In the aerospace industry, manufacturers devote a good deal of time and resources to ensuring that they comply with tight restrictions on how they can design and assemble the highly complex systems they build. Perhaps because they must meet such demanding tolerances, not all aerospace companies have gotten around to implementing lean manufacturing techniques.
Bombardier Learjet is one aerospace veteran that is catching up. As it gears up for assembly of a new airplane at its Wichita, KS, production center, the company is using the opportunity to transition to lean manufacturing, according to a recent report on Flightglobal.com, which tracks the aviation industry.
Like so many lean efforts before it, Learjet’s pursuit of system-wide efficiency and waste-reduction owes much to the efforts of one particular leader. Under the purview of VP and General Manager David Coleal, the manufacturer has managed to meld production lines on four separate models using lean techniques, a feat that Coleal says has shrunk assembly time for all models.
"We're trying to get our lean production thinking hats on and use as much of the existing footprint as possible," Flightglobal.com quotes Coleal as saying.