Systematic lean techniques for improving honeycomb bonding process

Abstract

Honeycomb sandwich panel, which is mostly made of composite materials, is the major component constituting airplane body structure. The composite materials can greatly reduce production and transportation costs and so are widely used in the aerospace industry. Traditional honeycomb sandwich panel companies are facing competitive challenges such as shorter delivery time, high quality, and quick response to customer demand. Lean technology has been effectively applied to various industries for improving production efficiency. In this study, systematic lean techniques are proposed and implemented in an aerospace company for improving the honeycomb bonding process. A series of lean production methods are organized and presented. Implementation results suggest the overall productivity of the honeycomb bonding process increase due to elimination of bottlenecks, reduction of cycle time, and decrease of WIP inventory. The proposed approach can be expected to apply to other manufacturing processes for improving their productivity. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.