Abstract
The journey to lean for the US Aerospace Enterprise began in earnest in the early 1990s, as industry and government responded to post-Cold War imperatives. Most organizations responded first by harvesting the ‘low-hanging fruit’ — opportunities that required minimum investment and that would yield quick results. Often, these resided on the factory floor, where it was felt that rapid improvements in production processes could be implemented. To be sure, there were some more far-reaching change initiatives — ‘pilot projects’ — where a measured industry or government investment could show progress and serve as a powerful illustration of new principles and practices. But going after the ‘low-hanging fruit’ was most common.
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Notes
C. R. Cook and J. C. Graser, ‘Military Airframe Acquisition Costs:The Effects of Lean Manufacturing’ (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2001), RAND Study MR- 1 325-A.This study examines how to incorporate new DoD acquisition and manufacturing environments, notably lean manufacturing, into historical cost-estimating relationships or methodologies. Assessing the state of lean implementation in the military aircraft industry in 1998, the study concludes that while nearly all manufacturers had embraced lean, ‘lean implementation tended to be very localized within particular functions or on pilot projects’. None had implemented lean practices from the beginning to the end of the value stream, or even ‘wall to wall’ within a factory.The authors today believe that implementation of lean practices continues to progress slowly, and that most lean successes remain in localized areas or functions.
Based on information in J. C. Hoppes, ‘Lean Manufacturing Practices in the Defense Aircraft Industry’, Masters thesis, MIT (1995), pp. 56–82.
S. Kandebo, ‘LeanThinking Spurs Culture Shift at LMAS’, Aviation Week & Space Technology (July 12th, 1999), 56–9.
B. Ippolito and E. M. Murman, ‘End User Involvement in Establishing Software Requirements for Aerospace Software Systems’, INCOSE 2000, Minneapolis, MN. (July 2000).
J. Menendez, ‘Building Software Factories in the Aerospace Industry’, Masters thesis, MIT (1997).
B. Ippolito and E. M. Murman, ‘Improving the Software Upgrade Value Stream’, LAI Report RP0 1–01 (2001).
Based on information from J. P. Koonmen, ‘Implementing Precision AssemblyTechniques in the Commercial Aircraft Industry’, Masters thesis, MIT (1994); and Hoppes (1995).
The following criteria must be met for a team to be an Integrated Product Team (IPT): the team must have a finite mission to develop a product or process; membership must be cross-functional and include all functions with an impact on the product during its lifecycle (including, at times, customer and supplier representatives); there must be defined and measurable performance outcomes; and the team must function at a single program level. Adapted from J. Klein and G. I. Susman, ‘Lean Aircraft Initiative Organization and Human Resources (O&HR) Survey Feedback — Integrated Product Teams (IPTs)’, LAI White Paper (April I995), Lean 95–03.
R. Weisman, ‘Quarterly Loss is Pratt’s First in Half-Century’, The Hartford Courant (October 23rd, 1992), p. B I.
L. R. de Arellano, A. Chambers, and J.T Shields, ‘Summary of Research Conducted in the Engine Sector’, LAI Report RP00–01 (August 2000).
The chaku-chaku cell was the lean solution to the turbine blade root-grinding process in Pratt & Whitney’s North Haven, Connecticut, facility. Womack and Jones (1996), pp. 174–80 — see Note 3, Chapter I.
C. Ingols and L. Brem, ‘Implementing Acquisition Reform: A Case Study on Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM)’ (July 1998), p. 6.The authors are from Corporate Classrooms in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and worked under contract to the Defense Systems Management College and Boeing.
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© 2002 The Lean Enterprise Value Foundation, Inc.
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Murman, E. et al. (2002). Islands of Success. In: Lean Enterprise Value. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403907509_5
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