APPLICATION OF KAIZEN IN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE AND LOGISTIC OPERATIONS: A CASE STUDY

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Kaizen an Overview 1.2 Kaizen umbrella 1.3 Maintenance and Improvement 1.4 Kaizen and Innovation 1.5 Comparison between Kaizen and Innovation 1.6 Problem solving tools of Kaizen 1.7 About the organization 1.7.1 1.7.2 1.7.3 1.7.4 Introduction About Indian air lines under study The division under study Air craft maintenance planning

Chapter 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE Chapter 3: PRESENT WORK 3.1 Problem statement 3.2 Objectives of study 3.3 Methodology 3.3.1 Collection of information 3.3.1.1 Data collection 3.3.1.2 Characteristics of respondent Identification of critical areas Evaluation of existing processes 3.3.3.1 Evaluation of Spare management 3.3.3.2 Evaluation of Method improvement 3.3.3.3 Evaluation of Material handling 3.3.3.4 Evaluation of Computer support

3.3.2 3.3.3

Chapter 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Proposed method /concept 4.2 Analysis of proposed method 4.2.1 Analysis of spare management 4.2.2 Analysis of Method improvement 4.2.3 Analysis of Material handling 4.2.4 Analysis of Computer support 4.3 Implementation Chapter 5: CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE 5.1 Conclusion 5.2 Future scope

Chapter- 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 KAIZEN AN OVERVIEW The word KAIZEN comes from the Japanese language. In the management literature it is Kai + Zen. Kai means CHANGE & Zen means BETTER. Thus, it means change for the better. The wide meaning is continuous improvement consistently, every time, every step, every place that leads to self-development. In other words Kaizen indicates a process of continuous incremental improvement of standard procedure of work. This kind of creative improvement is something that every employee is capable of contributing. Kaizen also thrives by being adopted by the organizational culture. Successful implementation of Kaizen results in a cooperative atmosphere where every one is aware of the key goals and measures of success. In this type of environment, implementation of new concepts is readily achieved with a high degree of success. Kaizen believes in the principles that A very large number of small improvements are more effective in an organizational environment than a few improvement of large value. Another philosophy of Kaizen principle is Do not believe what is practiced now is the best, there could be a better method of doing things. According to: the father of the Kaizen techniques Masaaki Imai (1986) Kaizen means Continuous improvement which is not only a philosophy of work place, but also a continual improvements in every facet of life, including business, industry, commerce, government, diplomacy defence and social welfare. Womack and Jones (1996) refers that Kaizen is a successful technique because it employs the lean thinking approach of designing a flexible, controllable, efficient and unique manufacturing process in terms of saving cost, space, time and man power. Kaizen is the creation of a team

that includes cross functional employees such as managers and operators working together on targeted areas with set of goals and series of brain storming processes. This team is expected to obtain solutions for resolving the problem within short span of time. Kaizen is more than just a means of improvement, because it represents the daily struggles occurring in the work place and the manner in which those struggles are overcome. Kaizen carries the connotation in industry of all the subcontracted and partially contracted activities, which take place in the Japanese workplace to enhance the operations and the environment. Kaizen epitomizes the mobilization of the workforce, providing the main channel for employees to contribute to their companys development. In isolation, the concept seems simple: with every pair of hands, you get a free brain (Besant, 2000). There are close comparisons to be drawn between kaizen and ideas of past research in industrial relations, starting from Elton Mayo and the Human Relations school of Maslow, McGregor, Argyris and Herzberg. Peculiarities of Kaizen

Kaizen is continuous- which is used to signify both the embedded nature of the practice and its place in a never ending journey towards quality & efficiency

Kaizen is a work force- providing the main channel for employees to contribute for their companies development.

Kaizen is incremental in nature- starting from the worker to the top management contribute their labour for technical innovation.

Kaizen is participative- entailing the involvement & intelligence of the work force, the generating intrinsic psychological & quality of work life benefits for the employees.

1.2 KAIZEN UMBRELLA

K
KANBAN

I
IMPROVEMENT

Z
ZERO DEFECT

N
NETWORKING

APPROACH

EFFECTIVENESS

Fig 1.1

Kaizen umbrella

1.3 MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT

Management has two major components; (a) Maintenance and (b) Improvement Maintenance refers to the activities not only maintaining current machine standards for reliability but also directed towards maintaining current technological managerial and operating standards. Improvement refers to those activities directed towards improving current standards. Under improvement the higher-level manager are more concerned with improvements they spent more time on improvement process. But at the lower level, an unskilled worker working at a machine may spend all of his time following instructions. As he becomes skilled, he is more conscious towards production. Again when he becomes proficient in his work he begins to think about improvement in the way his work will be easy. Thus worker contributes less towards improvement. The Japanese perception of management boils down to one percept: maintain and improve.

Top Management

Middle Management

Improvement

Supervisors

Maintenance

Workers

Fig. 1.2 - Japanese perceptions of job functions 1.4 KAIZEN AND INNOVATION In Japanese perception, again improvement is categorized in two parts:(a) Kaizen and (b) Innovation. Kaizen signifies small improvements made in the status quo as a result of ongoing effort and Innovation signifies a drastic Improvement in the status quo as a result of a large investment in new technology or equipment. Following figure shows the breakdown among kaizen, innovation and maintenance as perceived by Japanese management.

Top Management Middle Management Supervisors Workers

Innovation KAIZEN Maintenance

Fig - 1.3 7

kaizen perceptions of job functions

1.5 COMPARISON BETWEEN KAIZEN AND INNOVATION There are two contrasting approaches to progress: the gradualist approach and the great-leapforward approach. Japanese companies generally favour the gradualist approach and Western companies the great-leap approach an approach epitomized by the team innovation. Table 1.1 presents the characteristics of Kaizen and innovation (Shingo, 1985). One of the beautiful things about Kaizen is that it does not necessarily require sophisticated technique and large investment. To implement Kaizen, only simple and conventional techniques such as the seven tools of quality control (Parrot diagram, Cause and effect diagram, control charts, graphs, histograms, scatter diagrams and check sheets) are required. On the other hand, innovation usually requires highly sophisticated technology, as well as a huge investment. The difference between two opposing concept may thus be likened to that of a staircase and a slope. The innovation strategy is supposed to bring about progress in a stair case progression. On the other hand, the kaizen strategy brings about gradual progression. (Kaizen teian 2, 1990).

New Standard KAIZEN Innovation

New Standard KAIZEN Innovation Time Figure 1.4 Comparisons of Kaizen and Innovation

Table: 1.1 Characteristics of Kaizen and innovation. Kaizen Effect Long term, lasting Time structure Continuous and incremental The method Maintenance and improvement The practical Demands less investment, however demands Involvement Effort orientation Feedback Advantage greater effort to maintain Every body Persons Comprehensive feedback Works well in slow growth economy Innovation Short term, hence existing Intermittent and non incremental Rejection and rework Demands large investment, however less effort to maintain Select few champions Technology Limited feedback Better suited to fast growth economy

1.6 PROBLEM SOLVING TOOLS OF KAIZEN

CAUSE AND EFFECT DIAGRAM: This diagram is used to analyze the characteristics of a process or a situation and the factors that contribute to them. Cause and effect diagram is also called fishbone graph or Godzilla-bone graphs.

