Performance Improvement in Aerospace Production Through Lean Manufacturing Implementation

Abstract

The high demand in aerospace industry require on going improvement to meet its costumer. Prototyping is a form of effort to ensure the quality of airplanes. However, several problems rose in this phase but two of them are significant in disrupting the production system. They are the spare parts tardiness and unnecessary motion leading a high lead time. The objective of this article is to develop lean action plan to reduce lead time in airplane prototyping. The method applied in this paper is divided into three major phases. Firstly, evaluate current system performance using Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Secondly, determine the dominant waste by cooperating waste finding checklist. Finally, develop a lean action plan. Most waste occurred in production activities. Waste of motion is the highest among other waste with the score of 44 followed by waiting with the score of 24. The third highest waste is excess processing with the score of 2. The causes of these wastes are lack of facilities such as machines and tools and inefficient operators in picking and mixing sealant. The lean action plans are to add machines and tools for labelling, adding sealant room and to change the production plant lay out. By doing so, the lead time can be reduced up to 0,25 hours.