Stepping up a gear with Lean

Stepping up a gear with Lean
Stepping up a gear with Lean

Leading gear manufacturer, Gibbs Gears has appointed a Lean manufacturing champion to ensure it remains geared towards continuous improvement. Aerospace Manufacturing reports.


Gibbs Gears has always been passionate about delivering superior quality and service to its customers and clients. As a result, it has taken further steps to reduce cost without reducing its focus on quality or customer care by improving its Lean manufacturing programme.

Gibbs Gears has appointed Paul Stevens (pictured) as its ‘Lean manufacturing manager' to improve all aspects of the business including, manufacturing, quality, planning, engineering, purchasing and sales. Stevens has already improved the company's production key performance indicators (KPIs) by introducing safety, quality, delivery, cost and improvements (SQDCI).

To help introduce SQDCI, Gibbs Gears installed a large touchscreen on the shopfloor to hold ‘Tier 1 SQDCI' meetings. This meeting is designed to give the shopfloor management team instant feedback on daily production issues. The screen also supports the daily ‘Quality Clinic' meeting. The quality clinic is a meeting with all department managers and shopfloor team leaders, to collectively discuss and offer solutions to production issues. A second large screen has also been installed within the main office for the management team to hold a ‘Tier 2 SQDCI' meeting, which gives the senior management team clear visibility of any production issues and accountability to resolve them.

Gibbs Gears asked Stevens to start his Lean activities in the milling department. After several months of data collection using SQDCI and time studies observed, he was able to justify a large investment in new storage and tooling within the department. The investment ranged from dedicated storage of fixtures to personal measuring equipment for all staff. In addition, Gibbs Gears has also invested in a new vending calibration system for inspection equipment and consumable tooling, installed by Cromwell Tools.

SQDCI has now been applied to all manufacturing cells and Stevens has now turned his attention to introducing Lean techniques in turning and grinding. A sizable budget has been set aside for future improvements within these areas.

On the leading edge

Since 2010 Gibbs Gears has been manufacturing aviation gears and spline shafts for wing and flap actuation systems. Gibbs gears manufacture parts on programmes including the A350, A380, 737, 777 and more recently A320 and also the C Series. To help meet its customer expectations, Stevens has overseen the introduction of a dedicated deburring cell. Gibbs Gears has invested in a Duscovent DB1500 downdraught extract bench, a Minimo deburring tool and an Evocam from Vision Engineering. The new equipment helps maintain the company's high level of quality control.

The Duscovent extract bench is recognised by the aerospace industry and provides a ventilated environment for cleaning and fettling of various components. Below the filter section is a centrifugal fan in an acoustically attenuated chamber to allow for constant extract volume at the ventilated work surface allowing for a cleaner healthier environment for all its employees.

The Minimo deburring tool has been critical for deburring difficult features. With the One Series, Version 2 package, the tool has been supplied with standard, longnose and 45° angled heads and interchangeable motors to facilitate variable speed control.

To complete the company's initial investment in the deburring cell, Gibbs Gears purchased an Evocam from Vision Engineering to magnify the critical deburring detail. The microscope and monitor enables the ability to inspect up to 120x magnification, which is ideal for a large range of parts.

Gibbs Gears has also recently invested in a Doosan Puma 2600LY and Lynx 220LYA CNC lathes with live tooling; both are due to be delivered in April 2016. The company has also just completed installing a Jones & Shipman 1307 universal grinding machine.

Finally, to help maintain the tight tolerances required for aerospace parts, the company is looking to improve its grinding capabilities. Part of the investment for 2016 is in a temperature-controlled area for its grinding machines.

www.gibbsgears.com

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