Research at LAI: Overview

Ongoing multi-disciplinary research at MIT has been addressing strategic lean challenges for 15 years and provides LAI members with a rich body of accumulated knowledge. LAI research has evolved from an initial focus on manufacturing-related lean issues into a unique body of work addressing enterprise-level architecting and transformation.

LAI’s current research focuses on:

• Enterprise Transformation/Enterprise Architecting
• Enterprise Systems Engineering
• Lean Enterprise Product Development
• Enterprise Change Management

These four teams, which are headed by both an MIT faculty and research lead and include associated faculty advisors and graduate student researchers, work to address LAI’s four questions as outlined below. All of these research teams work collaboratively.

LAI's Research Teams and the Four Research Questions

Seven Principles of Lean Enterprise Thinking

Based on both practical observation and rigorous research, LAI researchers have developed seven principles of a successful lean enterprise transformation

• Adopt a holistic approach to enterprise transformation
• Identify relevant stakeholders and determine their value propositions
• Focus on enterprise effectiveness before efficiency
• Address internal and external enterprise interdependencies
• Ensure stability and flow within and across the enterprise
• Cultivate leadership to support and drive enterprise behaviors
• Emphasize organizational learning

LAI's Transition to Lean Roadmap

LAI's Four Research Areas

1. Motivation for Enterprise Transformation/Enterprise Architecting

• To transform an enterprise we need to know not only where we are, but more importantly where we want to be (future state).
• In enterprise value analysis, how do we define the possible future state of the enterprise and evaluate which path to take?
• Once we define the future vision, how do we design the enterprise?
• How do we incorporate the multiple dimensions at the enterprise level?

Enterprise Architecture Framework

Thinking Holistically

• Modern enterprises are highly interconnected systems
• Need to integrate management processes, lifecycle processes and enabling infrastructure systems
• Must balance needs of multiple stakeholders working within and across boundaries
• Lack of holistic thinking creates suboptimal enterprise

Creating a Holistic Approach to Enterprise Transformation

Recent and Ongoing Enterprise Architecting Research Projects

Knowledge Integration in the Development of Complex Aerospace Systems
Marc Haddad, 2008

Understanding and Modeling Enterprise Behavior using a Hybrid Modeling Approach
Chris Glazner, 2008

The Evolution of Business Ecosystems
Ted Piepenbrock, 2008

Dynamic Engineering System Design Strategies
Christopher Roberts, 2011

2. Motivation for Enterprise Systems Engineering

• Our industry today is characterized by extended enterprises developing complex systems/systems of systems
• Long lifecycles, constrained resources, and complexity of programs increase the importance of predicting engineering effectiveness
• Global enterprises with distributed engineering workforce working collaboratively on programs
• Nature of programs demands high levels of systems competency but there is often a shortage of these skills
• Socio/cultural factors appear to be increasingly important to successful program outcomes

History of the Systems Engineering Research Effort

Systems Engineering Research Summary

• Modern systems involve complex enterprises in a global engineering environment
• Leverage for systems engineering effectiveness lies at the intersection of social and technical
• Empirical and case-based studies needed to put “science” behind engineering in the enterprise
• Need better means to predict SE performance on programs

Recent and Ongoing Enterprise Systems Engineering Research Projects

Enabling Systems Thinking to Accelerate the Development of Senior Systems Engineers
Heidi Davidz, 2006

Collaborative Distributed Systems Engineering
Darlene Utter, 2007

Systems Thinking
Caroline Twomey Lamb, 2009

3. Motivation for Enterprise Lean Product Development

Fundamental research questions in this area:

• How far and how directly can lean principles developed for production operation be applied to product development?
• With enterprise focus: “How can lean principles be applied to help enterprises develop and manage resources and capabilities to efficiently create streams of successful products?”

