Browning, Tyson R. (Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University)
Tyson R. Browning
Neeley School of Business, TCU
Box 298530
Fort Worth, TX 76129
Phone: 817-257-5069
Email: t.browning@tcu.edu
Website: http://sbuweb.tcu.edu/tbrowning/
Topics:
Design Structure Matrix (DSM) Methods and Applications
The Design structure matrix (DSM) is a straightforward and flexible modeling technique that can be used for designing, developing, and managing complex systems. DSM offers network modeling tools that represent the elements of a system and their interactions, thereby highlighting the system's architecture (or designed structure). Its advantages include compact format, visual nature, intuitive representation, powerful analytical capacity, and flexibility. Used primarily so far in the area of engineering management, DSM is increasingly being applied to complex issues in health care management, financial systems, public policy, natural sciences, and social systems. This presentation offers a clear and concise explanation of DSM methods for practitioners and researchers. It is based on a 2012 book of the same title co-authored by the speaker. (Elementary)
Applying Lean in Contexts of Novelty, Complexity, and Innovation
Every executive has heard about the importance of Lean. In these competitive times, fat is an unaffordable luxury. But when processes are novel and complex—as in product innovation, research, and new process development—cutting out the fat turns out to be much more challenging. Sometimes managers can confuse fat with muscle, and their efforts at efficiency can lead to an emaciated and uncompetitive organization instead of one that is Lean. So, how can you become efficient without sacrificing effectiveness? How can you cut costs while staying agile? In complex and novel environments, characterized by a need for innovation, is it even possible to be “Lean”? The answer is yes, but the path towards this goal is more challenging in a context of novelty and complexity. This presentation introduces some caveats to traditional Lean implementation, including: • Lean does not mean emaciated. Sometimes innovative processes must add rather than remove activities to increase the value they provide. • Value and waste cannot always be attributed to individual activities in a process. Rather, value stems from how activities work together, and waste from how they fail to do so. • If poorly timed, or taken too far, even Lean practices can be wasteful. • Rather than trying to reduce novelty and complexity at once, start by focusing on one or the other. These findings are illustrated with actual industrial examples. (Elementary)
Background:
- PhD, MIT
Dr. Tyson R. Browning is Associate Professor of Operations Management in the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University, where he conducts research on managing complex enterprises, projects, programs, and processes and teaches courses on project and operations management. He has served as a consultant for several organizations, including General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Seagate, Southern California Edison, and the U.S. Navy. Prior to joining TCU in 2003, he worked for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company as the technical lead and chief integrator for enterprise processes and for the Lean Aerospace Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), conducting on-site research at Boeing, Chrysler, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, McDonnell Douglas, Sundstrand, and Texas Instruments. He has also worked for Honeywell Space Systems and Los Alamos National Laboratory. He earned a B.S. in Engineering Physics from Abilene Christian University and two Master’s degrees and a Ph.D. from MIT. His internationally recognized work on managing complex engineering projects appears in journals such as IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, International Journal of Project Management, Journal of Mechanical Design, Journal of Operations Management, Production & Operations Management, Project Management Journal, and Systems Engineering. He is also the co-author of a forthcoming book on the Design Structure Matrix (DSM). He is a member of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), and the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), and he serves on the Editorial Board for the journals IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management and Systems Engineering.