This project focuses on designing a computerized decision support system (DSS) to assist the Cal Poly Alumni Association with scheduling their Mustang Mentoring day. The current scheduling process is time intensive, error prone, and does not consider student preferences. The decision support system optimally generates multiple sets of pairs of students and mentors and schedules them avoiding conflicts and duplicates. The system was developed in Microsoft Excel using its Solver add-in. Excel was selected as the system platform also because of its relative popularity compared to alternative platforms. The DSS utilizes integer linear programming to maximize the total student satisfaction with their mentor assignments. The DSS replaces a process that used to take over an hour to one that takes less than ten minutes. The original process would have required employing 6 workers, while the new process requires only 1 worker to help generate assignments.

The design of the handle will be improved upon to create a better mechanical advantage and manufacturability of the product. This will be accomplished by increasing the strength of the parts design and the processes that go into the production. The project will encompass an analysis of how the handle works, the construction and design of the mold, and a description of part production will be examined and improved upon so that the parts can be made as efficiently and easily as possible. The molds will be made with silicone and the plastic used for the handle is a thermoplastic two part mixture. A cost analysis of the product is also provided in order to see how to further the project into mass production. Ultimately, the parts will be produced and tested so that they can be given to those suffering from upper extremity amputations, injuries, or loss of dexterity.

The Six Sigma DMAIC method was used to discover root cause problems of the current system, define performance metrics, and to develop data driven solutions for improving the current system of viewing and saving Senior Projects on microfiche. From this analysis, a new User Guide and visual aids were designed to help students navigate the microfiche reader machines and scanning software. Digitization opportunities were also analyzed in this study by examining student usage and Senior Project usage by year, contacting vendors for quotes, and investigating in-house digitization through digitization on demand. Based on the various alternatives, it was recommended to digitize Senior Projects in-house through a process called digitization on demand – where Senior Projects on microfiche are scanned and uploaded to the University Library’s digital Senior Project database (DigitalCommons@CalPoly) as students use the Senior Projects. This is the most affordable alternative, and will help immediately digitize frequently used Senior Projects, as well as give the University Library a much clearer idea of its digitization challenges and requirements for future digitization purposes.

 Use of Lean and Six-Sigma tools to recommend new patient arrival time

 Manufacturing product scheduling to reduce patient wait time

 Use of facility redesign techniques to improve flow and patient holding capacity

With application of the recommendations, the Cath Lab department can reduce patient waiting time by 75%, decrease scheduling variability, and increase patient holding capacity by up to four times.

The project objectives were to have an organized storage area using principles of 5S; determine excess inventory; consolidate available exhibit information; create guidelines for exhibit production to ensure high quality exhibits with sufficient user documentation are created; perform a sampling of exhibit use in order to have a list of exhibits ranked by popularity; identify areas of waste and initiate record-keeping in these areas as basis for future projects.

The storage area was organized, but 5S was not fully applied because the labeling and storage containers were not standardized. Before and after photos of the storage area are shown in Figures E2 and E3. Some excess inventory was identified, but more is still likely to be found in the front office and the business offices. Exhibit information was consolidated and the Guidelines for Exhibit Production were completed and implemented. Exhibit sampling was performed, but lacked scope. Further sampling should be performed over a greater number of days.

Figure E2: Storage area, before 5S

This project found that applying Lean methodologies in a non-profit, service organization was effective in producing both the quantitative and qualitative benefits typically seen in traditional applications in manufacturing organizations. Yet, these benefits will be short-lived at the Museum if lean thinking is not adopted across the entire organization and the organizational culture is not transformed into a Lean culture. Many more areas of the building would benefit from 5S implementations.

Figure E3: Storage area, after 5S

Future Directions include making exhibit improvements; tracking birthday party costs and attendance, and inventory use; determining optimal staffing levels; and locating all inventory in various areas of the building by performing 5S.

Potable water is the primary need for people in the disaster situations described in this paper. San Luis Obispo has the local manufacturing capability to meet all of the cities potable water needs.

Clearwater Technology is a leading manufacturer of Ozone generating equipment. Using a modified version of their skid mounted ozone filtration unit, filters can be deployed at Red Cross disaster shelters. To accomplish effective deployment filtration units will have to be assembled faster than Clearwater can typically build products and under very unfavorable circumstances. To reach this ambitious goal Industrial Engineering techniques including lead time reduction, set up time reduction, human factors and design for assembly must be employed. The main focus of this project is improving the parts kitting process with respect to lead time minimization and human factors considerations. Research in these topics provides an additional benefit to Clearwater Technologies who can implement these strategies to take advantage of numerous cost benefits. The results of this project yielded significant monetary savings from reduced parts kitting time as well as from reduced repetitive strain as a result of human factors recommendations. A disaster contingency guide was delivered to Clearwater detailing how all necessary activities should be accomplished in a minimum amount of time. The mutually beneficial nature of preparing the city for disaster, giving students valuable design experience and improving Clearwater’s day to day operations provides a proof of concept for the envisioned Cal Poly Responding to Emergencies using Local Industry (RELI) center. It is a hope of this project that this vision will be brought to reality through the continued efforts and collaboration of Cal Poly students and local industry.

This senior project proposes a plug-in to extend the functionality of Enterprise Resource Planning applications to include the recruitment of new employees. Proof of concept for such plug-in is developed in this senior project and reviewed in this report. As a result of analyzing the changes between current process and the new process with the plug-in instead of Applicant Tracking System, the use of the plug-in saved an average large company of 10,000+ employees an estimated $160,000 yearly. Additionally, the plug-in showcased the potential for improvement in the speed of Human Resource department, increased visibility of Human Resource department spending, and potential to make the Human Resource staff more satisfied with their job.

The report provides the production plant with a concrete analysis of their current changeover method, which tends to be lengthy and complicated, and suggest alternatives in short and long term periods of time to reduce setup time.

After analyzing the time studies of the current changeover method, the problems at production process fall into two categories: disorganization in the work area and disorganization in the work distribution. Solving these problems would give as a result a time efficient changeover process, saving time, resources and money. Several short term and long term ideas were proposed to compensate for these problems, but only 6 short term alternatives and 5 long term alternatives are examined and analyzed in this report.

The short term alternatives analyzed to solve the problems are: adding a cleaning supply station, increase the area for certain items, paint boxes, storage more Petri dishes, put markers on Conveyor Belt and the application of the SMED method. The long term alternatives analyzed to solve the problems are: Door Relocation, inclusion of a second reactor, a new communication system, UV Sanitation System

The implementation of these alternatives will reduce the variability and increase efficiency in the changeover process in the production of culture media at the plant.