Lean is directly applicable to the aerospace sector whether it is in the military or commercial arena. 9/11 rocked the aerospace industry placing enormous pressures on the commercial sector to change in order to survive. Today, the aerospace sector still faces turbulent times both in the military and commercial sectors. Reduce number of times say ‘sector’ The strong will survive, however, and the companies most likely to make it in this highly competitive market are those that embrace change, becoming flexible enough to meet the demands of the consumer and battle the added costs of security measures, fuel prices and environmental levies. LMR is uniquely placed to guide you through the challenges of adapting to the new reality and to ensure that your company is one of those that come through the crisis fitter, leaner and stronger than they were before.







Sector: Airline
Enginering Maintenance

Scope:
Provide Engineering with a suite of production tools to enhance hangar throughput without affecting safety or quality to match airline growth.

Application:
Using Lean Tools that LMR had already tailored for the aircraft maintenance industry. LMR and the core team started the transformation with great care not to adversely affect passenger safety, the quality of engineering work, or the engineering work ethic.

After a three week analysis of operations using VSM, LMR started with the application of High Level Standardised Work to manage the sequence of the maintenance check programme, and the critical path of the technicians’ tasks. By managing workflow, including 3rd party support, LMR was able to reduce checktimes immediately by 30%.

With the introduction of an integrated production team to manage the planning, material flow, and production activities, the client soon saw a further impact on check times with an improvement in Deferred Defect clear up. These activities were followed with the introduction of 5s, TPM, and QCO to sustain the improvement in check time reduction.

LMR have trained the client’s leadership to use Information Centre meetings to drive and manage performance.

Results:
Aircraft check times are at the allotted throughput time (54% reduction). ROI on LMR resource 7:1.

Future Plans:
The client is undertaking a further reduction in turnaround times to drive problems to the surface and increase efficiency.

 

Sector: Airline
3rd Party Engineering Maintenance

Scope:
Reduce C Check turnaround for cargo operator

Application:
Based on the methodology LMR devised to reduce A Check turnarounds, LMR applied the same principles to the C Check input for a major international cargo carrier. As with most Lean engagements, a diagnostic to fully understand the constraints was needed before applying the principles of Lean. However, after observing one check, the constraints were identified as being in the following areas:

* Material support
* Task planning and NRC recovery
* Status control of check process

A striking feature of C Check delays was caused by parts availability. An average delay of 17% to the check time was caused by poor material supply. This could be apportioned to poor material stock holdings, lack of appropriate consumables to hand, and a poor hit rate on First Pick Capability from hangar stores.
By applying the ‘Line Back’ principle – following concerns that technicians have when performing the job – LMR was able to confirm that 30% of the delay in production activities was due to peripheral services not responding to check queries as quickly or as effectively as they could.     This led to a full review of how services respond to production requirements and an organisational change to functions in order to provide swifter, more accurate responses to technical queries.

This led to the introduction of a basic andon feature to reverse traditional thinking in providing service to production, and driving an escalation process for rapid response to production issues.

Among other tools, LMR introduced a high level work sequence board to control all aspects of the maintenance flow. By plotting the critical path and holding structured status meetings throughout, the maintenance team were able to respond to bottlenecks as they occurred, re-allocate manpower as required, and most importantly, deliver a timely check.

By addressing the material supply issues with the Just In Time Principles, the NRC recovery using andon, and the check status and planning with the work sequence board, our client was able to consistently deliver on time.

Results:
Aircraft check times saw a 45% percent reduction in throughput time with no adverse affect on quality, no addition in manpower, or, most importantly, no adverse affect on safety.

ROI on LMR resource 19:1