This Client is one of the largest privately-owned companies on the East Coast of Canada. They are actively involved in the airline industry focusing on aerospace parts production, repair and overhaul of aircraft, and the chartering of private business jets. Their commitment is to be a leader in corporate aircraft completion, maintenance, refurbishment, and engineering.
Reducing operating costs and better managing of estimated hours.
Managing cycle times and project schedules related to the delivery of aircraft.
Creating a competitive advantage and securing their future in a competitive market place.
Exceeding customer expectations in all areas.
Having the ability to sustain the improvements while their business continued to grow.
Assessment Findings
Work Time
Non-effective Time
On production work tickets, the employees did not understand key information needed to complete the work tickets.
Employees did not know the purpose of the work they were performing (i.e., employees could not indicate the reasons for deburring parts or the associated expectations).
Work procedures and practices performed by the employees were different from the ones expected by management.
Supervisors were having difficulty correcting procedures because they were not clear on the required and acceptable procedures.
Employees were unable to locate basic information on drawings and plans.
There was no overall coordination of the activities between the various trades and departments on the aircraft as many employees waited for each other when assigned a task.
Once an aircraft was moved into a hangar, the employees were not sure what needed to be done, and they waited to start working due to a lack of preparation and management expectations.
Excessive levels of rework in the upholstery department were due to working on the wrong models at the wrong times.
In avionics there were errors in the diagrams for the circuits from Engineering.
In sheet metal employees were waiting for inspections before they could continue.
In stores ineffective inventory control and procedures existed to track on-hand and required parts.
The perception of the Supervisors was that the Lead Hands and the employees knew what to do and their role was only to answer technical questions.
Supervisors were passive on-the-floor (i.e. they toured their areas and observed the activities rather than interacting with their employees).
Supervisors generally let the level of work activity follow its course, leaving it to the employees to manage the process themselves.
PVA's Response
Changed how the Managers and Supervisors approached their areas of responsibility, moving them from fighting fires to proactively managing their areas.
Provided management with a balanced program of classroom training and on-the-floor performance coaching.
Implemented performance standards for all tasks and activities.
Applied process mapping and observation techniques for identifying major opportunities for improvement in the work processes.
Developed a task force involving the inspection area to establish clear criteria and documents that allowed the area Supervisors to identify non-conformances and provide feedback in a timely manner.
Developed and implemented a first-off inspection procedure.
Developed and implemented a quality alert tag procedure to stop the process when poor quality was detected.
Developed and implemented an employee skills matrix to enable the Supervisors to assign work properly and to proactively identify training needs.
Improved the movement and planning process of the aircrafts for better shop loading and customer service.
Designed and installed job progress boards for the aircraft maintenance activities.
Enhanced the format and utilization of the shift start-up meetings.
Implemented a company-wide structure to manage opportunities and drive solutions that considered all internal customer/supplier impacts.
Developed Master Labor Schedules to establish crewing levels based on volume requirements.
Increased the effectiveness and timeliness of communication with employees to ensure their involvement and participation in the Problem Resolution Program (PRP) process.
The Results
Hover over graphs for more information
Some significant results obtained by our Client included:
Improved communication – both within and across departments
Increased the level of pro-active supervisory behaviors from 3% to 45% by focusing on regular, structured follow-up tours, and timely communication and feedback with all personnel by the Supervisors.
30% improvement in the ratio of billable hours versus total hours worked.
25% reduction of the overrun hours through improved labor productivity and shop floor scheduling.
The overall plant scrap rate has fallen from 5.60% of parts produced to 3.50%.
32% improvement in the overall labor productivity metrics.
100% improvement in schedule attainment.
20% reduction in SNAGS
Improvement in Supervisory Activities
Aerospace Assembly Work Time
PRE-PROJECT
3%0%35%17%45%
POST-PROJECT
45%5%25%10%15%
Active Supervision
Training
Administration
Manual Work
Available
Avionics Hours Worked
Aerospace Assembly Billable Hours Versus Worked Hours Avionics Area
Upholstery Hours Worked
Aerospace Assembly Billable Hours Versus Worked Hours Upholstery Area
Savings
Aerospace Assembly Savings
Long Term Work Continuation
A Client Coordinator was trained and certified during the PVA engagement.
A quarterly audit program of the new Management Operating System was developed for the Coordinator.
PVA conducted audits over 18 months to ensure compliance to the continued utilization of the Management Operating Systems.
These Audits resulted in recommendations and action plans to further identify additional opportunities for improving operations.
