‘Lean’ process saves time, money

  • Published
  • By Lisa Mathews
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Maintenance Directorate
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  Maintenance directorate workers here cut repeat work orders by 25 percent, reduced flow hours by 90 percent and saved $565,060 in the process. They did it by putting “lean” into their work.

Lean is a way of streamlining processes and making them more efficient by removing waste, reducing cycle time and improving customer satisfaction, according to officials.

Experts in the directorate's commodities and industrial products division conducted three lean events recently.

The main reason for conducting the events was to cut time flow to the customer, according to David Brown, a process analyst and lean facilitator.

"When we did all the paperwork, we realized we'd save a lot of money as well," he said.

In the past, work orders came to division workers each time an area needed a particular part, Brown said. The work order then worked through a process with various time-consuming steps. The lean team’s goal was to cut repeat work orders by 25 percent.

For example, the process used to produce a tube a mechanic might need will take 16 steps from the time a tube is ordered until it is delivered, Brown said. Each of those steps racks up flow time.

For the two steps to specifically produce the tube, workers need three hours for set up and one minute for production. Brown said if the work orders came into the shop separately, 12 work orders for the same part would add up to 36 hours and 12 minutes.

"But if all 12 tubes were manufactured at once, the work would add up to three hours and 12 minutes," he said. "That would save 33 hours, which could be used on additional (workloads)."

Another bonus of producing multiple parts is cutting out many of the steps needed to order the part, route the order and plan production, he said. The time needed for each step can be done once with multiple parts being worked from one work order.

"The time saved would help reduce the numbers of back orders needed," he said. "It would also mean the part is available to the warfighter when … needed."

By collecting data on how many of each part an area used the year before, workers determined how many of each part to produce on one work order, Brown said. They also collected data on the number of duplicate work orders, or "shoe tags."

From that data, the team determined how many parts customers could be expected to require. He said that the maximum number to have on the shelf would be the number ordered the year before and 50 percent of that number would be the minimum stocked at any given time.

Workers have learned that, sometimes, making more means less -- less time, less expense and less waiting time for the warfighter, according to Brown. (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)