**3. Production sustainment**

Information and guidelines were provided in the previous section so industrial engineering can proactively contribute in the design team giving correct priority to manufacturing requests. While this activity strongly mitigates manufacturing risks in production stage it does not totally eliminate risks and therefore some process needs to be applied also during product manufacturing life-cycle.

Open literature refers to these processes in many ways: lean manufacturing, six sigma, continuous improvement, kaizen methods, PDCA cycle, and so on [9–11]. Each method has its uniqueness but, fundamentally, they consist in constant proactive monitoring of the manufacturing process to identify deviations in early stage, introduce improvements, observe the expected result and, if the outcome is positive, standardize the new method.

#### **3.1 Continuous improvement and associated methods**

Continuous improvement can be obtained by recurrently applying the PDCA cycle to those product and process that demonstrate an intolerable defect rate or more generally deviate from the desired quality/cost/time target.

PDCA cycle consist in performing four steps as graphically visualized in **Figure 5**.

The first step (*plan*) consist in clearly defining what is the "problem" and consequently the expected result (objective) at the end of the process. The Pareto principle can be applied in order to prioritize the (unfortunately) many issues that might be occurring in Manufacturing.

The second step (*do*) is possibly the most challenging for the industrial Engineer. The goal of this second step is to identify the Root causes that prevent the product/ process being on-time, on-cost and in-quality. Many problem-solving techniques can be applied. An example shown here is the Ishikawa diagram **Figure 6** that can be very useful since it helps clustering into smaller sub-problems, which become more easily addressable.

Ishikawa "fish bone" diagram method consists in analyzing all pertinent areas and sub-areas of a typical manufacturing process. When a quality issue arises, the industrial engineering team is notified in order to identify the root-cause of the issue and consequently propose a corrective action. This is not a simple task since there are many areas and factors to be investigated. Moreover, some of the production processes and materials may come from tier 1 suppliers and therefore occur outside the company.

Common production issues in the aerospace industry occur when information related to a specific production process is not fully written but relies on the skill of advanced operators. Therefore, a strong practice is to provide very detailed assembly instructions so that lesser skilled operators can produce the part in high quality standards.

Some issues may sometimes occur when the purchasing department, to obtain cost saving, procures a component or a material from a different supplier claiming it is equivalent form, fit and function (FFF). Rarely this is a painless change since there are always some small differences between two components identified as equivalent FFF on to the other.

Environment parameters (temperature and humidity) are rarely a cause of manufacturing deviations since the assembly process is typically carried out in clean rooms or at the least humidity/temperature controlled areas. In the aerospace industry, final assembly is performed in the company while lower level components

**17**

**Figure 6.**

**Figure 5.**

*Plan-do-check-act cycle.*

*Design for Manufacturing of Electro-Mechanical Assemblies in the Aerospace Industry*

and sub-systems may be procured from an external contractor. The same holds for some non-critical services that are occasionally outsourced. Consequently, in some cases, the investigation needs to be performed at tier 1 supplier level too in order to

The final two steps are *check* and *act*. In practice, what has been identified and proposed in the previous two stages needs to validated and standardized. In all steps, it is important to be un-biased and all problem inputs should be data-driven.

investigate and identify the root cause of the problem.

*Ishikawa "fish bone" diagram useful for problem solving.*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90098*

*Design for Manufacturing of Electro-Mechanical Assemblies in the Aerospace Industry DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.90098*

*Design and Manufacturing*

**3. Production sustainment**

tive, standardize the new method.

might be occurring in Manufacturing.

more easily addressable.

outside the company.

equivalent FFF on to the other.

standards.

**Figure 5**.

Information and guidelines were provided in the previous section so industrial engineering can proactively contribute in the design team giving correct priority to manufacturing requests. While this activity strongly mitigates manufacturing risks in production stage it does not totally eliminate risks and therefore some process

Open literature refers to these processes in many ways: lean manufacturing, six sigma, continuous improvement, kaizen methods, PDCA cycle, and so on [9–11]. Each method has its uniqueness but, fundamentally, they consist in constant proactive monitoring of the manufacturing process to identify deviations in early stage, introduce improvements, observe the expected result and, if the outcome is posi-

Continuous improvement can be obtained by recurrently applying the PDCA cycle to those product and process that demonstrate an intolerable defect rate or

PDCA cycle consist in performing four steps as graphically visualized in

The first step (*plan*) consist in clearly defining what is the "problem" and consequently the expected result (objective) at the end of the process. The Pareto principle can be applied in order to prioritize the (unfortunately) many issues that

The second step (*do*) is possibly the most challenging for the industrial Engineer. The goal of this second step is to identify the Root causes that prevent the product/ process being on-time, on-cost and in-quality. Many problem-solving techniques can be applied. An example shown here is the Ishikawa diagram **Figure 6** that can be very useful since it helps clustering into smaller sub-problems, which become

Ishikawa "fish bone" diagram method consists in analyzing all pertinent areas and sub-areas of a typical manufacturing process. When a quality issue arises, the industrial engineering team is notified in order to identify the root-cause of the issue and consequently propose a corrective action. This is not a simple task since there are many areas and factors to be investigated. Moreover, some of the production processes and materials may come from tier 1 suppliers and therefore occur

Common production issues in the aerospace industry occur when information related to a specific production process is not fully written but relies on the skill of advanced operators. Therefore, a strong practice is to provide very detailed assembly instructions so that lesser skilled operators can produce the part in high quality

Some issues may sometimes occur when the purchasing department, to obtain cost saving, procures a component or a material from a different supplier claiming it is equivalent form, fit and function (FFF). Rarely this is a painless change since there are always some small differences between two components identified as

Environment parameters (temperature and humidity) are rarely a cause of manufacturing deviations since the assembly process is typically carried out in clean rooms or at the least humidity/temperature controlled areas. In the aerospace industry, final assembly is performed in the company while lower level components

needs to be applied also during product manufacturing life-cycle.

**3.1 Continuous improvement and associated methods**

more generally deviate from the desired quality/cost/time target.

**16**

#### **Figure 6.**

*Ishikawa "fish bone" diagram useful for problem solving.*

and sub-systems may be procured from an external contractor. The same holds for some non-critical services that are occasionally outsourced. Consequently, in some cases, the investigation needs to be performed at tier 1 supplier level too in order to investigate and identify the root cause of the problem.

The final two steps are *check* and *act*. In practice, what has been identified and proposed in the previous two stages needs to validated and standardized. In all steps, it is important to be un-biased and all problem inputs should be data-driven. In this context, systems for tracing non-conformities are vital so the create an effective and populated database.

W. Edwards Deming's famous quote is therefore a cornerstone of this problem solving technique: *"Without data you're just another with an opinion".*

Another practice that contributes to improve product/process performance are manufacturing and engineering organizations periodically reviewing quality non conformities to determine if engineering changes are required. Creating dedicated interdisciplinary teams to perform a specific improvement project is also useful.
