16.842  Fundamentals of Systems Engr

Assignment 4 Grades Posted on Stellar

Hello Class,

I have graded your submissions for Assignment 4. I posted the grade sheet for the assignment under the Comments Section on Stellar. I had some general concerns about Assignment 4. On Questions 1 and 2, you were asked to summarize and reflect on sections from the NASA SE Handbook and the Galileo Article. I noticed that some of you summarized by directly copying sentences or phrases from the article or Handbook. You must be careful about this. If you are going to copy directly, put the text in quotation marks and cite the source. The goal of this assignment was not for you to simply copy key ideas out of the text, but to find creative ways to summarize and apply the information. Try to improve this skill in your future writing.

Danielle

Announced on 15 December 2011  10:59  p.m. by Danielle R Wood

Subject Evaluations close on Friday at noon

Hello Class,

Please submit an online evaluation for 16.842. We appreciate your feedback. The evaluation process closes on Friday, Dec 16 at 12:00pm. For more information, go to this link: http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation/

Thanks,
Danielle

Announced on 14 December 2011  9:11  a.m. by Danielle R Wood

Additional Clarifications on Assignment 4, Question 4

Hello Class,

I've had additional questions about Question 4 on Assignment 4, so I am passing the answers on to the class.

For all of Question 4, you do not need to account for inflation.

For all of Part b on Question 4: Assume that each perturbation in parts i. through v. are independent. Consider their impact separately.

For Question 4, Part b, sub-section i:
To clarify the directions, the perturbation is that all production is delayed by one year and there is an additonal year of development costs at the same annual rate. Everything else is the same.

For Question 4.b.ii. I am rewording the directions as follows: Consider a 7% increase in variable manufacturing cost per aircraft for the first unit (assume the learning curve factor is the same).

Announced on 10 December 2011  5:07  p.m. by Danielle R Wood

Clarifications on Assignment 4

Hello Class,

I've received a few questions on Assignment 4, so I'm sending out the answers to the class.

For problem 3: When you use the cost estimating website to generate data, please specify what quantity and learning curve you assume. It is fine to use the default values.

For problem 4: The initial problem statement has an ambiguous sentence. The original version says: "Assume that there is a cost of $2 billion for tooling and manufacturing setup during years 5 and 6 to prepare for production." Please replace this with: "Assume that there is a cost of $2 billion for tooling and manufacturing setup EACH YEAR during years 5 and 6 to prepare for production." So the total cost of tooling and manufacturing set up is $4 billion.

Finally, on Thursday and Friday you have the opportunity to access the Lego Mindstorm Kits. The sets will be available in Room 33-319 from 2pm to 5pm on Thursday December 8th and in room 33-218 from 10am to 1pm on Friday, December 9th. These sessions on Thursday and Friday are optional and do not affect your grade. There will be a grade assigned for your participation on Monday.

Let me know if you have more questions,
Danielle

Announced on 07 December 2011  6:14  p.m. by Danielle R Wood

Readings for Dec 5th class

Hello Class,

Today's class will include a lecture and discussion on lifecycle management. As a reminder, there are two readings for today's class - items [12a] and [12b] on the syllabus.

Looking forward to seeing you,
Daniele

Announced on 05 December 2011  8:14  a.m. by Danielle R Wood