View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@WPI Worcester Polytechnic Institute Digital WPI Major Qualifying Projects (All Years) Major Qualifying Projects April 2015 Management of the Design and Construction of the WPI Bamboo Bicycle Amaia L. Gritsko Worcester Polytechnic Institute Angela Louise Langford Worcester Polytechnic Institute Brodie Alin Green Worcester Polytechnic Institute Hayden James Collins Worcester Polytechnic Institute John Louis Downey Worcester Polytechnic Institute See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/mqp-all Repository Citation Gritsko, A. L., Langford, A. L., Green, B. A., Collins, H. J., Downey, J. L., Pafumi, L. R., Lewis, M. R., Aleles, N. J., & Longwell, S. P. (2015). Management of the Design and Construction of the WPI Bamboo Bicycle. Retrieved from https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/mqp- all/2214 This Unrestricted is brought to you for free and open access by the Major Qualifying Projects at Digital WPI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Major Qualifying Projects (All Years) by an authorized administrator of Digital WPI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Author Amaia L. Gritsko, Angela Louise Langford, Brodie Alin Green, Hayden James Collins, John Louis Downey, Lena Rose Pafumi, Mitchell Robert Lewis, Nicholas John Aleles, and Samuel Patrick Longwell This unrestricted is available at Digital WPI: https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/mqp-all/2214 Management of the Design and Construction of the WPI Bamboo Bicycle A Major Qualifying Project Submitted to the Faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science Submitted By: Nicholas Aleles, Hayden Collins, John Downey, Brodie Green, Amaia Gritsko, Angela Langford, Mitchell Lewis, Samuel Longwell, Lena Pafumi Advisors: Walter Towner & Helen Vassallo 4/27/2015 Abstract The goal of this project is to manage the design, assembly, testing, and marketing processes of a bamboo bicycle. This was achieved through the use of the axiomatic design method where each functional requirement is independent and the information content of the design is minimized. Additionally, the management team utilized tactical business techniques and analytics to coordinate the efforts of the overall MQP group. i Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... i Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... iv Table of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ iv 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 1 2. Literature Review .................................................................................................................................. 1 2.1 Bamboo Bike History and Modern Relevancy ................................................................................... 4 2.2 Managing Large Groups ..................................................................................................................... 6 2.3 Managing Group Meetings ................................................................................................................. 8 2.4 Why have meetings? ......................................................................................................................... 10 3. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Axiomatic Design ............................................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Supply Chain ..................................................................................................................................... 16 3.2.1 Materials Requirement Planning ................................................................................................ 16 3.2.2 Logistics ..................................................................................................................................... 19 3.2.3 Manufacturing Process ............................................................................................................... 20 3.2.4 Learning Curve .......................................................................................................................... 24 3.3 The Critical Path Method for Project Management .......................................................................... 25 4. Marketing ............................................................................................................................................ 28 4.1 Target Market .................................................................................................................................... 28 4.2 Segmenting Strategies ....................................................................................................................... 28 4.3 Targeting Strategies .......................................................................................................................... 29 4.4 Positioning ........................................................................................................................................ 30 4.5 4 P’s of Marketing ............................................................................................................................ 31 4.5.1 Product ....................................................................................................................................... 32 4.5.2 Price ........................................................................................................................................... 32 4.5.3 Placement ................................................................................................................................... 33 4.5.4 Promotion ................................................................................................................................... 34 4.6 Marketing Survey .............................................................................................................................. 35 5. Financing a Bamboo Bike Startup ...................................................................................................... 36 5.1 Financial Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 36 5.2 Break-Even Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 37 5.2.1 Fixed Costs ................................................................................................................................. 37 ii 5.2.2 Variable Costs ............................................................................................................................ 38 5.2.3 Revenue ...................................................................................................................................... 38 5.3 Discounted Cash Flow Analysis ....................................................................................................... 39 5.4 Part Sourcing ..................................................................................................................................... 41 6. Company Direction ............................................................................................................................. 44 6.1 Organizational Behavior and Change ............................................................................................... 44 6.1.1 Decomposition of the Group Meeting Process .......................................................................... 44 6.1.2 Company Structure .................................................................................................................... 46 6.1.3 Cross Business Functions ........................................................................................................... 47 6.1.4 Accountability ............................................................................................................................ 48 6.2 Company Direction ........................................................................................................................... 49 6.2.1 Company Mission Statement ..................................................................................................... 49 6.2.2 Project Goals .............................................................................................................................. 49 6.2.3 Project Objectives ...................................................................................................................... 49 7. Results and Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 49 Appendices .................................................................................................................................................. 53 Appendix A – Weekly