Browsing by Subject "Engineering management"
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Item A decision support system for rapid evaluation and selection of engineered equipment suppliers(2009-08) Azambuja, Marcelo Menna Barreto; O'Brien, William J.Procurement’s role in engineering and construction is changing. Procurement is evolving into a far more strategic discipline. Major equipment procurement in particular ties up a large proportion of construction cost, has long lead time, and is usually associated with the acquisition of complex or specialized technology. Selection of suppliers is a complex process which requires the evaluation of several suppliers and project targets. This analysis is usually performed manually, it is time consuming, and certain tradeoffs may be overlooked. This research advances state of the art to aid the commercial evaluation and selection of engineered equipment suppliers in the early stages of capital projects. A decision support system was developed in cooperation with several leading engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) and owner firms within industrial construction. The system integrates firms’ market and supplier performance data with a decision aid method to support rapid tradeoff analysis and evaluation of sourcing alternatives in the early stages of capital projects. The tool has been developed in Visual C#, in the form of simple and intuitive forms, with Microsoft Access as the back-end database. A supplier selection module uses the Aspiration Interactive Method (AIM) for providing rapid tradeoff analysis and points how each supplier is ranked in relation to the expected procurement targets. The system also includes a module for schedule analysis of the preferred supplier. Managers first need to assess unique project and supplier’s characteristics to estimate most likely durations. These durations are used to run a PERT analysis and provide initial feedback on probability of equipment delivery success. Therefore, managers are able to check whether their procurement master schedule milestones are feasible or not. Two actual selection cases were used to validate system’s usefulness, completeness, and deployability. According to experienced managers, this tool brings intelligence to the traditional selection process. The ability to quickly generate what-if scenarios and rapidly perform tradeoff analysis based on real data improves the quality of decision making, and supports commercial assessment and recommendation of suppliers in the early phases of capital projects.Item An engineering manager’s perspective on system safety(2010-12) Webber, Jerald Adam; Ambler, Tony; McCann, Robert Bruce, 1948-; Snell, Steven C.The science of system safety provides a structured guideline for managers to follow in order to ensure safe operations, but it does not ensure against deviations from such guidelines. This responsibility lies with management. Engineering managers must be able to dictate and track safety requirements throughout product development, deployment, and operation by treating system safety as an integrated engineering discipline. It is not feasible to expect the technical teams to integrate safety into designs unless safety requirements are considered a design metric just as cost and performance. Therefore, the traditional method of employing a separate safety department to address safety requirements is not sufficient. This responsibility must be given to all technical departments and levied as a design requirement.Item The hidden costs of IT offshoring(2010-05) Solitro, Stephen Philip; Ambler, Tony; Newburger, MannyIn this paper, I will explore the hidden costs and risks of IT offshoring and how to manage those costs so that realistic expectations can be set. Establishing a baseline of such expectations will help companies understand and follow best practices in planning, executing, and managing the full offshore lifecycle. While details will vary with each project, offshore vendor, and company, these costs are seen across most offshore ventures and, if understood, will help explain why so many offshoring attempts fail, help IT managers and decision makers anticipate potential problems, and help CIOs more accurately predict cost savings.Item Management practices for sustainability of small, technology oriented businesses(2012-12) Quezada, Arturo; McCann, Robert Bruce, 1948-; Nichols, Steven Parks, 1950-The focal point for this research is a drilling automation small business. Questions regarding survival, growth, innovation, flexibility and professional management related to this technology business are seeded as the root for the research. Topics were selected based on the experience of the author as an attempt to provide answers to such questions. In a broader context, small businesses make an important contribution to the economy and job creation. Low survival rates raise questions about the factors that influence the success or failure of such businesses. Researches have attempted to identify such factors. However, there are limited theoretical models that were generated based on a small business setting. Many factors and their interactions among each other could determine the survival of a small business. However, there are techniques and philosophies that enhance the potential for success. Some of those techniques and philosophies proposed by authors researched are the Lean Startup methodology, analysis of roadblocks and speed bumps on the Product Development Process model, participative management, competencies alignment and outsourcing. Correlations between the small drilling automation business and research are made in order to generate the answers to the questions proposed initially. Ultimately, in regard to the company I work for, generation of intellectual property via outsourcing, deep knowledge of the potential market, financial flexibility obtained from capital and other resources by means of the relationships established helped the company to survive startup and grow. Founding expertise translated into good behavioral focus supported a sustained growth stage and competitiveness. There are applicable models and methodologies that serve to guide to faster innovation where associated risks are managed by having the multiple solutions available. The level of informality tolerated within the firm should be related to the level of performance, so for us there may be benefit to a more formal evaluation of the strategy, uncovering relationships and details not anticipated, that could lead to different decisions. Overcoming capital restraints to earn financial flexibility was particularly beneficial to our initial success. At current size and complexity level, it would be beneficial for our company to evaluate more formal tactical management.