Figure 1.5 Causes and Effect Diagram

PARETO DIAGRAM: This diagram classifies problems according to cause and phenomenon. The problem is diagrammed according to priority, using a bar-graph format, with 100 percent scale indicating the total amount of value cost.

Figure 1.6 Pareto Diagram GRAPH: The frequency data obtained from measurements display a peak around certain

value. The figure illustrates frequency in the form of a pole to indicate variations over a period of time and categorical breakdown of values.

70 60 Frequency 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Months
Fig 1.7 graph

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3 M U- CHECK LIST: A number of Kaizen check point system has been developed to help both workers and management for improvement. The 3-MUs are Muda(Waste), Muri (strain) and Mura (discrepancy) and is described in Kaizen methodology placed at appendix B. 4-M CHECK LIST: The 4 M check points i.e. Man (operator), machine (facilities), material

(item/equipment) and method (operation) are given more attention in the Kaizen methodology which is elaborately described at Appendix C. CHECK SHEET: The check sheet is designed to tabulate the results through routine checking of the situation. SUGGESTION SYSTEM The suggestion System is an integral part of the Kaizen

methodology. According to Sugihara, management should encourage participation by making workers feel free to make all sorts of suggestions that do not cost much to implement. The suggestion can be discover the new methods, processes and improvement in the organization, which could not found through direct studies.

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1.7 ABOUT THE ORGANISATION 1.7.1 Introduction

STATION

OPERATIONAL DIVISION TECHNICAL DIVISION

ADMINSTRATIVE DIVISION

Fig 1.9 station and its main divisions 1.7.2 About Indian Air Lines under study This study is carried out at Indian Air Lines, Delhi. The main aim of the station is to keep the aircrafts airworthy. At this station, there are more than 1500 employees in all ranks and branches who are involved to perform their duties towards the organizational goal. The total employees in the organization are classified into three main categories such as flying branch, Technical branch & Non technical branch.

EMPLOYEES CLASSIFICATION

FLYING BRANCH

NON-TECHNICAL BRANCH

TECHNICAL BRANCH Figure 1.10 classifications of employees

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The flying branch employees are basically pilots. All the pilots are of officers rank. The skillful handling of aircraft needs a continuous practice, which is performed by the pilots regularly. Thus the maintenance becomes imperative for the existing number of aircrafts. Like other organization, Indian Air Lines also maintains skilled technical manpower. The skilled manpower comprises of diploma and graduate engineers in all branches viz mechanical, electrical and electronics. The main role of technical branch at the station is to maintain the aircrafts serviceable. The non-technical branch employees are of both category i.e. officer and clerk. Basically they are employed to support the technical employees. The other roles of this branch are: (a) to provide logistic support to the technical and flying branch. (b) to provide medical facilities to the employees and their families and (c) to carry out administrative control and welfare measures of the employees at the station. 1.7.3 The division under study The engineering division of the station is the area of study. This division plays a vital role in operational preparedness of the aircraft. Chief engineering officer (CEO) is the head of the engineering and logistic divisions at the station. Under him there are some technical and logistics specialists employed to assist him in the field of technical activities and logistic support at the station. Figure 1.11 represents the aircraft engineering division.

ENGINEERING DIVISION )

AICRAFT MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

LOGISTICS DEPARTMENT

Figure 1.11 Aircraft engineering division

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The maintenance department is manned by highly skilled technicians, carries out scheduled and unscheduled maintenance servicing of aircraft. Whereas logistics department supplies spares, equipments, food and clothing to the employees. Besides, logistic division has close relationship with technical division in supply of spares and equipment for aircraft maintenance. 1.7.4 Aircraft maintenance planning Maintenance infrastructure setup at a flying station is meant to support flying and generate aircraft hours by way of completion of maintenance servicing. These are to be carried out as per pre-planned schedule in the given time frame and with the defined gang size/manpower. Based on the aircraft / aero engine status of the fleet at the base and known constraints, aircraft wise, flying hours are to be allotted for the month with projected utilization for the next two months along with planned servicing effort. Depending upon the rise in unserviceability and unforeseen circumstances, the flying task may be regulated so as to ensure maintenance safety is not jeopardized and personnel not unduly stressed. Stagger plan for aircraft is drawn to ensure smooth induction of aircraft for servicing and maintaining desired availability of aircraft over the year. Types of planned servicing (a) Periodic servicing are those servicing carried-out at set intervals based on aircraft flying

hours and calendar basis. The periodic servicing normally falls into the following categories: Before and After flight servicing, Primary servicing, Weekly servicing, Intermediate servicing, Minor servicing (50,100,200 hrs servicing), and Storage servicing . (b) Non-periodic servicing are those servicing which are carried out as and when required

to be done when certain defects occurring to equipment, e.g. Defect report, Special technical instructions, servicing instructions, Modifications, Internal and external preservation/depreservation of aircraft and aero engine.

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Chapter-2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

After World War II, most Japanese companies had to start literally from the ground up. Every day brought new challenges to managers and workers alike, and every day meant progress. Simply staying in business required unending progress, and KAIZEN has become a way of life. It was also fortunate that experts like W.E. Deming and J.M.Juran introduced the various tools that helped to elevate this KAIZEN concept to new heights to Japan in the late 1950 and early 1960s. Deming, visited Japan several times in the 1950s, and it was during one of those visit, he made his famous prediction that Japan would soon be flooding the world market with quality products. Deming introduced the Deming cycle also known as PDCA cycle, one of the crucial QC tools for assuring continuous improvement to Japan. Deming stressed the importance of constant interaction among research, design, production, and sales in order for a company to arrive a better quality that satisfied customers. In July 1954, JM Juran was invited to Japan to conduct a JUSE seminar on quality control management. This was the first time Quality Control was dealt with from the overall

management perspective. Jurans lectures in 1954 opened up another aspect of quality control towards the managerial approach to quality control. This was the first time the term Quality Control was positioned as a vital management tool in Japan. From then, the term Quality Control has been used to mean both quality control and the tools for overall improvement in managerial performance. JUSE (The Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers), an organization coordinating the nationwide Quality Circle movement and assisting in its expansion, there are more than 170,000 Quality circles officially registered with JUSE and probably twice that many operating 15