Enterprise perspective includes:

• Multiple functions, from enterprise strategy through development, production, distribution, and support of products
• Many products, probably concurrently and possibly as part of a larger grouping of products in a family or system of systems

Priorities for Lean Enterprise Product Development Research

• Identifying the design of enterprise structures and processes that enable high performance in decision- making and risk/uncertainty reduction.
• Understanding the interactions between enterprise and product architectures in complex systems and systems- of-systems to enable higher PD productivity from enterprise resources.
• Characterizing and identifying processes for increasing the value of the product/enterprise portfolio, focusing primarily on activities that reduce risk/uncertainty for decision-makers.
• Characterizing successful implementation, execution, and transformation of lean PD processes in complex PD environments.

Past Lean Product Development Research

• Focus has been on reducing waste, improving the flow of information, and improving the performance of PD programs
• Research and efforts focused on developing insights, knowledge, and tools to enable better management of PD processes using lean principles

Phases of Lean Product Development Evolution (Preliminary)

Lean Product Development Transformation Summary

Roadmap built on observed Lean PD practices in complex product settings (beyond Toyota...)

• Lack of role model enterprises requires development of a hybrid framework
• Most aerospace firms are in the emergent (with some in the early maturing phase)
• While best-practice programs have been observed for years, consistent enterprise-wide progress is not see
• Implementation a multi-year process
• Growth and evolution of capabilities benefits greatly from continuity of leadership and vision
• Lean cases demonstrate measurable and significant program-level performance benefits
• Many judged to be lean retrospectively

Recent and Ongoing Lean Enterprise Product Development Research Projects

Process Level

An FMEA-based Method for Risk Management in Embodiment Design
Claudia Wagner, 2007

Linking Product Development Wastes and Root Causes to Lean Counter Measures
Christian Briegel, 2008

Synchronization of System-of-Systems Interfaces in MILSATCOMs
Maj Mark Davis (USAF), 2008

Process Commonality in Enterprise Product Development
Sidharth Rupani, 2009

Coordination Across Functions Level

Globally vs. Locally Distributed Product Development
Pedzi Makumbe, 2008

Alignment of Actors in Complex Product Development
Joao Castro, 2009

Coordination Across Programs Level

Managing Commonality During Product Family Development
Ryan Boas, 2007

Measuring The Efficiency of Commonality in Commercial Aircraft Cockpits
Damien Bador, 2007

Understanding the Role of Modularity in Complex Defense Systems
Lt Col Dave Long (USAF), 2008

Enterprise Portfolio Management and Risk Aggregation
Maj Robb Wirthlin (USAF), 2008

Identifying Needs for New Air Force Aircraft
Lt Col Dan Gillespie (USAF), 2009

4. Motivation for Enterprise Change Capabilities

• A complete and comprehensive set of precepts for managing organizational to enterprise change
• Roadmap for leadership that will help them to initiate, accelerate, and sustain lean enterprise transformation
• Use of case study observations of change efforts to provide insights into what make for effective lean enterprise cultures and structures
• Providing references and illustrations for tools and methods that support enterprise transformation
• Transformation that derives from within lean and enterprises approaches differs from traditional notions of managing planned organizational change

A New Theory of Enterprise Change Based on:

• Identification (need to be networked): tightening system
• Directiveness: providing direction and alignment (you can’t organize a mess)
• Crossing boundaries: looking across organizations for improvement opportunities
• Power and politics across organizations: setting and managing boundaries, standards, and plans
• Developing performance within and then across
• Intergenerational leadership to sustain changes through worse-before-better dynamic

Note: The enterprise change proposition is contrary to current organizational change practices of loosing up centralized control, developing collaboration, and looking internally to improve capabilities or value added

Successful Lean Enterprise Change: What does it take beyond the basics: consistency, people, training, and metrics?

Rethinking organizational boundaries

• View own organization with suppliers and customers as a contiguous value stream
• Extend the domain to include organization’s environment

Installing sets of organizational innovations

• Complementarities of practices
• Extend the scope to include sets of changes as coherent programs

Pushing and pulling change

• Set in place the structure and process that enables virtuous learning and change
• Extend the tools to integrate the divergent change approaches

Seeking growth opportunities

• Project positive vision for continual renewal
• Extend the strategy to build in growth and development

Distributing leadership practices

• Recognizing interdependent roles in a system of leadership
• Extend the leadership to all levels of the enterprise

Successful Lean Enterprise Change