Intelligent work methods gives efficient production

Lean production is familiar to many, perhaps primarily from the automotive industry. This manufacturing method has now reached the aircraft industry and Saab Aerostructures.

Just over two years ago, Saab Aerostructures was awarded the task of developing and manufacturing seven different doors for Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. From the beginning it was decided that production, primarily of the Large Cargo Doors, would be automated in some form. Magnus Engström, who has worked at Saab for 17 years developing new production technologies, tells us that they soon realised that lean production with a pulsed line was the way to go.
“This way of working is still quite new within the aircraft industry. It required major investments but it means that Saab Aerostructures is now at the cutting edge in this area”, he says.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has a large order book, and the production line at Saab Aerostructures is designed to meet the large demand of the aircraft. The line took a little over a year to build up and the first door was delivered to Boeing on schedule in the second quarter of 2007.

Pulsed line

The Large Cargo Doors is manufactured in the pulsed line. The doors are built in a jig; a large fixture which holds everything in place during assembly. A conveyor belt guides the jig’s path between the nine stations where the different work procedures are carried out to complete the door. The work at all stations is designed to take equally long periods to complete, and it means that the jigs can pulse forward on the line in sync. It moves from station one where a skeleton is built, to station nine where a final check and function test is carried out before the door is sent to Boeing.

More efficient production

Lean production is about working more intelligently and having routines and standards to make the production more efficient. The pulsed line is one of the methods used to create conditions to apply lean production. Lean production differs from traditional aircraft manufacture in many more ways. In addition to the purely technical aspects there are also a number of “soft” values. Among other things, there are standardised installation instructions which make work more efficient, support resources close to production, visual daily guides that minimise error frequency and more.
“The great benefit with this way of working is that it removes a lot of the waste that otherwise occurs, for example searching for information, searching for materials and tools, problem solving, and so on,” says Magnus Engström.

Back to CNB 5/2007