independently of JUSE. Since the typical circle has six to ten members, it is estimated that there are at least 3 million workers in Japan directly involved in some kind of official quality circle activity. According to the Japan Industrial Standards (Z8101-1981) definition, quality control is a system of means to economically produce goods or services which satisfy customer requirement. The definition is expressed as follows: Effective implementation of quality control necessitates the cooperation of all people in the company, including top management , managers, supervisors , and workers in all areas of corporate activities such as market research and development, product planning , design, preparations for production, purchasing, vendor management , manufacturing, inspection, sales and after-services, as well as financial control , personnel administration, training and education. Quality control carried out in this manner is called company-wide quality control or total quality control. In 1975, Nissan Motors made a slogan for an improvement campaign as part of a KAIZEN program was named the Seven-Up-Campaign, and improvements were sought in the seven areas viz. standard time, efficiency, costs, suggestions, quality assurance, safety, and process utilization. The campaign chosen in 1978 was the 3-K 1, 2, 3 Campaign. the 3-K standing for kangae (thought), Kodo (action), and Kaizen and the 1, 2, 3 standing for the hop-step jump sequence of thinking, acting, and improving. After a day-long discussion on the KAIZEN concept, William Manly quipped: I thought they had two major religions in Japan: Buddhism and Scientism, now I find they have a third: KAIZEN! Facetious though this sounds, one should have a religious zeal in immediate payout. This is a behavioral change requiring missionary zeal and the proof of its value is in the satisfaction it brings and in its long term impact. KAIZEN is based on a belief in peoples inherent desire for quality and worth, and management has to believe that it is going to pay in the long run.

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Mankichi Tateno, (1979), proclaimed that the company was going to introduce Total Quality Control. He formulated three goals: (1) to provide products and services that satisfy customer requirements and earn customers trust. (2) To steer the corporation toward higher profitability through improved work procedures, fewer defects, lower cost, lower debt services, and more advantageous order filling. (3) To help employees in order to fulfill their potential for achieving the corporate goal, with particular emphasis on such areas as policy deployment and voluntary activities. Monden, (1983), said that Leveling of production is the most important requisite for kanban based manufacturing. The main prerequisite for a successful implementation of the Kanban techniques is a demand which remains uniform and repetitive over long periods of time, with small fluctuations vis--vis annual average values. Spurling, (1983), has made the following remarks on Mitsubishi automobiles. It was able to achieve the quality with minimum investment by introducing a series of improvements such as reducing inventories and changing the plant layout. For instance, the old layout had been designed. As a result, it was possible to achieve an 80 percent reduction in stock on the line and a 30 percent increase in worker performance. Finch and Cox, (1986), have studied the implementation of JIT into two groups :Those that are independent of the firm size (focused factory, reduced setup times, group technology, total preventive maintenance, cross-trained employees and Kanban); second that relate to the firm size and may be more difficult for the small manufacturing firm to satisfy (stable, uniform workload and jut-in-time delivery of purchased parts). Imai, (1986), has remarked Kaizen means continuous improvement. Not just a philosophy of work place, but it means continually improving in every facet of life, including business, industry, commerce, government and diplomacy, among others. In full implementation, it becomes the foundation of all activities. In the production activities within Organization,

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utilization of the Kaizen philosophy addresses continuous improvement not only in the field of management, but also in the general work force. Golhar, (1990), has carried out survey of 32 small manufacturing firms and reported that the surveyed firms have focused on employee involvement to improve quality, inventory reduction and increasing employee participation by using kaizen principles. Golgano, (1990), has stated that the word quality virtually includes everything: competitiveness, delivery times, costs, excellence, corporate policy, productivity, profits, product quality, volumes, results, service, safety, environmental consciousness, focus on shareholders. Mehra and Inman, (1992), conducted a survey of JIT implementation, and concluded that JIT production strategy and JIT vendor strategy were significant elements of JIT implementations. Success in JIT implementation was assessed and based on downtime, inventory and workspace reductions, increased quality, labour utilization and equipment utilization and inventory turnovers. The elements of JIT production strategy were setup for time reduction, lot sizes, group technology, cross training and preventive maintenance. The elements of JIT vendor strategy were: vendor lot size, sole sourcing, vendor lead times and quality certification of suppliers. Sherkenbach, (1993), has said that there is a need to strengthen the convection; actions are necessary, real and objective to improve the quality of the products and services. For the enterprises, quality becomes a question of survival. The customers are demanding more and more in terms of quality and the competing enterprises are struggling more and more to win the market. Rastogi and Mohanty, (1994), described four strategies for total productivity optimization of a real life manufacturing company. These strategies are developed to attain overall growth, cost reduction, upgrading of technical efficiency and management effectiveness. Such strategies

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have been modeled mathematically by using a nonlinear mathematical programming approach. The model base and the database used in implementing the strategies can serves as decision support to management for optimizing total productivity. Brandolese, (1994), has mentioned the quality problem and the aim to help and provide a better understanding of the basic concepts of total quality through a critical discussion. Six main topics are touched upon: language and terminology problems, the historical framework of quality related concepts (like kaizen or continuous improvement) vis--vis other managerial models (specially, the learning curve), the role played by demand and its fluctuations, the contrast between a process based and a result based approach, the relationship between total quality for the industrial environment and the relationship between companies and trade unions. Emmanuel A., Onyeagoro, (1995), has given his remarks on manufacturing planning and controls that to remain competitive; organizations are exploring new ways for increasing productivity by reducing work in progress inventories and product lead time. This article describes a case study of the successful introduction of production cells in a company engaged in small batch production. Following a detailed analysis of the utilization of machines in the companys machine shop, a new manufacturing technique is proposed to the work flow process. Yavuz and Satir, (1995), have done their research work on Kanban based operational planning and control in assembly and flow lines. The article focuses on simulation models and distinguishes between explorative and comparative type research. Operational and

experimental design features reported and are summarized in tabular format. Features of each study are discussed, findings are compared and they give ideas for research directions. Gupta and Brennan, (1995), have implemented Just in Time methodology in a small manufacturing company. Preliminary analysis identified various problems in the existing manufacturing operations. The achievements of the JIT implementations included a reduction in material traversing, reduced lead times and inventories leading to an overall reduction in the

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cost of manufacturing. A smooth flow of material from the raw material stage to the finished product stage was established. Three separate product lines were combined into a flexible manufacturing assembly line. With the adoption of a holistic approach to JIT implementation, it was found that even a small company can make significant strides towards world class manufacturing status. The experience gained by the company encourages and benefit other small companies to embrace the JIT approach. Newitt, (1996), has given new insights onto old thinking. He has suggested the key factor to determine the business process requirements. He has brought insights that Kaizen philosophy in the business process management will liberate the thinking of both management and employees all levels and provide the climate in which creativity and value addition can flourish. Radharamanan et al. (1996), carried out a study on quality and productivity improvements in a custom made furniture industry using KAIZEN, Kaizen philosophy was applied in a small sized custom made furniture industry for continuous improvement and developed the products with higher quality, lower cost, and higher productivity to meeting the customer requirements. Yung, (1996), has applied some simple techniques like statistical process control (SPC) and the seven basic tools for manufacturing a product. This paper presents a case study where Printed Circuit Board (PCB) fabrication company employs very simple techniques (e.g. SPC and seven basic tools etc.) to significantly improve both product and process quality and productivity. In the same study, he applied the intimate relationship between SPC, the seven basic tools, KAIZEN and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles in practice. Statistical Process control (SPC) is proved to be an effective means to improve quality and productivity; while the basic seven tools of kaizen are powerful for problem solving. Chaudhuri, (1997), described the key concept of the continuous improvement system at Morris electronics limited, an Indo-Japanese joint venture firm. He has contributed to dramatic improvement in productivity implementing kaizen techniques. He also highlights the evolution

