Quality‐oriented teamwork resolves aerospace manufacturer's critical path tooling crisis

Abstract

AbstractFaced with the loss of a supply of essential aircraft parts, an aerospace manufacturer took rapid steps to clarify and communicate the problem and organize a cross‐functional team of experts to address it. Working within a quality‐focused framework, they brainstormed a number of viable options and then systematically reviewed each to identify the one that would meet all production, cost, scheduling, and customer service requirements, while keeping all stakeholders abreast of developments. In the end, they redesigned critical processes so that the parts supply operation could be transferred to a local site at modest cost, thus ensuring uninterrupted production and the attainment of the company's financial and quality objectives. For its efforts, the team earned an International Team Excellence silver‐level award from the American Society for Quality in 2010. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.