Virginia Tech graduate with a passion for driving continuous improvement projects. Looking to optimize business operations in a challenging environment to expand upon skills in research, data analysis, and project management. Professional goals include raising awareness around gender equality through data analytics and visualization platforms.
Past Projects
I have made a focused and dedicated effort to build my technical skills and I have contributed heart and soul into my academic projects. Read about my past projects and get in touch with any questions. Download a copy of the final project report for the projects of interest to you to learn more.
Organizational Performance Measurement Capstone Project
Jan 2020 - May 2020
Lead a team of 4 members at the Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design (CPULD), a nonprofit corrugated packaging testing research lab based in Blacksburg, VA
Developed KPIs based on the Balanced Scorecard to integrate performance on the shop floor level with organization level KPIs. The organization had Financial KPIs in place to track their free cash flow, but the organization did not have metrics to track performance on the shop floor level
Utilized the SIPOC diagram to map the process at the organization and conducted a SWOT analysis to better understand the organization and its competition
Formed the roadmap strategy to identify the KPIs that would best assist CPULD track their performance
Actively collaborated with the Director of CPULD and Managers to arrive at an aligned decision to use the Learning and Growth KPIs, namely employee satisfaction and employee engagement.
Developed a Qualtrics survey with 52 questions and a 6-point Likert Scale to gauge employee satisfaction and engagement
The qualitative and quantitative results of the project:
More than 95% of the employees felt valued working at the lab, but they would like to be more involved in decision making,
More than 90% of the employees felt they fit to the task they were assigned to,
More than 80% of the employees agreed to growing professionally at CPULD.
This project exposed me leading a team by example and learning new technology on the fly (RStudio and SPSS). I served as the liaison between my team members and the upper management at CPULD.
VT Intelligent Parking System (VIPs) User Experience (UX) Project
Jan 2020 - May 2020
● Designed the User Experience (UX) of interfacing with a novel application for parking on campus aimed at the general public at Virginia Tech
● Conducted user research by interviewing parking users and observing employees at the VT Parking Service department
● Developed a storyboard from the ecological, interaction and emotional perspectives of the parking users by making sketches of the product
● Made a wireframe representation of a set of related intermediate screen designs, corresponding to the usage/design scenario used for the storyboard
● Developed a smartphone application, VT Intelligent Parking System, supplementary to the Parking Services website to provide a stress-free parking experience with minimal interaction that is safe to use while driving
Research Paper: Effects of Performance Measurement Systems on Individual Behavior using the Balanced Scorecard
Jan 2020 - Apr 2020
Authored a research paper targeted at the Journal of Operations Management on the integration of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and the Goal Setting Theory to increase employee motivation as part of Management of Organizational Systems course at Virginia Tech
Examined & presented a case study on the effects of implementing the BSC in an organization on the behavior of the employees thus enabling achievement of organizational goals
Analyzed a case study where the Performance Measurement System incorporated by the companies, the Balanced Scorecard framework, could be seen to influence the behavior of its employees and management, the behavioral factors being:
Motivation,
Understanding,
Focus on Improvement.
Working through this semester long project I learned on conducting in-depth targeted research to gain insight on behavior-driven problems in the organization and the workforce.
Littlefield Technologies Simulation
Feb 2019 - May 2019
Participated in an online competitive simulation of a queueing network of a high-tech factory against 6 teams for a semester long project during the Production Systems Analysis course at Virginia Tech
Broadened my eye for detail and accuracy to identify process inefficiencies and form a strategy to address these inefficiencies
Collaborated with 2 other team members to maximize the objective function, the company’s profitability
Maximize profits by analyzing past inventory levels and product demand to increase production capacity and maintain a safety stock of about 900 units to avoid stock-outs and bottlenecks
Analyzed data to form real-life strategies to optimize practical problems while working in a collaborative team environment. Helped develop my ability to present the trends in data to my teammates to reach a consensus and drive team alignment on next steps to address the process inefficiencies.
Virginia Tech Icon Fest
Feb 2019 - Apr 2019
Worked on the Virginia Tech Icon Fest with 2 other team members to prepare an unsolicited proposal for a comprehensive Project Master Plan
The plan addressed the strategic and the operational aspects of the Virginia Tech student festival based on the Project Management Body of Knowledge
The business impact was chartered to provide local businesses a platform to publicize their goods and services to a wider audience
Developed the Gantt chart on Microsoft Project for 52 activities and the 5 phases of the project life cycle
Linked activities together on Microsoft Project to address slippage of activities and their impact on downstream activities
To kickstart the project we developed a roadmap strategy delineating the need for the project and the different activities that would be required to complete the project successfully
The lessons I learned for this project was the collaboration between team members required to strategize the different plans and come up with a feasible solution while working with a tight deadline
Realized my interest in the PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification by the end of 2021.
Case Study: Application of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM)
Mar 2019 - May 2019
Case study on the Application of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) and Paired-Cell Overlapping Loops of Cards with Authorization (POLCA) in Manufacturing
Authored an independent case study analysis of the adoption of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) in cohorts with continuous improvement programs based on Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints (TOC)
Identified common problems faced by traditional manufacturing companies such as that by running machines at a utilization of close to 1 does not equate to lead time reduction
Conducted research on the befits of POLCA over the Kanban system in certain situations low volume or custom products manufacturing environments
In the case of the case study company, Provan, identified that by implementing QRM-POLCA the following befits were realized:
Total lead time per batch decreased by 85%, from 4 weeks to 3 days
Inventory decreased by a great extent (liberating 600 sq. meters of space)
Automated Material Handling System Simulation
Sept 2018 - Dec 2018
Designed and modeled an automated material handling system (AMHS) using AutoMod, a 3D simulation software, in a 2 membered team for the semiconductor manufacturing course at Virginia Tech
The aim of the project was to identify the sequencing rule which lead to the shorted cycle time in a complex process flow for 20 wafers
Designed the fab layout based on the project needs: 4 interbays and 1 intrabay
Coded the model logic to incorporate the First In First Out (FIFO) and Shortest Remaining Process Time (SRPT) sequencing rules
Utilized root cause analysis (RCA) to identify the errors in model logic while working through the project
Identified the sequencing rule that lead to the shortest cycle time. The SRPT sequencing rule lead to a lower cycle time of 9.8 days while the cycle time for the FIFO sequencing rule was 11.5 days. Additionally, it was a great experience working together as a team to overcome roadblocks.
Machine Learning and Deep Learning in Manufacturing
Nov 2018 - Dec 2018
Conducted exhaustive literature review on the extent of machine learning and deep learning algorithms in manufacturing environments in a team consisting of 3 members
Reviewed deep learning (DL) algorithms and presented a case study on the application of DL algorithms in manufacturing
Identified popular journals in the area of application of ML and DL algorithms in manufacturing such as the Production & Manufacturing Research journal and the Reliability Engineering and System Safety journal
Exposed me to literature review in a field that I was not familiar with
Working through this project I learned two things:
The current state of research and applications of the algorithms in manufacturing,
Splitting activities between team members to complete projects on time and share lessons learned.
Heat Energy Recovery System
Jul 2017 - Jun 2018
● Utilized waste heat from a thermal system by de-superheating the refrigerant by using a water-cooled condenser/heat exchanger
● Researched, designed and fabricated a tube-in-tube heat exchanger on SolidWorks
● Modified the original thermal system by exchanging the original condenser with the fabricated heat exchanger
● Enhanced the performance of the thermal system by 51.92%