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of the collaboration between Morris and Hitachi metals and its impact on the development of higher level competencies. Frohner and Iwata,, (1999), have evaluated the designing principles of Japanese production systems derived from theory or empirical research. They derived principles for Japanese production systems and are highly influenced by unique elements of Japanese culture. The cultural background has to be known, when the principles are applied properly in a completely different cultural background. A fundamental explanation for the large variety of approaches and techniques towards organization (e.g. KANBAN, TQC, TQM, Kaizen, POKA-YOKE) are discussed in the field of management. Joseph et al., (2000), have made a Kaizen based approach on a small manufacturing designing system. The focus of this project was the virtual manufacturing of meat tenderizer. The problem, was identified in this virtual situation is that the product is currently too expensive to produce. Cellular manufacturing system was used to reduce production costs and improves the quality of every product. In order to address this system design problem, a design engineer, a manufacturing engineer, a quality engineer, and two machining operators were invited to be the team members in this Kaizen project. After identifying the problem, a brainstorming process was used to explore the teams goal by reviewing the current process of the product. Kaizen brings continuous improvement, and it also developed a communications network throughout the organization which intrinsically supports a method of checks and balances within daily operation. John, (2000), has stated a evolutionary model on continuous improvement He brought out

that; todays complex and turbulent environment needs a continuous improvement in products and processes. This paper reports on extensive case study based on research, exploring how high involvement in continuous improvement can be built and sustained as an organizational

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capability. It argues that Kaizen needs to be viewed as a cluster of behavioral changes, which establish innovation routines in the enterprise, and presents a reference model for assessment of progress in the evolution of such capabilities. Samson, (2000), has emphasized on kaizen as an essential tool for inclusion in industrial technology curricula covers a wide range of curricula. The case study provides a description of the steps used to implement lean thinking in a typical mid western company developed a dynamic tri-resin fiberglass rod which has hundred times more tensile strength than that of steel. Exercises described in his paper, can be used within existing courses in all manufacturing focused industrial technology programs to assure that graduates are sufficiently familiar with this important thrust. Ashmore, (2001), discovers kaizen is a hard headed weapon in hard-pressed manufacturing engineering industries. He has found that the implementation of kaizen techniques at Toyota, company has increased its sales by a multiple of not less than 69 percent and its profits by 54 times in a economic year. De Haan, (2001), has comments on the importance of Kaizen to Japanese production control mechanisms. Kaizen needs to be distanced from the more recent western development,

whereby management involved employees in reengineering brainstorming sessions. Palmer, (2001), has focused his study on the Inventory management kaizen that was conducted at BAE SYSTEM to remove the MUDA (waste) from the receiving and storing process. Kaizen even encompassed about 5 months, one week for the actual analysis of the process and the remainder working to implement the changes that were identified. He found that the kaizen brought improvement that the process time reduced from 610 hrs to 290 hours. Ultimately, the whole kaizen event resulted in as saving well over million dollars per year.

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Yasin et al., (2003), have done their research work on organizational modifications to support JIT implementation in manufacturing and service operations. A field study was conducted to

investigate the actual implementation experiences of a selected group of service and manufacturing users of JIT. Their findings from the literature and the field study are used to develop four research hypotheses that are tested using survey data from 130 manufacturing and 61 service firms. Beabout, (2003), has carried out his thesis work on a aircraft maintenance management organization using statistical process control (SPC) at the 135 Airlift Wing, Maryland, USA.
th

Air National Guard desires a visualization tool for their maintenance performance metrics. They were monitoring their metrics via an electronic spreadsheet. They desire a tool that depicted the performance information in a graphical manner. This study focuses on the development of a visualization tool utilizing two of the seven tools offered by Statistical Process Control (SPC). This research demonstrates the application of p-charts and Pareto diagrams in the aircraft maintenance arena. P-charts are used for displaying mission capable (MC) rates and flying scheduling effectiveness (FSE) rates. Pareto diagrams are then used to highlight critical aircraft subsystems. Brunet et al., (2003), prepared a note on kaizen as practiced in a selection of Japanese companies. This paper describes the methodology of study, and presents findings from the research, taking NIPPON Steel Corporation (NSC) as a base model & comparing this with the data from companies. The development of Kaizen activities in NSC is presented together with a description of the current nature of Kaizen, which is compared with other firms in the steel & automotive industries to assess uniformity. The paper concludes that Kaizen evolves uniquely within each organization, following changes to the organizations business environment.

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Chapter -3 PRESENT WORK

3.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

In the competitive world of industrialization, all industries are aspiring towards higher productivity by focusing on the system simplification and Organizational potential with the help of different modern tools and techniques like QC, TPM, TQM and Kaizen. But, during last 15 years of my service, I have realized that the system is running in old, uncompetitive fashion. In the age of IT, still recording of maintenance activities and operations have been carried out using pen and paper. A rectification of complex problems has been solved by reading a heap of manuals. In the age of robotics, material handling is being carried out manually by the employees working in the organization, which resulted in more human fatigue and damage to the material. It is not possible to change the technology, infrastructure and working system overnight in a big organization like Indian Air Lines. Thus Indian Air Lines needs attention for continuous improvement (i.e. KAIZEN) in their system particularly in maintenance and Logistic field. This thesis is an attempt to identify such critical areas, which requires continuous improvement by taking a case study of maintenance and logistic department at Indian Air Lines, Delhi. 3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the present study are as under:(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) To identifying the areas of focus for continuous improvement. To apply kaizen tools in those identified areas. To support and apply the improved processes. To measure the effectiveness of these improved processes in terms of productivity or other parameters. (v) To focus the attention of management towards the under utilized systems. 24

3.3

METHODOLOGY

Depending on the objectives of the improvement, there are many ways to implement kaizen methodology. Here, the present study of Kaizen methodology is applied in maintenance and logistic divisions of Indian Air Lines, Delhi Aerodrome, where aircrafts undergo maintenance servicing. The flow chart shown in figure 1.3 demonstrates the kaizen procedure methodology used in this case.

Collection information to access the perceptions of employees

Identification of critical areas

Evaluation of existing process / design concepts Continuous improvement

Proposed method / concepts to improve existing methods

Analysis of proposed method in comparison with existing method

Implementation

Figure 3.1 Flow chart of Kaizen methodology.

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3.3.1 STEP I COLLECTION OF INFORMATION TO ACCESS THE CRITICAL AREAS The Kaizen approach requires that all employees of the Organisation are encouraged to participate in Kaizen activities. The approach adopted in this study is questionnaire method, to gather information directly from the employees. Questionnaire is prepared to record the

perceptions of employees of maintenance and logistics divisions. A questionnaire contains a number of questions printed on a definite order on a set of forms. The questionnaire is structured based i.e. there are definite, concrete and predetermined questions. The questions are presented with exactly the same wording and in the same order to all employees. The questions contained in questionnaire are simple and easy to under stand. This method of collecting data from the technicians, senior technicians, supervisors unbiased. Logistics and maintenance staff and other employees had enough time to give well thought answers to the questions of the questionnaire.

3.3.1.1 Data Collection : Questionnaire was filled up by fifty employees from different sections of the maintenance and logistics divisions. Employees perceptions were recorded. Data is collected from two sources, primary source and secondary source. Primary data during research work can be collected either through observation or through direct communication with the respondent in the form of questionnaire or through personal interview. It means that there are several methods of collecting primary data like observation method, interview method, through questionnaire, and through projective techniques. But in this study questionnaire was used to collect the primary data directly from the employees working in the maintenance and logistics division. This was done by handing over the questionnaire to the

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employees. Also observations method is used again and again in this study to collect the concrete data. The questionnaire contained different questions related to spare management, material handling, method improvement training, morale of personnel; suggestion system, social gathering and computer support in the maintenance of aircraft were prepared. Secondary data were collected from books, internet, research papers, old thesis papers, technical library, maintenance and servicing manuals of aircraft and maintenance magazine published by the Indian Air Lines and HAL. Especially authors fifteen years of working experience in the particular maintenance division of various air lines stations is considered for collecting secondary data. Sampling may be defined as the selection of some part of an aggregate or totality on the basis of which a judgments or inference about the aggregate or totality is made. In other words, it is the process of obtaining information about an entire population by examining only part of it. The items so selected constitute, what is technically called a sample, their selection process or technique is called sample design and survey conducted on the basis of sample is described as sample survey. Sample is truly representation of population characteristics without any bias, so that it results in a valid and reliable conclusion. In this study, the sample of 50 employees (technicians, senior technicians, supervisors and technicians) on random basis is chosen to formulate a questionnaires relating to the servicing and logistic support for the aircraft maintenance.

3.3.1.2

Characteristics respondent

Length of service Employees length of service starting from 5 years to 40 years of experience was considered for the study of critical area and also their percentage of responses was tabulated below:

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Table 3.1 Percentage length of service of the respondents S. NO. A B C D E Designation The designation of the respondent i.e. Technician, senior technician, Supervisors and technician is considered as another characteristic of respondent for finding out the critical areas of the study is as tabulated below: Table 3.2 Percentage designation of the respondents SL NO A B C D Designation Technician Senior technician Supervisors Workers 48 26 18 08 % of respondents Length of service Below 5 years 5 Years and upto 10 years 10 years and upto 15 years 15 years and upto 20 years 20 years and above % of total respondents 8 16 32 32 12

Age group It is also an important characteristic which was considered for finding out the responses from the employees. The age group considered for the study from 20 years and above is tabulated below:

Table 3.3 Percentage age group of the respondents SL NO A B C D E Age Below 20 years 20 years and below 25 years 26 years and below 30 years 31 years and below 35 years 36 years and below 40 years NIL 10 22 34 26 % of respondents

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41 years and above

Educational qualification Educational qualification of the employees plays a vital role in finding out the problem and critical areas in order to find out the best result. The percentage of qualifications of the respondents used in this study is tabulated below:

Table 3.4 Percentage educational qualification of the respondents SL NO A B C D E Qualification Post Graduate Graduate Higher Secondary Diploma Others 18 48 24 6 4 % of respondents

3.3.2 STEP II IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL AREAS Critical areas were identified on the basis of response of employees. In this step employees perception was measured by evaluating the questionnaire responses. Employees perceptions were recorded by a questionnaire, containing two sections. Section A describes single

question, whether continuous improvement required in maintenance of aircraft or not. The Sec B of questionnaire consists of twenty questions relating the various aspects of servicing and personnel factors such as method improvement, spare management, material handling equipment, computer support in aircraft maintenance, suggestion system , training, personnel morale social gathering and wastage. All questions have two answers yes or No.

29

The section A of questionnaire was evaluated and revealed that there is a need of continuous improvement in the maintenance and logistics department. The figure 3.1 represents the percentage of employees opinion towards continuous improvement.

12%

YES NO

88%

Figure 3.2 Responses of the employees for continuous improvement

The section B of questionnaire is evaluated, and four critical areas were identified for continuous improvement. The identified critical areas are spare management, method improvement, material handling equipment and computer support in maintenance and logistic division of the station. The table 3.5 demonstrates the specific critical areas and percentage of respondents perception towards identified critical areas.

IDENTIFIED CRITICAL AREAS

100 60 86 96 84

80 Table 3.5 Percentage of employees in identified Critical Areas

Sl No 1 2 3 4 Areas Spare management 40 Method Improvement 20 Material handling Computer 0 support in aviation field
Spare management Method Improvement

PERCENTAGE OF EMPLOYEES

92

% of Employees 86 96 84 92
Material handling Computer support in aviation field

CRITICAL AREAS
30 Figure 3.3 Identified Critical areas.

3.3.3 STEP III EVALUATION OF EXISTING PROCESS / DESIGN CONCEPTS In this step, discussions were carried out with employees who are directly related to these identified critical areas. The problems in these critical areas are collected by field studies. The various problems which are pointed out in the identified areas are spare management, method improvement, material handling and computer support in logistic department.

3.3.3.1 Evaluation of Spare management In this base, spares and equipment is procured by demand based method. Item is supplied on the basis of known demand or forecasting based on the flying task allotted to a unit. The spares or equipment is automatically replenished by ARS system to a flying base as per the total flying time for a known period and how many aircraft will be fallen due for scheduled / planned servicing in these known periods.

31

In an air lines base under study an average of 100 priority demands are raised against aircraft and air-borne equipment every month. Survey indicated that, maintenance staff has to wait till the procurement of spares from the supply/repair agency. Since then, aircraft and air-borne

equipments are unserviceable i.e. not fit for flying. Thus the air lines need continuous progress in procurement lead time on priority demands to meet the flying task and operational efficiency of the station. So, kaizen offers a means of continuous improvement in this area to eliminate delay in procurement time. Problem faced: Presently, there is a rapid rise in unserviceability of aircraft due to unforeseen problems happening unexpectedly. During this, maintenance staffs need immediate spares/equipment to encounter the problems. However, these maintenance servicing are unplanned, logistics department is not able to supply the spares / equipment in time to maintenance division for servicing of unserviceable aircraft. Basic problems are as: The user who is raising the demand, is not fully conversant with the demanding procedure and publication details. In between User and Logistics department so many formalities lay which results in increasing the processing time of demand. The persons who are dealing with priority demands are not acquainted with newly introduced IMMOLS system In logistic division, no other clerk respond to the priority demand quickly, when the dealing clerk is absent for some reason. In case user refers the wrong supply agency in the demand form. Thus that will result in duplication of job because demand will come back to the user section without any action.

