ANNnews – Silvia Blazquez – Continuous Improvement Manager
3 October 2023
In this issue we would like to highlight the completion of a LEAN cycle at Aernnova do Brasil and congratulate the fantastic team that has taken on the difficult challenge of relocating the production plant.
Brazil has managed to close this cycle with the following improvements without affecting deliveries to customers or productivity:
-Rent cost reduction (Structures and Engineering Plant Brazil) of 50% per year.
-Better localization and mitigation of location risks.
-Availability of space for new programs in 38%.
-Adequacy of the logistic flow of materials within the plant.
-Increased capacity of the painting area.
-Increase in manufacturing hour per square meter by 28%.
-Preservation of proximity to the customer.
-Transfer in time of 6 months without any accident or impact on the Customer’s line.
This is the result of the strong LEAN culture existing in Aernnova starting with its management, which translates into the application of these concepts in the definition and implementation of the new Lay Out, and in the focus on establishing and maintaining the 5S throughout the plant, with the result of eliminating unnecessary movements of parts and people, and safety and quality risks. 5S is the simplest LEAN tool to understand, based on the principle “one place for all things and all things in their place“, but the most complicated to maintain, as it requires everyone to change their habits. It is a culture, and therefore it does not mean just “cleaning“, but also creating habits in all the workers of the area, that allow to always keep all the elements in the defined place.
Undoubtedly, this is the path we want to follow according to our motto at Aernnova: Lean, roadmap towards excellence.
At Aernnova, we use the LEAN VSM (Value Stream Mapping) tool to identify waste and opportunities for improvement at the beginning of any LEAN cycle, whether it is a product (Lean Manufacturing) or a management process (Lean Management). This, in addition, provides us with a global vision.
VSM is developed in Aernnova with a multidisciplinary team, with people from all areas related to the process, since it is really the knowledge of each of these people that provides a differential value. To achieve a commitment to Continuous Improvement, it is essential that the people working in these areas are the ones who identify opportunities for improvement (Kaizen) and eliminate waste.
Since 2009, when we began the implementation of LEAN in Aernnova, we have been incorporating year after year, new LEAN cycles, analyzing with this tool our processes and products, and incorporating Continuous Improvement in our day to day, and in all our companies.
VSM: (Value Stream Mapping): This is a visual tool that shows, in the form of a diagram, the flows of information, materials and processes from the customer’s order to the reception of the finished product.
It helps to identify waste in the product value stream, and to prioritize among all identified kaizen activities, as well as process constraints and bottlenecks.
It shows the information of the selected measurables and the total Lead Time of the process, as well as the ratio between VA (Value Added) and NVA (Non Value Added).
In the next issues of ANNnews we will inform you about the closing of new LEAN cycles foreseen in PGLEAN23 and shown in the following slide:
