Quality > Six Sigma Success
New Heights of Success
Thanks to a Six Sigma initiative, PAS Technologies' Kansas City, Missouri, operation has taken productivity and quality improvement to a new level.
"By improving our overall turnaround for on-time delivery, we've enabled our airline customers to reduce their in-house parts inventories for their maintenance operations," says Mark Townsend, PAS Technologies' general manager of Commercial and Military Fan Blade Business Group. "That means we're satisfying - and keeping - our customers."
PAS Technologies introduced the Six Sigma process in the mid-'90s as part of its Lean Enterprise System. The goal was to:
- Identify the sources of variations in a given process.
- Measure rejects or mistakes in parts-per-million instead of the conventional measurement in percentages.
- Eliminate all sources of variation in daily operations that lead to customer dissatisfaction and waste.
Focus: Aircraft Engine Fan Blades
In Kansas City, a trained Six Sigma specialist - known as a Black Belt in the Six Sigma world - put together a team from the PAS Technologies' commercial aircraft engine fan blade product line to initiate a disciplined approach to process improvement.
Townsend explains that the team focused on three main areas:
- Flow of product through the shop
- Rework reduction
- Creation of a "visual workplace" for employees
"We first established daily production goals that would allow us to meet customer requirements. Then we performed a time and location study that helped us identify constraints or bottlenecks in the repair line," Townsend explains.
"The team worked with the employees to implement daily work process improvements to keep the product moving while maintaining quality."
Rework reduction means identifying why some fan blades have to be put through the repair line twice, and resolving the problem, Townsend notes. "In addition, the team developed a visual workplace to help employees 'see' the production flow as they aim to achieve their quality and product goals," Townsend said.