32

User A Department (Logistics)

Dealing

Supply Agency

User B Figure 3.4 why user had to wait.

Equipment Depot

3.3.3.2 Evaluation of Method improvement

The Preservation and depreservation of aero engines and jet pipes play a major role in maintenance and servicing in the field of aviation. The aim of preservation is to form a protection to the aero engine components and its accessories along with jet pipe, against corrosion attack during storage and transportation, as well as when the aircraft is temporarily put out of service due to unserviceability. The depreservation is the process of removal of oil / grease from the inner and outer surfaces of aero engine, which is applied during the process of preservation before putting into service or installing on aircraft, otherwise it may lead to a cause of fire during engine running condition.

33

The preservation and depreservation trolley named AMZ-53 is manufactured by Russian. It is a multipurpose trolley consist of three containers, two air bottles with compressed air of150 Kg/Cm2, one air reducer, one safety valve and three filters. No.1 cylinder holds 25ltrs of oil OX-27 which is used for aircraft engine lubrication. No. 2 cylinder holds 25ltrs OM-11 which is used for internal and external preservation of the aircraft engine and Jet pipe. No. 3 cylinder holds 25ltrs of aviation gasoline used for depreservation of the engine and leak checks of engine after rectification work. Each cylinder having one dispenser each fitted with hose at the end. During operation of the system, each cylinder is supplied with compressed air available in two air bottles which is supplied to the system with reduced pressure of 2-3 kg/ cm2.

Existing Procedure By fixing the trigger on the guard, the operator keeps his thumb on the exit of dispenser and adjusts his thumb to reduce the flow area of dispenser. After that it directs the jet of fluid towards the parts of the aero engine / jet pipe to be preserved / depreserved. The procedure consumes approximately 40ltr of fluid during single operation. It is not possible for the operator to adjust properly his thumb to the outlet of dispenser which results in failure of processes.

34

Figure 3.5 Preservation trolley AMZ-53

Description: 1-safety valve, 3-pressure gauge, 4. reducer, 5-reducer, 6-pressure gauge, 7-charging pipe union, 8-shutoff valve, 9-airbottle, 10-dispensing hose, 11-dispenser, 12-tank(qty 3), 13-filter, 14-filter, 16-shutoff valve, 17-air relief valve, 18-filter, 19-instrument panel, 20-handling lug, 21-end piece for pressure filling of oil.

Figure 3.6 Dispenser

1-body; 2-valve; 3-cylinder; 4,8-spring; 5-earthing cable; 6-latch; 7-triggewr; 9-strainer filter; 10-barrel; 11-blank cover

35

Problems faced The outlet area of the dispenser is more, and hence it is not possible to take out grease from the spherical sockets of the preserved parts easily. The operator is unable to control the operation properly because of more area of the outlet of dispenser. This results a large amount of wastage of oil / gasoline. As oil/gasoline is inflammable fluid, the work area is very prone to fire hazard wherever it spills during the process of preservation. Due to unhealthy nature of oil/gasoline, the operator always feels annoyance while carrying out preservation and depreservation. The process of preservation requires about 40 ltrs.of preserving fluid during each operation and hence the operator has to fill the dispensing container at least twice (because capacity of container is 25ltrs).

3.3.3.3 Evaluation of Material handling In the Indian Air Lines where sophisticated aircrafts like Boeing, Airbus are used, need requirement of special material handling equipments during maintenance, servicing of aircrafts. It is observed that most of the material handling is carried out manually during the operation. Thus Indian Air lines needs specific material handling equipments for safe and efficient maintenance of aircraft to achieve the goal of the organization Existing Manual Operation The existing manual operation requires 8 persons to carry out the operation because the weight of after burner diffuser is heavy (85 kg) and bulk in size, especially to be lifted and lowered through a height of 10 feet during replacement operation.

36

 Six persons are required for lifting and lowering the items. One technician is required for fitting and removing the attachment bolts. One supervisor is required for guiding the manual operation.

10 feet Figure 3.7 Height of the after burner diffuser during replacement It has been observed that, maintenance activities carried out manually during removal and fitment of aero engine after burner diffuser replacement. The manual operation is involved with negligible personal safety and wastage in man powers. 3.3.3.4 Evaluation of Computer support in logistics department In logistic department purchasing, provisioning, budgeting, demand and issue of spares plays in daily routine job. By the implementation of IMMOLS (integrated material management on line system) in the Indian Air Lines base made the logistic system very easier and saved large wastage of man hours. Still, problems remain same in the personal clothing issue program. 37

Because employees make a long queue to draw their entitlement during the clothing issue program and left the work place which results in hampering of planned job and wastage of man hours.

Existing procedure: Employee finds out the due items from personnel clothing issue book. He fills required item in a specified demand form. Approach to the demanding officer (under whom employee works) for signature. Take out the time from schedule work and approach to account section for cross checking of demand voucher whether that mentioned item due or not.. Wait for the unit wise date of issue programme. On the date of issue programme, the individual makes a queue for the drawing of his personnel clothing. On that day, the issuing section tallies available stock and issue the clothing.

Problem faced The existing issue program leads to more wastage of man hours. It provides low level of employees satisfaction as the employees have to wait in queue for longer duration. Employees do not get their full entitlement in time as the existing issue program is intermittent as well as time consuming. Chances of hampering of planned job as issue program is conducted during planned working hours.

38

Chapter- 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In previous chapter, the four critical areas were identified by analyzing questionnaire response. The problems in these critical areas are found out by discussion with the employees as well as management. Also, practical observations are documented to analyze the various problems of these critical areas. In this chapter the proposed method / concepts are adopted for improvement in these identified critical areas. An analysis is carried out using Kaizen methodology for

39

improvement in identified critical areas. The analysis and implementation of proposed method in comparison with existing method are discussed here in detail.

4.1 STEP IV PROPOSED METHOD / CONCEPTS TO IMPROVE EXISTING METHODS The different concepts and methods are adopted to bring improvement in existing concepts / methods. Various Kaizen techniques are applied in the identified four critical areas of study.

Spare management By studying the problems for delay in supply of spares to the maintenance line, a quality Circle team is formed by combining two engineers, four supervisor and 10 workers. The goal of QC program was to reduce the waiting period for the spares to minimum possible. All delay areas are identified and different measures are taken to improve the existing delay in procurement of spares. The Different tools of kaizen such as cause and effect diagram, Pareto diagram and check sheets are used to solve the problem.

