Implementing Lean Manufacturing Principles in an A&D Environment

Lean Manufacturing is a management philosophy, enabled and supported by various techniques, to eliminate any form of non-value adding activity. With terms like “lot size of one”, “continuous flow”, and “pull production”, Lean Manufacturing has primarily been associated with the factory floors of short run, repetitive manufacturers. In an Aerospace and Defense (A&D), government regulations often impose very different business practices than those followed in the commercial sector. Can Lean manufacturing principals work in A&D? The answer is “yes”: Implemented via an appropriately architected ERP system, lean manufacturing principals can and should play a crucial role in A&D, particularly in reducing knowledge worker and administrative waste, a huge component of cost in A&D environments.