flight critical parts for military and commercial aircraft applications

A leading independent manufacturer of components and assemblies to the global aerospace industry. Principal products include gears and transmissions, accessory gearbox assemblies, rotorcraft drive systems and other machined and fabricated parts for helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. In addition, the Company provides maintenance and repair and overhaul (MRO) on these same platforms.At the time of our engagement, the Company was publicly-traded and reported revenue in excess of $200 million.

•Fort Dearborn was hired to perform a review of the Company’s Canadian manufacturing operations to identify operational improvement opportunities.  Working with management, Fort Dearborn:

•Developed a  future-state plan for facility layout and organizational structure around value streams.

•Improved production control and scheduling  processes using visual management tools.

•Increased plant  capacity by identifying and reducing bottlenecks (including machine set-up time), improving delivery performance and reducing customer backlog.

•Implemented strategies to reduce inventory levels utilizing Kanbans as a tool.

•Began a total product maintenance program including measuring and monitoring overall equipment effectiveness.

•Reduced R&D costs by building on root cause findings from a R&D Kaizen event.

•Enacted measures to reduce consumable inventory and tool levels.

•Fort Dearborn and management prioritized goals and developed a detailed plan to improve manufacturing operations and reduce costs.

•Fort Dearborn led Kaizen events and training sessions in order to introduce management and employees to lean manufacturing concepts and processes.

•Management and employees began implementing lean manufacturing principles as outlined in the operations improvement plan.