Process Improvement Within Boeing Mesa, where the Apache Longbow AH-
64D attack helicopter is designed and manufactured, we are working hard to expand the science of Lean so that we can account for subtle causes and effects that will serve to improve our quality, profitability and delivery of defense systems. To this end, Value Engineering (VE), Lean “Plus” and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) are brought together in a structured, collaborative environment to not only guide de- sign and production, but fully leverage procurement, custom- ers, suppliers and all other stakeholders.
Lean Plus/DFMA/VE Project Results
Legacy, Metal –Before DFMA
Parts Count
Special Tooling Processes
Mesa Touch Labor Recurring Cost Weight (lb)
Cost Avoidance CoRRS (intangibles)
90 65 9
27.5
Proprietary 9.23
Proprietary Proprietary
New, Composite –After DFMA
78 8 7
20
Proprietary 7.88
Proprietary Proprietary
Product design impacts manufacturing, which then
impacts planning, administration, supply-chain manage- ment, service and profitability, concluding in a cycle where future contracts are either awarded or deemed too expensive. Knowing this dynamic, we increasingly concentrate on the role that conceptual design plays in improving everything that follows downstream in the Lean Plus culture. Let me give you an example. Recently, a defense customer requested a new, specific elec-
tronics configuration that also meant creating a corresponding change in the layout of the Apache helicopter avionics bay doors. Te new doors were originally estimated in a metal- bond baseline configuration. Boeing airframe engineers, however, collaborated very early on with Army engineering to study and quantify the benefits of abandoning the older metal- bond bay doors in favor of a completely new composite door. With upfront design as a driving business principle, the
IPTs looked ahead at the full issues and implications of the avionics bay door engineering change order to make an efficient and speedy decision that would benefit its custom- ers. Our IPTs are self-directed and oſten co-located, so that process workflow moves forward with few reversals. In this case, the team completed a current-state, value-
stream map exposing existing areas of potential weakness, waste and opportunity where more modern designs, materials, processes and tooling could outperform past practices. Te
92 Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing 2013
team also deployed advanced model-based 3D systems, simu- lations and benchmarking to find the highest value design. Starting from concept designs, DFMA product simplifica-
tion and cost estimating guided engineers toward the most desirable configuration by identifying areas for lower part count and fewer touch-labor hours in the assembly process. Tis effort, in turn, reduced the likelihood of nonvalue-added scrap, rework and repair occurring downstream. Boothroyd Dewhurst DFMA fits tightly into the Lean Plus
Percent Savings
13 88 22 27
and Value Engineering (VE) methodologies at Boeing be- cause it quantifies trade-off decisions on structural efficiency that teams routinely debate. With fewer parts that incorpo- rate greater functionality, DFMA-driven designs significantly cut down on the organizational overhead and trailing ex- penses that shadow every component an aerospace company produces and sends into service.
~91.5 15
~75 <1 defect/AC
Results for the Avionics Bay Door Te new doors now have modular,
reconfigurable components such as molded-in one-piece louvers, selective laser sintering (SLS) processed nylon
materials, and common off-the-shelf hardware that allows for easy scaling, modification or expansion should future custom- ers require different electronics packages. Te revisions are forecast to reduce detail manufacturing to
approximately 86% of the metal-bond legacy doors. Total part count was reduced by 22% (calculated at component dash- number level, not composite ply-count). Te new designs negate the requirement for legacy assembly methods requiring massive and costly “monument” facilities, assembly jigs and detail fabrication tooling. With the advent of digital model definition and closely
integrated numerical-control (NC) equipment, tooling strings for the new composite doors are roughly 13% that of the metal-bond units. Design, engineering and development re- sources are estimated at roughly 80% of legacy versions. And these estimates are conservative; the IPTs believe the numbers may be even better due to the independent research and de- velopment done up front, which integrate both initial analyses and conceptual layouts.
Downstream Savings from Understanding Cause and Effect Engineers developing the new composite doors also took
into account the ability to readily service and replace parts or assemblies at aviation unit maintenance (AVUM) levels. In fact, today’s engineers analyze the entire product lifecycle in
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