dimensional model. This model calibrates the LEM for the unique Army environment and is then used to generate a "degree of leanness" index for each major sustainment process. These measures reflect, in essence, lean effectiveness ratings. The rating process itself draws upon extensive field interviews with personnel associated with these two weapon system support processes. The resulting "degree of leanness" (lean effectiveness rating) measures are used to compare the two weapon system support concepts. The major finding of the research is that the PVS concept offers significant advantages, reflecting considerable cost savings, compared with the conventional support model. The "degree of leanness" (lean effectiveness rating) measures indicate three-fold improvements over existing processes, particularly in the reliability-related processes.
by Russell F. Miller.
S.M.M.O.T.
101 leaves
8488172 bytes
8487933 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
An evaluation of the prime vendor support approach to U.S. Army weapon system sustainment
Army prime vendor support
Thesis
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