Aerospace
Factory Relocation and Plant Layout
Factory Relocation and Plant Layout
The company is a global aerospace manufacturer specialising in the manufacture of turbines/engines for commercial & military applications worldwide. The company globally employs several million people and has manufacturing facilities in 48 countries. Company turnover was in excess of $5,645 million in 2003 and its market share being a third of the global market.
Results
- By using new technologies in transfer methods which the client was unaware of, the use of cranes was eliminated and a saving of £10million was made.
- Factory layout created with a 25% reduction in footprint on the clients original design
- Initial manpower estimation was 141 headcount based on clients past experience of requirements for a facility of that size. Our team reduced this to 48 headcount based on accurate process data
- 1.1 million pound saving by challenging methods of manufacture & combining machining operations to reduce total number of machines required.
- Facility planned to cope with a fluctuation of 30% +/- in demand
- Complete technical specifications created for each machine
Observations
Our team were tasked to support relocating production of 6- 9 major components from a UK facility to a facility in the USA. The company had previously attempted to complete this project by themselves but the project had stalled, behind schedule & at high risk of failing. Initially asked to complete the project in 8 weeks – this was reduced to 6 weeks due to the delay in getting approval from Senior Management for the project. Two weeks into the project Senior Management requested our team to support them in making a 25% saving in the footprint of the factory.
Objectives
Create a new factory layout for the facility in the USA based around Lean principals
• Reduce factory footprint by 25% from clients original design
• Plan machine & manpower requirements based on process data.
• Initiate a project planning & reporting structure to track project progress & raise concerns.
• Create technical specifications for all new equipment
• Create a Lean logistics strategy for the movement of materials within the facility
• Challenge method of manufacture to further reduce costs
• Planned facility to be capable of coping with a 20% +/- fluctuation in demand
