Northrop Grumman Newport news breakdown cost impact

Abstract

NGNN had issued the need for a method to analyze machine breakdown costs. Factors such as delay time, bottlenecks, and machine malfunction were evaluated. These issues are unavoidable aspects that result from a company that operates at such a high level. The senior design team at Virginia Tech took on the project and has developed a method to assess these problems. Using industrial engineering processes, the task was to design an algorithm that predicted the breakdown cost given a set downtime. In order to properly develop the algorithm, known and unknown variables had to be computed. Probabilities were calculated to determine how and with what chance the machine breakdown would occur in a given year. With both probabilities and variables known, the algorithm formulated not only met the specified scope but also expanded on its capabilities.