AOG – Aircraft on Ground

Problem:

Northstar Aerospace’s machining of components for F22s had long lead times and often no parts in stock, sometimes causing aircraft to become grounded.

Solutions:

Using single-piece flow concepts, we re-designed the cell to accommodate the flow, changed the machining layout and sequencing to eliminate setups, and reduced the time to machine. The team kept parts from leaving the cell by moving secondary operations into the cell. Additionally, personnel were qualified in specialized processes and performed all quality inspections in the cell.

Benefits:

Before the project, the top operational metric was machine cutting time per labor hour. After the project, machine cutting time decreased, which meant the metric worsened. However, throughput increased dramatically. Lead times were reduced from 4+ months to less than four weeks. We began putting parts in stock within three months. Proving the top operational metric was sub-optimizing operations in this cell. Ultimately, our end-user was able to keep more aircraft in service.