Editor’s note: There are six
platinum sponsors for the 2010 MIT Conference on Systems Thinking for
Contemporary Challenges. In this article, spokesmen for the six—Global Project
Design, John Deere, Merck/MSD, MITRE, United Technologies Research Center, and
Werfen/Instrumentation Lab—share why they value systems thinking, the strategic
imperative for technical professionals who understand management, how they work
with SDM, and why they are supporting the systems thinking conference.
Global Project Design
Global Project Design (GPD) is
a company that assists executives and teams with real-time design of complex
initiatives. Founded in 1999 by Bryan Moser, a 1989 graduate of MIT’s
Technology and Policy Program, GPD integrates architectural modeling of products,
processes, and organizations to create feasible, lean plans for complex
projects. The company has created and delivers the innovative TeamPort software
suite that aids in the integration of these activities.
“The impact of our work is the
capability of a team of teams to plan early and rapidly, with accuracy in cost,
schedule, and quality risk,” Moser said. “An effective project design exercise
leads to situational awareness of a system and its risk due to the overlap of
product, process, and organization architectures.”
GDP is sponsoring this year’s
SDM conference because the company is dedicated to spreading systems thinking
throughout industry, Moser said. “If a company wants to be competitive, they
need to ensure their workforce has this skill set.”
Moser said that GDP and SDM are
still on the leading edge of this transformation—too many companies remain
attached to traditional planning processes. “For a century, the way that most
professions characterized work and how we organized for work had one
fundamental assumption—stability in product, process, or organization,” Moser
said. “What’s different today is that really it’s a system of systems—products,
processes, and organizations are shifting constantly.”
Moser said his company uses
visual representations—such as the design structure matrix (DSM) taught in
SDM—to trim weeks or even months of centralized planning down to a days of
collaborative visual planning and simulation. “The DSM taught now is one good
example of stepping back to visualize and analyze the essential architectural
quality of modern complex work,” he said. “There are patterns and insights
[gained from using this tool] that would otherwise be lost.”
Although GDP is still an
emerging company, Moser said he sees the SDM connection as an investment in the
future. “The first people I want to hire to build up my company will be SDM
grads,” he said.
John Deere
John Deere is a world leader in
providing advanced products and services for agriculture, forestry,
construction, lawn and turf care, landscaping, and irrigation. John Deere also
provides financial services worldwide and manufactures and markets engines used
in heavy equipment.
Systems thinking is central to
John Deere’s business, according to Brian J. Gilmore, manager of worksite productivity.
“We have applied [systems thinking principles] to all of our major machine
subsystems, mainly in the advanced technology systems—engines, power systems,
intelligent vehicles, and electronic vehicles.”
The company also faces complex
challenges that require a systems approach, he said. “We continue to work
toward reducing engine emissions per federal guidelines and to help our
customers become more productive through the delivery of more intelligent
equipment,” he said.
John Deere has sponsored the
MIT SDM systems thinking conference at the platinum level for the past two
years because the company supports the program’s mission, Gilmore said. “We
believe strongly in systems engineering, and this is a forum to bring people
together with similar viewpoints,” he said. “Our people can attend and bring
some ideas back into the company.”
Among the likely attendees this
year are the four SDM master’s students and 18 SDM certificate students that
John Deere currently sponsors in the program. The company, which has been
involved in SDM for five years, has sent more and more students each year. “We
do recommend the program to other companies, and we encourage the right people
within our company to consider it,” said Gilmore, noting that John Deere has
been very pleased with the results it has seen.
“Whether they pursue the SDM
master’s or certificate, [SDM graduates] say that they really understand the
product delivery process much better,” he said. “They are then more effective
in doing what they’re doing and in providing guidance to the rest of the
organization.”
Merck/MSD
Merck/MSD is one of the world’s
largest health-care solutions companies. With operations in more than 140
countries, Merck delivers health-care solutions through prescription medicines,
vaccines, biologic therapies, consumer care, and animal health products.
The company sponsors the SDM
conference because systems thinking can help Merck provide better and more
innovative health-care solutions, according to Michael P. Thien, ScD, senior
vice president for global science, technology, and commercialization in Merck’s
Manufacturing Division.
“The world of pharmaceuticals
is getting very complicated,” Thien said. “With the emphasis on emerging
markets, the advent of biosimilars, the recognition of opportunities in
consumer care and the global need for vaccines, it is no longer possible to
make strategic advances by focusing on single functional elements of our
business. Using a systems approach, like the frameworks offered up at MIT’s SDM
program, allows us to navigate many business challenges.”
Merck values the SDM conference
for two reasons, Thien said. “The first is in enhancing the mindset of the
attendees to think more broadly and holistically about complex system
problems,” he said. “The second element has been in the formation of
cross-academic, cross-industry connections.” Over the years, such connections
have led to beneficial collaborations between the company and MIT, ranging from
simple email interchanges to longer-term projects, he said.
While Merck has only been
formally involved with SDM since 2009, the company has a long association with
MIT, including participating in the Industrial Liaison Program. Partnering with
SDM is helping the company evaluate its technology strategy as well as address
more tactical problems, such as design choices, Thien said.
“Merck has been and plans to be
very active in SDM,” Thien said. “Through our sponsorship of students in SDM,
we are increasingly able to easily learn from and access the work of MIT experts
for solving real business problems.”
MITRE
MITRE is a not-for-profit
organization chartered to work in the public interest. The company manages
Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, partnering with government
customers to support their most crucial operational missions.
Since the federal government
faces ever increasing complexity in its systems and enterprises, systems
thinking is critical to MITRE’s mission, according to Louis Metzger, a senior
vice president at MITRE and the company’s corporate chief engineer.
“Networked systems must
interoperate with, respond to, and co-evolve with an environment that
constantly changes,” he said. “Systems thinking has always been important, but
it is even more crucial now.”
MITRE has been involved with SDM
for 10 years and has been a sponsor of the systems thinking conference for the
past three. “Much of what is presented at these conferences is relevant to the
research MITRE is fostering in systems engineering,” Metzger said, noting that
the conference helps MITRE stay abreast of the best practices in this evolving
field and enhances the company’s recruitment efforts by building name
recognition within the systems engineering community.
“Systems engineering skills,
discipline, and thinking are foundational capabilities that enhance MITRE’s
ability to support our government sponsors,” Metzger said. “We try to
understand the full problem space and all the factors that influence success.
We account for all necessary technical and non-technical aspects. We then
combine engineering knowledge and rigor with an intimate understanding of
end-user needs, so that our advice and recommendations are based on solid data
and convincing, defensible analysis set in the context of the applicable
mission environment.”
MITRE employs several SDM
alumni and continues to send staff through the program and to recruit on
campus. “Expanding the number of staff who can apply systems thinking will help
us and our customers to be more successful,” Metzger said.
United Technologies Research Center
United Technologies Research
Center (UTRC) delivers advanced technologies and research to the businesses of
United Technologies, industry leaders in aerospace propulsion, building
infrastructure and services, heating and air conditioning, fire and security
systems, and power generation.
“UTRC is proud to sponsor the
SDM conference because energy, sustainability and systems design align with our
priorities,” said Isaac Cohen, director of UTRC’s Systems Department. “The
conference is an opportunity to dialogue with leaders of industry and academia
and engage on current technical challenges as well as see what’s being done in
terms of technology development.”
“The opportunity for developing
technology options and solutions using a systems-based approach is great, and
in many areas represents value that can be realized in the very near term,”
Cohen said. For example, a building has a security architecture, an HVAC
system, safety controls, and a multitude of operational functions that
historically have not been designed to operate as an integrated system, he
explained. “Consider the possibilities of sustained, efficient performance in
buildings once you enable capabilities to drive awareness, reaction, and
adaptability across the life cycle of operation.”
Cohen added, “From a systems
engineering perspective, a key challenge is how do you control and activate
these components—which are designed and developed from a variety of independent
sources—and what are the best pathways to pursue as priorities?”
Cohen said that consequently
UTRC is not only interested in supporting the systems thinking conference, but
also in connecting with SDM students who will be in attendance.
“UTRC is experiencing very
strong growth, and we’re looking for exceptional talent with systems
engineering thinking and healthy creativity,” Cohen said. “More and more we
need different skill sets—people who can comprehend systems’ complexity.”
Werfen Group/Instrumentation Laboratory
A worldwide developer,
manufacturer, and distributor of in vitro diagnostic instruments,
Instrumentation Laboratory (IL) has been involved with SDM for three years. Not
only does IL support the SDM conference, the company also sponsors students in
the certificate program (some employees have gone on to pursue master’s), and
has benefited from “lunch and learn” sessions with MIT professors, who have
visited the company to share insights on current systems problems.
Gene Achter, vice president of
advanced development and technology and chief technology officer, said SDM has
helped IL to spread systems thinking throughout the company. “Systems thinking
helps you address the interactive part of challenges, which are the hardest to
deal with,” he said. “In the end the instruments don’t care and the molecules
don’t care. You can’t talk the systems into working.”
IL has sponsored six SDM
students to date, but is already seeing a difference in the organization,
according to Jessica Levesque, IL’s human resources manager. “One of the things
I’ve noticed with SDM grads is that they’re very interested in imparting their
knowledge,” she said. “Getting people in different parts of the organization
participating [in SDM] helps get people thinking—I’m not just a mechanical engineer
working on this rotary valve, I’m part of a system. And that’s huge.”
Both Achter and Levesque plan
to attend this year’s conference, as they have in years past. “The thing that I
liked the most about the last of these sessions was the chief engineer of NASA
talking about role of systems engineers,” Achter said. “He said some are
working on subsystems and think that as long as they focus on meeting the
requirements for that subsystem, everything will be fine. But requirements are
written by people and may not be accurate. Every engineer has to be looking out
for interactions.”
Levesque said that she finds
all the conference presentations interesting, but that’s not the main reason
the company sponsors the event. Sponsoring the conference helps IL to raise
awareness about its business, she said. “When you work with MIT there’s so much
visibility.”
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