CASE STUDY PROBLEMS

Multimedia case studies have been shown to be an effective way of documenting and teaching best design practices [from Boeing 777 site].


[O-O] Best Manufacturing Practices

The objective of the Best Manufacturing Practices (BMP) program is identify the best practices in the areas of design, test, production, facilities, logistics, and management, and to encourage industry and government to share information about these practices.


[O-O] Design of the Boeing 777

This is a case study of the changes that the Boeing Commercial Aircraft Company made in the way they design and build airplanes. The 777 is the first jet that Boeing has created using this methodology. The changes were very dramatic and encompassed many areas, including technical, organizational and administrative changes. Boeing is touting the 777 as more than just a product, but as a new process. Although the technical innovations were numerous, what made the 777 project unique were the other changes Boeing instituted for this design/build effort. It was the first 100% digitally designed and pre-assembled airplane made by Boeing. Concurrent engineering, the concept of “Working Together was an integral part of the new philosophy and nearly 240 Design/Build teams were used through-out the process. The teams included design, manufacturing, customer and supplier personnel from the start. Designing and building a new commercial jet airliner is a long, five to ten years, and infrequent, one or two per decade, process. As such, it is crucial to document the design/build process for future projects, especially one that had so many “firsts”.

A multimedia case study is an ideal vehicle for teaching engineers within Boeing as well as engineering students the design/build process of a large and complex product. This case study is also useful as an example of the process of changing an established system in a conservative company.


[O-O] Engineering Case Studies (at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology)

This site is a collection of information on engineering cases. These are accounts of real engineering projects that are written for use in engineering education. The accounts are not highly technical, and are quite readable by those with the appropriate interest.


[O-O] A Multimedia Case Study in Engineering Design : Saturn Automobiles

This site contains a detailed case study of Saturn Automobiles. After seeing what a Saturn is, the site covers topics such as competitor analysis, design for serviceability, initial concepts, design for manufacture, product development teams, and so forth...


[O-O] JPL's Cassini Management Information System

The Cassini Project is a NASA funded exploration mission to Saturn. As part of the management for this project, Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a distributed project schedule control system for complex development programs. The system is called the Cassini Management Information System (CMIS). The system was built with the objective of making schedule control simple, user-friendly, and low-cost. CMIS is distributed across a local area network of PCs and Macintoshes and consists of four major modules: Schedule Control, Action Item Tracking, Work Package Implementation Plan, and Budget Tracking. This article focuses on the Schedule Control module of CMIS.

CMIS was one of the innovations introduced in response to the decrees of Congress and subsequently NASA to conduct space exploration on a fixed-price basis. This article summarizes CMIS's development history as a schedule control tool, its key features, and how over 130 engineers and managers use the system.


Developed in May 1996 by Mark Austin
Last Modified May 14, 1996
Copyright © 1996, Mark Austin, Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland