de Havilland

By: Mike Sidlar, de Havilland and John Minnich, H. B. Maynard and Company,Inc.

Bombardier, Inc., a Canadian corporation with 41,000 employees worldwide and revenues of $8.8 billion (Cdn.) for it's last fiscal year ended January 31, 1997, is engaged in design, development, and marketing activities in the fields of aerospace, transportation, equipment, and motorized consumer products. Bombardier is the third largest aircraft producer in the world following only Boeing and Airbus in civil aircraft production, and specializes in regional airliners and a full range of business jets. Bombardier Regional Aircraft markets and supports the de Havilland Dash 8 and Canada air Regional Jet families of aircraft . de Havilland of Toronto, Canada; Canada air of Montreal, Canada; Learjet of Wichita, Kansas; and Shorts of Belfast, Ireland are units of Bombardier Aerospace. de Havilland has been in the aircraft business since 1928 and currently builds the Dash 8 Series 100, 200, & 300 turbo-prop airliners, the new 70-seat Dash 8 Series 400, wings for the super light Learjet 45 Business Jet and nacelles for the Canada air CL415 water bomber. The 1.8 million square foot Toronto plant, which includes facilities for sheet metal fabrication, machining, composites component construction and various stages of aircraft assembly, also builds major components for and assembles the ultra long range Bombardier Global Express corporate jet. Recently, de Havilland embarked on a project to establish engineered labor standards using a computer based work measurement system. After a review of available products and services, de Havilland chose to initiate a pilot project with H. B. Maynard & Company, Inc. Working together, de Havilland and Maynard® identified several subassembly work centers as the pilot project area. This area consists of sub-assemblies of frames, ribs, and other Similar component parts. The project team included five de Havilland Methods Engineers and a Senior Consultant from Maynard. The project team was trained in Maynard's Product Solutions Software. de Havilland's objective was to provide their Method's Analysts (M.A.'s) with a tool which allowed them to set quick, accurate, and consistent standards for planning and scheduling. Auto MOST™ was chosen as the means for creating standard s. The project team was charged with developing standard data and application logic to make the system work. The first step was to inform and educate the workforce. With the agreement of the trade union (CAW), crew meetings were held in all the project areas to explain the approach and intent of the project. The project team continued communications with the shop floor throughout the project. The project team then conducted a Top-Down analysis of the subassembly area to determine specifically what work elements, or sub-operations, needed to be measured, thus reducing the time required for measurement. This also ensured consistent standards and simpler maintenance of data in the future. A technical team was formed, consisting of two project team members, the Maynard consultant, and several hourly associates, supervisors, and managers from the sub-assembly area. The team met twice a week and worked together to identify standard practices for a variety of tasks. These standard practices were then built into the Auto MOST logic, so that they were applied automatically and consistently. For example, the technical team agreed that there should be time in all standards for the operators to verify that they have received the parts required to complete the job. The Auto MOST system was then designed to automatically include time for part verification in all standards. Auto MOST also contains conditional rules, such as those which direct the system to automatically provide time for locating parts and deburring drilled holes. Once the initial AutoMOST system was completed, several Methods Analysts used the system to establish standards and provided feedback regarding the system functionality and approach. Their suggestions were then integrated into the design. By taking a participative approach and involving all interested parties in the development of the system from the beginning, employees were able to provide feedback to the project team and then see that their comments ma de a difference. Consequently, support for the new labor standards system exists throughout the organization, from the shop floor to the highest levels of company management, especially in the user community. Says George Tothill, a Senior Methods Analyst, "in the development of Auto MOST for our use at de Havilland, I found the consultants from Maynard most knowledgeable and willing to listen to our particular needs". Gus Brikaras, another Methods Analyst, has this comment, "the application of Auto MOST in Sub-Assembly provides us with the tool to set accurate standards for any scenario with confidence". Connie Wright, an assembler in the shop, puts it his way, "after discussing worker's needs and concerns with the Maynard consultant s, I feel confident in the Auto MOST system, and I am looking forward to its full implementation on the shop floor". At the conclusion of the 13 week project, de Havilland has the database of standard data and an Auto MOST application system, which will allow their M.A.'s to set consistent, accurate standards for any operation in the sub-assembly area. de Havilland is committed to expand the system throughout the facility, using the same participative approach which was so successful in the pilot project. In the future, de Havilland plans to use Auto MOST to provide improved consistency for the entire process planning effort. Most important l y, de Havilland now has an advanced system for planning and scheduling and both the company and the union have a high level of confidence in the approach and measures.