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Case Study on

Lean Manufacturing Initiatives at Boeing

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1916: Airplane manufacturer Boeing Airplane Company was formed by William

Boeing 1954: The Boeing 707 jet makes its first flight.

1960: Philadelphia-based Vertol Aircraft Corporation, a maker of military

helicopters, is acquired.

1966: Company launches first Lunar Orbiter, which sends photos of the moon back

to Earth.

1968: Apollo 8, which takes the first astronauts around the moon, is launched in

December boosted by a Saturn V rocket, for which Boeing had built the first stage.

1970: The 747, the first of the 'jumbo jets,' makes its first commercial flight.

1993: NASA names the company the prime contractor for the International Space

Station.

1996: The aerospace and defense units of Rockwell International are acquired.

1997: McDonnell Douglas, number one in military aircraft and number three in

commercial aircraft worldwide, is acquired, making Boeing the largest aerospace

company in the world.

1999: Company-led consortium successfully launches a commercial

satellite from a floating platform at sea.

History

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How The Journey Started?......

Boeing airplane company was formed in 1916 by William Boeing and

George Westerville as Pacific Aero Products company.

They manufactured aircrafts for US military during the first world war.

Navy awarded a contract to build a primary trainer(planes for test flights).

Model 40A mail plane won the US post office contract. BAT was formed to run airmail services, to train pilot, to setup airfields,

maintenance staff for new service.

After second world war focus shifted to commercial jets.

1952 first commercial jet Boeing 707(short range jet).

1960 first jumbo jet Boeing 747.

1962 they manufactured Air Force One for American President's use.

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Need for Change

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Primary focus was to eliminate waste in the companys

business processes in order to :

i. Maximize operational efficiency

ii. Improve quality/safety standards

iii. Eliminate unnecessary motion and inventory

iv. Save time

v. Improve employees morale with increased involvement

Implementation plan (using tools like value stream and

employee involvement) was formulated

Boeing relied on people who worked closely with processesand products to remove waste in manufacturing and support

processes

Implementation of Lean Manufacturing

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Production Reform Team was formed

Carriers had to choose from a limited options. Special requests

were handled at an extra price

400 computers were discarded and replaced with 4 inter-

connected software packages to manage Configuration,

Manufacturing, Purchasing and Inventory Control

Accelerated Improvement Workshops (AIW) were held

Inventory management system- Cribmaster, was installed to

monitor inventory

Autonomous Maintenance Workshops (AMW) were conducted

to improve maintenance of machines

Lean Manufacturing Assessments and Production Preparation

Process workshops were also conducted

Implementation of Lean Manufacturing (contd)

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PARAMETER RESULTS

INVENTORY Inventory Turns increased from 2 to 18

WIP brought down to 30 pieces from 100 pieces

MANUFACTURING TIME Reduced by 60%

Time taken to produce individual parts reduced by 95%

FLOOR SPACE AREA

Reduced by over 50% Inventory Storage space also reduced

CAPACITY Increased

ASSEMBLY TIME Reduced by 50%

Wing production lead time reduced from 9.5 days to 5 days

PROCESS TIME Eliminated the need of a second production line

DEFECT RATE Defects reduced by 48%

EFFICIENCY Increased- Process that took 2000 minutes was being

completed in 100 minutes

Benefits Derived from Lean Mfg.

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Moving Line Technique

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Benefits Derived from Moving-Line Technique

PARAMETER RESULTS

INVENTORY WIP Inventory reduced as employees could monitor the

production status at any time

ASSEMBLY TIME

30 feeder lines parallel to the main assembly line helped reduce

assembly time

An assembly that previously needed 42 hours of work was nowcompleted in just 16 hours

Further anticipation to reduce the assembly time by 50%

LEAD TIME Anticipated reduction of order to delivery time to six months

QUALITY LEVELS Standardized parts and procedures increased the quality

EFFICIENCY Increase in overall efficiency was observed

COST The cost of production came down because of various process

improvements

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Traditional vs. Moving-Line Approach

Traditional Approach Moving-Line Approach

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Lessons Learnt

Moving Line Technology

Lean Manufacturing From principle to Practice

Role of IT in Lean Manufacturing

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Boeing Current Market outlook 2010 to 2030

Total Revenues - $ 64,306.0 mn

Profit - $ 12,463.0 mn

http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/http://boeing_current_market_outlook_2011_to_2030.pdf/

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Thank You

Boeing HQ , Chicago

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