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AIRCRAFT-CONTROLS FIRM COMBINES STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE SPEED, FLEXIBILITY, AND QUALITY. BY JOHN H. SHERIDAN
ENCASED IN A 15-FT-LONG HALLWAY EXhibit, an elaborately crafted 3-D model depicts the layout of BAE Systems Controls' plant and office complex in Fort Wayne, Ind. It's often a starting point for visitors embarking on a tour of the facility, but not because it offers an accurate preview of what they're about to see. The model is simply a point of reference, a look at how things used to be. Since change has become a way of life for the aircraft-engine-controls manufacturer, any attempt to update the display would quickly become an exercise in futility.
One section of the model, for example, shows a receiving and inspection area--since eliminated with the adoption of a "dock to stock" materials program and extensive vendor quality certification. (A video training center and an expanded service-support operation now occupy that space.) Also gone is the adjacent "kitting" department that was made obsolete by the implementation of a kanban pull system and point-of-use storage bins on the plant floor. "The kitting area," recalls logistics manager Bob Hoffman, "was one of the biggest bottlenecks in the plant."
Improvement initiatives have ranged from the creation of lean-production cells to the installation of highly automated, mistake-- proofed equipment. And the changes keep on coming. "I get goose bumps," says plant leader Todd Rash, "when I walk through this place and see all the things that are going on."
Blending lean-manufacturing principles with Six Sigma quality tools, the 600-employee facility has fashioned a coherent "Lean Sigma" strategy designed to increase velocity, eliminate waste, minimize process variation, and secure its future in the evolving aerospace market.
Established in the mid-1980s by General Electric Co. to supply controls for GE aircraft engines, the Fort Wayne plant has undergone two changes in ownership in the last...