OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
CIA-1 RESEARCH BASED ASSIGNMENT
ARTICLE REVIEW
ON
“THE LEAN JOURNEY AT THE BOEING COMPANY”
Pilla A Leitner, Ph.D. Associate Technical Fellow The Boeing Company
http://www.johnblackandassociates.com/uploads/2/0/7/8/20782048/the-lean-journey-at-
boeing.pdf
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INTRODUCTION
The above research paper elucidates the history and development of The Boeing Company as
a Lean Enterprise. Over two decades, Lean tools have been developed and the culture of the
workplace has evolved through education and hands-on involvement so that now, Lean has
now become a part of the Boeing culture. The key environmental factors that helped Lean
succeed were well discussed in the paper. The tools that were emphasized at each stage of
development were clearly described in the paper.
In the mid-1980s Boeing initiated its Lean journey with the introduction of Quality Circles or
Productivity Circles. This was trailed by World Class Competitiveness training, 5S, and Just-
in-Time workshops. Learning to use individual Lean tools like accelerated improvement
workshops, or AIWs, provided the basis on which Boeing Commercial Airplanes shaped a
unified Lean strategy. The entire Boeing Company had given acceptance to Lean by 1999.
The strategy for becoming a Lean operation is called the 9 Tactics.
ROADMAP: LEAN IMPLEMENTATION AT BOEING
Need for Lean: In Wold War II, Boeing Company built B-17 Flying Fortresses for the U.S.
Army Air Force. The country needed more of B-17s as fast as they could build them. Hence,
this drove Boeing to implement Lean. There was no room in the factory, so movement and
inventory were minimized. U-shaped multi-lines and kitting were used. Major subassemblies
were completed and then assembled into the final plane. A giant clock governed the flow of
production.
In the beginning of 1980s, Boeing was organized into two groups, Commercial Airplanes,
and the military side, Boeing Aerospace. Both groups were implementing quality
improvement approaches. Commercial Airplanes had presentations from Dr. Edwards
Deming, who trained 3000 managers and helped to identify top quality barriers. Quality guru
Dr. Joseph Juran spoke at Boeing Aerospace where Quality Circles and Productivity Circles
were instituted to improve employee involvement.
In 1983, John Black developed the Employee Involvement Program
In 1986, Commercial Airplanes formed the Quality Improvement Center.
From 1990-1991, effort was focused through the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
Associates program on the commercial side of the house and through the CQI Specialists
program on the aerospace side. Both of those programs were dismantled for cost savings
reasons in the mid-1990s.
In the mid-1980s The Boeing Company embraced statistical process control (SPC). By the
early 1990s, Puget Sound Military Airplanes management was decreeing that all processes
have SPC charts. Quality Circles morphed into SPC teams, and employees learned to use data
to improve processes. Variability reduction efforts were coordinated across the Defence and
Space Group. Commercial Airplanes used an initiative called Hardware Variability Control.
In 1993, a benchmarking trip to General Electric had shown them a method for managing
rapid change called Workout. They hired Delta Point, a consultant company, to help develop
GE’s Workout into Boeing’s JIT Workouts, one week blitz workshops. JIT Workouts would
evolve into Accelerated Improvement Workshops (AIWs). There were subsequent AIWs
conducted by interested groups around Fabrication Division, leading to localized
improvements at Boeing.
In 1995, top managers went for a Japan study tour and benchmarked 8 different companies.
This led to the launch of the major World Class Competitiveness initiative at Boeing. The
approach was developed in a thoughtful, planned manner. Management realized that
transferring Japanese methods would not work without adapting them to the Boeing culture.
From 1995 to 1998 Boeing focused on conducting AIWs. In the first two months of 1997,
Commercial Airplanes conducted over 100 AIWs.
In 1996 Boeing formed a central Lean Manufacturing office under John Black to focus on
strategy across Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Shingijutsu consultants spent many weeks at
Boeing and hosted many senior managers at Japan Kaizen seminars.
Lean became a formal push on the military side in 1999. Boeing Commercial Airplanes
launched Six Sigma in 1999, and developed their own training the following year. Jan
Martinson started the Lean Enterprise office in Space and Communications headquarters, and
Jim Davis implemented one in Aircraft and Missiles headquarters.
Boeing, like other companies that are incorporating Lean, customized the TPS house into the
Boeing Production System (BPS) house. This visual aid showed the entire company how the
various pieces of Lean all fit together. In 2000, it had a fulcrum and the nine internal blocks
as a guide to developing toward a “Pull System” of production.
In 2001, Dennis Racey’s Lean Enterprise Office absorbed BCA Six Sigma.
At the end of 2002, BCA had merged their Six Sigma program with the Integrated Defence
Systems’ Boeing Navigator program.
By 2003, the base of BPS had been expanded to emphasize 5S as the foundation of the BPS
house. A bullet was added to the Autonomation pillar which is repeated regularly at Boeing:
Do not accept, produce or pass on defects. The latest version of the BPS house re-emphasizes
the elimination of waste in the foundation.
In 2005, St. Charles and Mesa facilities earn Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing
FINDINGS
Production problems with simultaneously building new helicopters, reworking
existing used helicopters, and upgrading used vehicles, were many. With the
implementation of Lean, build hours reduced by 67%, cycle time 69%, and defects
90%.
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) program implemented mixed model one-
piece Demand Flow Technology (DFT) flow production which increased the rate
from 39 units per day to 146 units per day and achieved inventory turns unheard of in
the industry, up from 3 to 78.
The plant in Washington did an excellent job of implementing Lean on their floor-
panel manufacturing process. They reduced manufacturing time by 60% and floor
space by more than 50%.
In the Commercial Airplanes parts plants, employees reduced inventory levels by $1
billion in 1999. They reduced factory cycle time 46%, inventory storage by 59%, and
work-in-progress inventory by 55 % and factory footprint by 21%.
The study gave a sense of realization that World Class Competitiveness, 5S, AIWs,
Six Sigma are “flavours of the month” which eventually became a part of the Boeing
Production System.
CONCLUSION
The Lean journey at Boeing has been a growing curve, with a continuous escalation in
understanding of the tools and philosophies. The slope has gotten steeper at present as the
journey continues. Boeing built on Continuous Quality Improvement principles, started Lean
with Accelerated Improvement Workshops (AIWs) throughout the company in 1990, faltered
in Commercial Airplanes during the bad economic times of 1992, and then regained
momentum in the mid-1990s. Boeing has implemented World Class Competitiveness, 5S,
AIWs, Six Sigma, and so on in their system in order to sustain as a Lean Enterprise.
