3. 737
Most Produced Commercial Jet in History
Significant changes over the last
decade
Higher quality aircraft
Produced at a faster rate
Use less resources
Lower cost
Cultural shift from the legacy
approach of requirements and
production to a lean approach that
strives for product commonality and
producability
Approximately 60% of all the new
737s are common to each other
which is a significant driver in
reduction of costs and
improvement of quality
Over 6,000 737s This cultural change starts at the
top and flows down to the entire
team
produced
4. 737 - Approach
Created a top level Production System Roadmap to
Success
Focus on “Value Stream Performance”
In depth trade studies of what to perform in house and what
to subcontract out
Push integration as far ahead of final assembly as possible
Driven by understanding that higher quality can be
obtained with integration occurring at the subcontractors
prior to final aircraft assembly
Program level metrics and tools used to lead and monitor
those trades studies
5. 737 - Boeing Production System
Standard Selections Catalog
Detailed customer
knowledge and focus
Running a healthy
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Streams anage
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Customer-preferred
WZK PZL Mielec Ltd
Lucas Rolls Royce
Aero Vodochody
airplane family
SAAB
Hexcel
Boeing
Rockwell
Collins
Vought
United
Shorts
Technologies
Smiths Ind
.
BAe
Fischer
BDC
VSMPO
Aviacor
Shenyang Defects not made,
Alcoa
Honeywell
Bombardier
GE CASA
CFMI
Alenia
Boeing MATIS
Romaero
TAI
TAPC
Xian
Shanghai
Chengdu BHA
Asian
Mitsubishi
Kawasaki
Fuji
Nippi
ShinMaywa
passed or accepted People
IAI Composites Matsushita
link the system
Parker
Hellenic Mfg.
AIDC Korean Air
Sundstrand Aerospace
Goodrich KAI
Hamilton Hindustan
Aeronautics
Limited
Singapore
Aerospace
IPTN
Boeing
Continuously
reduce lead
Global partnering to Nine Tactics times
support large-scale 777 Final
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6. 737
Historical production processes
Each plane moved from
integration station to
integration station via crane
moves (8000 crane lifts per
month)
Inventory based on “safe”
overstock “just in case”
Little pre-integration prior to
final assembly
Engineering team physically
separated from production line
so problem resolution required
engineers to go to the
production line across campus
Then production started to
ramp up to meet demand, but
production methods were not
changed
7. 737 - Before the Lean Journey –
Inefficient production processes
8. 737
How it is Today
Today the 737 assembly is a rolling line moving the aircraft
from station to station
Pushed the pre-assembly back to the subcontractors to
minimize the final assembly and maximize quality
Minimized the crane moves which now are down to only
three per aircraft
Just in time inventory control so each day the inventory that
is needed for that day is staged along the rolling line
Designers and factory floor assemblers are co located to
solve problems when the engineering staff were moved into
the factory and can look out their office windows to see the
production line
Innovation solution to assembly are used like the chair
loader designed and delivered by a farmer modeled after a
hay loader
Minimize variability of parts and assemblies and focus on
commonality
9. 737 - The Look of Lean Today –
Efficient production processes
10. 737 - Summary
737 has traveled an incredible journey from the old
ways of doing business to the new ways and it has
been a true success
It starts with a vision at the top and flows to all
teams
It was a holistic approach to solving problems and
improving everything on the program
Lessons learned on the 737 program were critical
to the creation of the 787
737 sets a very high standard of best commercial
practices in the aerospace industry
Maybe some of these lessons learned
can be of value to the Constellation team
11. 787
The Future of Commercial Aviation
Strive for commonality with quantum
leap in stretch requirements
12. 787 Program Commonality Insights
Top Level Themes
Must design in commonality as a basic feature, engineers will
strive for unique solution rather then common ones
Must have champion driving commonality at the top who is the
defender of the key principles for commonality
Use small co-located teams to set the requirements and vision
and then do not let the larger teams easily compromise those
requirements and vision
Focus on modular and reconfigurable designs
Define and track metrics that focus on commonality
Set tough goals and drive the team to meet them
Use lots of independent review teams
13. 787 Program Commonality Insights
Examples
787 set a short flow target to assemble the
total aircraft at the final factory
Driven by facility footprint and through put needs
for production rates
Drove the emphasis to preassembly to occur prior
to final assembly
Drove how subcontracts are defined and what work
is done prior to shipment from the subs
Minimum lead time for configuration changes
Manage updates to baseline as block updates
rather then incremental continuous changes
Family of aircraft variants can benefit from block
updates
