When Pratt & Whitney needed to quickly increase capacity to manufacture gears for the GTF™ engine’s Fan Drive Gear System, it turned to the team in Rzeszów, Poland. To avoid months of delay and an additional $2 million in capital spend, Andrzej Lekowski’s team freed up existing floor space by looking at the existing layout and identifying how space could be used more efficiently.
“The breakthrough for this project was the moment when all involved understood that the goal wasn’t to just rearrange the shop floor, but instead to find better ways to use our existing space,” said Lekowski, director, Gearbox Business Unit. Lekowski had an additional challenge on his hands. “The planning and timing had to be perfect. Machines had to be relocated without any impact to production and parts deliveries, and with no buffer stock, we couldn’t stop the delivery stream.”
Employees looked to the gears and shafts area as a potential place to free up floor space. The new space would be used for the installation of new machines to produce the rings, star and sun gears that are major components of the Fan Drive Gear System – a critical part of the industry-leading GTF engine architecture.
To face the challenge ahead of them, the team had to review ways to be more productive, make sure all their resources were being used to the fullest, and ensure the entire value stream was optimized. And without knowing exactly what the first step should be, the team recognized that applying ACE tools would show them the way. Value stream mapping was one tool that helped identify potential waste in the system and design a truly lean flow.
“A modern mindset is very important,” said Leszek Nosek, manager, Technology Development. “We are open to technical challenges and technology development. Thanks to this we were able to implement modern manufacturing concepts to our new lines and work together as one team, with new skills required by new, modern, hardware.”
The review resulted in the following:
- 1,800 square meters (about 19,375 square feet) of floor space was repurposed for Fan Drive Gear System growth; 100 new employees were hired.
- The legacy shop was optimized to reduce its floor space by 43%.
- Work stands were reduced by 40% and labor efficiency increased, resulting in an annual cost savings of $80,000.
“This transformation meant that we had to look differently at how we did our daily work,” said Miroslaw Moskwa, manager, Quality Inspection. “I think now we work more effectively, which is important, especially on the products and processes that were implemented many years ago.”
The team is currently transforming other areas in Rzeszów on a smaller scale. “What is common for all of these improvements is that they help us lower our costs and achieve a competitive advantage,” he said.