Method improvement By visualizing the problems existing in preservation and depreservation method of aero engine, 4M checklist system is applied to bring the improvement over it. The 4 M check list of Kaizen activities are Man (operator), Machine (facilities), material (item) and method (operation). In the existing method of operation, various problems are identified i.e. method is unhealthy to operator, more wastage in material and it is an inefficient method. All these problems are reduced to a great extent by changing the exit pipe of the dispenser with a suitable nozzle.

40

Material handling By visualizing the existing material handling of after burner diffuser, 3-MU check point is considered to help workers during operation. The 3 M U checklists of Kaizen activities are Muda (Waste), Muri (Strain) and Mara (Discrepancy). In the existing operation various

problems recognized i.e. strain, fatigue, and wastage of man power is found out during the operation. By keeping the entire 3 MU problem in view, improvement is carried out. This improvement is done by fabricating an iron lashing cable from local market to replace the conventional existing manual operation.

Computer support By considering the problems in the existing clothing issue programme, study is carried out by suggestion system which is an integral part of the Kaizen methodology. In this study,

employees have been asked directly for suggestions, to bring the improvements in the personal clothing issue program. About 50 suggestions are collected directly from the employees. The best suggestion found out to be Implementation of clothing issue program on existing IMMOLS network. With the help of Software Company the existing IMMOLS network is added with an additional menu i.e. Personnel Clothing. This menu can be accessed by the employees at their work site terminal to find out their entitled clothing. As per the entitlement browsed at the employees terminal, the newly introduced Personnel Demand Form has to be filled up. The rest all is done by the issuing section. Also, the clothing is issued with the use of a hand written form instead of old conventional method of approval at various steps. The new form is dropped to the issuing section. The data base is then checked online by issuing section. The items which are entitled for the employee are delivered by issuing section to the employees work site. 4.2 STEP V ANALYSIS STAGE

41

Analysis of the proposed method is carried out on four identified critical areas by using the different problem solving tools of Kaizen. The analysis, comparison and result of the study in four critical areas are described as follow:-

4.2.1 Analysis of spare management

Demand by user section The occasions arise when normal demands for spares do not materialize in time.

To ensure

operational preparedness of aircraft and Approval equipment, bypriority O i/c demands for supply of spares are raised. For procurement of spares from supply agency certain procedures are followed. The Getting N/A of from store figure 4.1 shows the flow diagram of procurement spares from the supply agency.

Taking demand no. from IMMOLS

Seeking approval from C E O

Seeking approval from SLO

Signal demand rises through AOG cell

Message sends through signal or via internet to supply agency

Dealing clerk in supply / repair agency

Spares/ item comes through logistics procedure

Receipt and Dispatch section

Received by User section 42 Figure 4.1 Flow diagram of procurement of spares

Cause-and-Effect Diagram and Situation Analysis: In order to analyze the cause of delay in supply of spares to maintenance line, QC circle members conducted a brainstorming session regarding the waiting time for supply of spare and equipment. Circle members itemized the factors at a brainstorming session and arranged them in a cause and effect diagram as shown below:

MAN Absent (duty off) Out of office

MACHINE Linkage failure

43

Unserviceable (waiting for repair) Report sick Semi-skilled Busy in other job DELAY IN SUPPLY OF SPARES Lack of co-ordination Other workload everybody do not trained with system Item waiting after receiving WORKING SYSTEM Busy Insufficient Machine

Form not filled properly Medical Less Comp. knowl.

Tea break

Starts leaving a message Other unavoidable jobs USER

Figure 4.2 Causes and effect diagram for delay in supply of spares

Further, Circle members decided to conduct a survey on existing method to find out the delay in supply of spares to the maintenance line. About 50 old demands are studied for delay and data is collected. Out of 50 old demands under study, ten demands are put under check sheet. Table 4.1 Check sheets to identify the delay in procurement. S. No Item Problem Recognitio n Date (A) 1 2 3 4 Data Recorder Tachogenerator Amplifier Pressure relief 12 Jul 07 06 Apr 07 03 Feb 07 10 Mar 07 14 Jul 07 09 Apr 07 05 Feb 07 12 Mar 07 44 Demand date (B) Material Transfer Request date (C) 16 Jul 07 13 Apr 07 08 Feb 07 14 Mar 07 30 Jul 07 22 Apr 07 13 Feb 07 16 Apr 07 Clearance date (D) Difference between column A&D 18 days 16days 40 days 36 days

5 6 7 8 9

valve Hydraulic

03 Jan 07

05 Jan 07 23 Feb 07 24 May 07 12 Jan 07 02 Mar 07 04 May 07

07 Jan 07 25 Feb 07 27 May 07 14 Jan 07 04 Mar 05 07 May 07

10 Mar 07 18 Apr 07 07 Jun 07 25 Jan 07 17 Mar 07 02 Jun 07

65 days 57 days 16 days 15 days 16 days 31 days

accumulator Hydraulic pump 20 Feb 07 Servo Unit 22 May 07 Flight detection 10 Jan 07 integrator Synchronizing 01 Mar 07 02 May 07

unit 10 RPM Gauge

On scrutinizing the check sheet it is understood that the time taken for procurement of some of the items like hydraulic accumulator and hydraulic pump is about 2 months. To find the main areas of delay in supply of spares, circle members made a brain storming session. About 50 demands which are raised in the month of September is analyzed to find out the reasons starting from the raising of the demands by the user sections up to the material received by the maintenance line. The main causes of delay in the procurement of spares are listed below:

Table 4.2 Reasons why maintenance staff had to wait Reasons A B C D E F Supply agency delay Maintenance staff delay Approving delay Material transfer delay Receiving delay Any other delay Total no. of problem 29 24 18 14 10 5 Cumulative 29 53 71 85 95 100

Identifying the areas contributing for the delay of spares, various measures are taken, these are described below. Adequate training on IMMOLS system.

45

 On line assistance to user. In time approval of demand by approving authority. Immediate raising of Material Transfer Request (MTR) to supply agency through Intranet. Immediate supply of spares from supply agency to user base by courier or speed post. On receipt of spares from supply agency immediate delivery to maintenance line. Manning the IMMOLS Server round the clock to attend the queries.

After a month together, again study is conducted in the previous areas of delay. The results obtained after implementation of various measures to curtail delay in supply of spares. The table 4.4 illustrates the comparison of delay before and after quality circle conducted in the maintenance and logistic division. In this table, the frequency of delay in supply agency is reduced from 29 to 10. The frequency of other delays (i.e. approving delay, material transfer request delay, maintenance staff delay, receiving delay and other delays) are reduced 24 to8, 18 to6, 10 to 2 and 5 to 1 respectively.

