Lean Manufacturing Success in the Air Force
The successful conclusion of an Air Force Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) program has reaped numerous benefits for the warfighter, not the least of which is a whopping five-to-one return on the Air Force's investment that amounts to more than $100 million.
Cost reductions were achieved by reducing component manufacturing cycle times through product and process quality improvements. These steps included the application of
Lean business practices. These efforts refined and implemented Lean, non-proprietary business policies and practices and the use of electronic data affecting cycle time and product quality across the sector. This was an execution of cooperative endeavors, and showed the benefits of collaboration to resolve common, pre-competitive issues that would not be addressed in the previously used one-on-one, supplier to OEM relationship.
Lean manufacturing practices are generally aimed at transforming the aerospace enterprise, including smaller companies within the ManTech supply chain, that are increasingly responsible for as much as 80 percent of the production work on some Air Force programs, into Lean Supplier Networks for prime aerospace contractors, like Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The primary contractors employ a manufacturing production flow system that necessitates consistent, reliable delivery of quality components from all suppliers.
A variety of Lean practices have been incorporated into many prime aerospace manufacturing facilities, in some cases creating drastic changes in how the company operates. At some facilities the Lean practices used involve eliminating ergonomic problems by designing new tools, or altering work-station configurations that improve the physical nature of the production process.
The Air Force Research Laboratory seeks to make a better flying machine. Since 1917, when the directorate was activated as the Materials Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and its predecessors have played key roles in research and development efforts that have advanced aerospace capabilities to where they are today.
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