DOC PREVIEW
MSU ECE 4512 - Airplane Loading Robots

This preview shows page 1-2-19-20 out of 20 pages.

Save
View full document
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 20 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 20 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 20 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
View full document
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 20 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience
Premium Document
Do you want full access? Go Premium and unlock all 20 pages.
Access to all documents
Download any document
Ad free experience

Unformatted text preview:

Loading the Future with SuccessAirplane Loading RobotsCEO: Kyle CullenPresident of Engineering: Micheal LindseyVP of Engineering: Robert StranghoenerVP of Engineering: Becky Owen1 Executive SummaryAutoLoad will produce an autonomous robot that loads packages into airplanes. This robot is intended to be used by an overnight delivery company. AutoLoad’s robot will be easily configured on the fly by a wireless controller.The robot will replace manual labor used to load the packages. The lack of personnel is not the greatest savings. The most significant savings will be the airplanes’ decreased turnaround time. A robot will be able to load all the packages for a single robot faster than a human, thus allowing the airplanes to be fully utilized. Also when humans perform a task then there is an inherent error and the error will be less when a robot performs the task.At the moment there is not a company that is making robots that are used to load airplanes with packages. So the only competition is a manual process. With the lack of equal competition then AutoLoad will only have to convince companies that its product isfar superior to the manual process because of the decreased turnaround time and the low error rate.AutoLoad is an engineering systems company with intellectual property as its main product. Most of the fabrication of the robots themselves is going to be produced by a third party (Caterpillar). This allows AutoLoad’s main responsibilities to be sales and development.The full-scale prototype has been purchased by FedEx and will take three years to design and construct. The next three years will be used to produce duplicate copies of the robot and to design the second version. Since each robot generation takes three years to design and create then AutoLoad’s books are drawn on a three year timetable. AutoLoad will operate at a loss for the first four years and will break even during the fifth year or the second year of selling actual product. Figure 1.0.a shows the growth rate of the companyand the projected profits until 2015. This figure shows AutoLoad’s large growth potential with in the airplane loading market.Figure 1.0.a: Growth Rate and Projected Profits2 Company Description2.1 SummaryAutoLoad, INC. will be a small company made up of three smaller divisions. The firstdivision, the management team, will be given the task of growing the company into newmarkets and interfacing with the customers. The second division, the engineeringdepartment, will create and test the robot. The third division will interface with thecompany’s business partners. These partners will include manufacturing companies thatwill create all the parts necessary to build and maintain the robot. The starting partnerswill be Caterpillar and FedEx. Since most of the manufacturing of the robot will be doneby Caterpillar, the company will be small and centralized.2.2 Company OwnershipAutoLoad is a privately owned by four initial individuals, Kyle Cullen, Micheal Lindsey,Robert Stranghoener, and Rebecca Owen. Each owner owns 25% of the company. Thecompany is an S corporation because an S corporation gives the company the flexibilityto easily go public and is not double taxed by the government [1]. Also an S corporationhas a higher reputation than an LLC. Each of the board members has a specificallydesign role in the company. Kyle Cullen is the CEO and sales manager. MichealLindsey is the President of Engineering. Robert Stranghoener is the Vice President ofEngineering in charge of communications with Caterpillar. Rebecca Owen is the VicePresident of Engineering and in charge of the software group which programs the robots’movements.2.3 Company LocationAutoLoad will be located in Memphis, Tennessee mainly because of its close ties toFedEx. They have a large distribution hub in Memphis that ships packages all over theworld. Caterpillar has manufacturing plants in Decatur, Alabama and Jacksonville,Florida. Memphis is a centralized location near these Caterpillar manufacturing sites, hasan international airport, and is an industrialized city with several different types ofcommerce in the area.2.4 Company FacilitiesSince the manufacturing of the robot and the onsite testing will be done at other locationsoutside of AutoLoad’s main facility, AutoLoad’s main facility can be a pre-existing 8000sq foot building. This building will include test laboratories, shop facilities for creationof small test equipment, president’s office, three vice presidents’ offices, employeeoffices, demonstration area, conference room, break room, restrooms, and waiting /delivery area.2.5 Company StrategyAutoLoad will rely on its reputation to compete in the narrow market of airplane freightloading. Customer service will be held paramount to keep its reputation strong andincrease repeat business. AutoLoad will also continuously improve the technology of itsrobots to keep up with the companies’ customers’ growing needs and wants.Since the cost of constructing a large scale robot is so great, AutoLoad will get its fundingfrom two places. The first strategy will be to get venture capital from several venturecapital firms so that a single venture capital firm will not have to hold the burden of theentire project. Also, a single venture capitalist might not be able to fund the entireproject. The second approach is to have FedEx support the project financially. After thefirst year of having an operational prototype FedEx would be given the option to obtain amonopoly on AutoLoad’s robots. This would allow FedEx to be the only company thatloads its airplanes in a totally autonomous fashion. During the three-year monopoly,minor changes would be made to the robot’s functions, and research would be conductedon its reliability and functionality. Furthermore, during this time period AutoLoad wouldbe working on the next generation of airplane loading robots. The second-generationrobot will be released sometime during the third year. After the three-year monopolyexpires the company would offer FedEx another three-year monopoly, but they wouldhave to make a considerable purchase and contribution to AutoLoad in order to receivethe monopoly. The third generation of the robot will be finished sometime in the last yearof the second monopoly


View Full Document

MSU ECE 4512 - Airplane Loading Robots

Documents in this Course
Approach

Approach

15 pages

Load more
Download Airplane Loading Robots
Our administrator received your request to download this document. We will send you the file to your email shortly.
Loading Unlocking...
Login

Join to view Airplane Loading Robots and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or
We will never post anything without your permission.
Don't have an account?
Sign Up

Join to view Airplane Loading Robots 2 2 and access 3M+ class-specific study document.

or

By creating an account you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use

Already a member?