Our goal is to truly operate as a Lean Enterprise. The company started adopting Lean Manufacturing methods in 1994. Our customers were looking to us and their other suppliers to improve quality, reduce costs, improve on-time delivery and reduce cycle and flow time. We had tried other quality programs with minimal success. Some of our customers were having success with Lean Manufacturing, a process based on the Toyota Production System.
What is Lean Manufacturing? It is a systematic and structured approach to the elimination of waste within the production system; it is an unwavering focus on the Value Stream and the constant pursuit of the Least Waste Way of operating.
Teams made up of employees and leaders from all levels, including our bargaining unit employees, routinely work together in kaizen events where they identify the waste in a process, eliminate it and implement changes that dramatically reduce costs, reduce flow and cycle time and improve quality. Some of the innovations that have been put in place as a result of these joint efforts include:
- Developing a mobile clean room
- Putting press brakes and 5-axis machines on skids
- Replacing an automated central parts washer with multiple in-line homemade washers
- Developing in-line solution heat treat
- Developing homebuilt mobile in-line process lines
- Achieving multiple examples of flow day & part travel reductions of over 95%
- Reducing build hours by more than 50%
- Consolidating our U.S. manufacturing facilities
Lean Enterprise…Moving Forward
Until 1999, most of our Lean activities were focused on the production areas. Late in 1999, the Aerostructures Group reorganized around its Value Stream, as defined by our customers, to take the next step towards becoming a Lean Enterprise. In this new structure, minimal resources are in the support streams and the Value Stream leaders own all the resources necessary to deliver customer satisfaction.
By reorganizing around the Value Stream, the Aerostructures Group can apply the same principles and the same tools throughout the company. It will drive the entire organization to the Least Waste Way of operating.
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