Table 4.3 Comparison study before and after measuring action. Reasons for delay Frequency of problem A B C D E F Supply delay Maintenance agency staff before study 29 24 18 14 10 5 Cumulative freq. before study 29 53 71 85 95 100 Frequency of problem after study 10 8 6 5 2 1 Cumulative freq. after study 10 18 24 29 31 32

delay Approving delay MTR delay Receiving delay Any other delay

46

The frequency of delays before and after measuring action is diagrammed according to priority on the pareto diagram. It is revealed that the total delays reduced to 32%. Figure 4.3 shows the percentage of improvement in supply of spares.

PER CEN TAG E OF DEL AY S

68%

Figure 4.8 graph of average employees attend the clothing issue program

Figure 4.3 Pareto diagram (combination of before and after measuring action)

4.2.2 Analysis of method improvement

47

The existing method of preservation and depreservation was leading to wastage of material and unhealthy working environment. The major problem was the design of exit pipe of the dispenser (15 mm dia). The exit pipe of the dispenser is replaced with a metallic nozzle of 2mm diameter. This brought out an improvement in operation of preservation and

depreservation. It resulted in reduction in wastage of material. Also, the mask is used by the operator which creates a healthy environment to the worker.

Valve Body

Exit barrel

Trigger

15mm dia. Outlet

Figure 4.4(a) Detachment of exit barrel from the dispenser body

21 mm

13 mm

32 mm

2 mm

Hexagonal union

48

Tapered section

Figure 4.4 (b) newly designed nozzle

26 mm

Body

Outlet Outlet barrel barrel

Nozzle Nozzle

Trigger Trigger Figures 4.4 (c) Dispenser with nozzle after method improvement Qualitative improvement It is observed that there are tremendous qualitative improvements in the operation:

49

 A fine spray / jet of fluid come out from the equipment, which removes all oil stains from the inhibited parts and takes out the grease from the intricate parts during depreservation. Level of satisfaction of operators is increased, as this process reduced the spillage that was creating the unhealthy environment. A fine layer of preservation oil (with minimum consumption) develops during preservation. Operator becomes very enthusiastic towards improvement (because it reduces the extra job i.e. cleaning of floor area and refilling of the system).

Savings By repeated operation it is observed that approximately 15 liters of material (i.e. oil or aviation kerosene) saved in one operation. Cost of preservation oil is Rs 80/ - per liter Cost of aviation kerosene is Rs 20/ - per liter During servicing both preservation and depreservation is carried out. Cost of 15 liters of oil Cost of 15 liters of kerosene 80x15= Rs 1200/ 20x15= Rs 300/ -

Total saving in cost for one servicing Rs 1500/ There are five such operations carried out in a month and hence sixty operations in a year. Thus total savings in a year by this improvement is 60x1500= Rs 90,000/ In terms of material Total consumption of oil for single operation (before) = 40 liters

50

Total consumption of oil for single operation (after) Savings of material for single operation 15 liters

= 25 liters

% percentage saving during single operation = 15/40x 100 = 37.5 % 4.2.3 Analysis of material handling 3 MU Check points Muda, Muri and Mura are adopted and existing manual operation is analyzed to take out the drudgery from the system. In 3 MU check point, Muda (waste) in man hours, muri (strain) and fatigue involved in operation and Mura (discrepancy in the way of handling the equipment is considered during the analysis. This kaizen technique brought an improvement in the handling of equipment i.e after burner diffuser during replacement. Fabricating an iron lashing cable of 2 feet length with loop in one end and an eye end attached to the other is manufactured from the local market. The figure 4.5 shows the design of lashing cable. In improved method only two persons are required for handling of item during

replacement. The designed lashing cable is used with idle machine (lifting crane) to perform the job with faster speed and less man power. This method visualizes a utilization of idle machine lifting crane and Kaizen. Lifting point

Figure 4.5 Lifting point of after burner diffuser

51

Loop end

Eye end Bolt

Nut

Boom Figure 4.6 Iron lashing cable

Pulley

Rotating handle

Base

Jack Wheel

52 Figure 4.7 Lifting crane

Lifting crane is intended to remove the canopy, ejection seat, radio equipment and other units weighing not above 300 kg. The boom can operate through a radius of 1700mm to2000 mm and 360 turning angle. This lifting crane is utilized for replacement of after burner diffuser. The various steps followed for replacement of After Burner Diffuser are:

Operation during removal of diffuser

53

 Attach the eye end of the cable to the lifting point provided on the After Burner Diffuser. Connect the crane in the loop provided at the other end. Supervisor rotates the crane handle to lift AB Diffuser. Technician removes the required attachment bolts and nut. AB Diffuser is lowered and kept safely on its stand. Operation during fitment diffuser Attach the lashing cable to the crane and after burner diffuser. Supervisor rotates the crane handle and lifts after burner diffuser, during this time technician supports the after burner diffuser to avoid falling of it. Moving the crane towards the engine carries out an alignment. Technician attaches the required fasteners and tightens. Releases the load from crane and removes the lashing cable. Results The existing manual operation is being carried out in 30 minutes (i.e. for removal and fitment) with the help of eight employees. Whereas, by the utilization of lifting crane and small improvement by means of a iron cable the same operation is carried out by only two

employees. Thus it is concluded that, new method saves 6 men for 30 minutes each during a single operation. Total time saved during single operation 6X30=180 minutes or 3 man hours. There are 3 operations carried out in one month. Thus, Total man hours saved per month is 9 hours. Total man hours saved per year is 108 hours.

Table 4.4 Comparison of old and new procedure in material handling 54

Man Machine Damage Safety Fatigue

OLD METHOD NEW METHOD 8 persons required to carry out the Only 2 persons required. operat5ion. Crane is idle most of the time. Chances of damages to the item. Personnel safety is less. Workers feel more fatigue. Proper utilization of idled crane. No chances of damages Personnel safety increases. Workers fatigue reduced.

4.2.4 Analysis of computer support The suggestion system brought a clear view to implement Kaizen in the clothing issue system. The best and improved method of personnel clothing issue is as follows:

New Issue Program for Employee The employee checks out at his terminal to find out the entitlement. He has to only fill up a personal demand request and submit it to Logistic section. Equipment clerk tallies the individuals demand request by checking the data base in the computer provided to him. He takes out a hard copy of demand and arranges delivery of demanded items to work site of individual employees. In this system of issue program the employee need not to be disturbed during his period of duty.

Personnel demand Request

55

Particulars Personal No. Name . Branch

Sl No

Item

Qty

Size

Date

Of Due Date

Last Issue

Date:

Signature of Individual

In the new method of issue program saving in wastage of man power is obtained. The wastage of man hours in old method is calculated below: Quantitative Study: There are more than 1500 employee working in the air lines under study. The data collected from direct source is appended below:

Table 4.5 Month wise study of clothing issue program Month Apr 05 May 05 Jun 05 July 05 Frequency of program 4 4 4 4 No. of employees Total employees attend per month 246 242 182 230 Average per program 61.5 60.5 45.5 57.5

attend the program 60; 58; 65 & 63 55; 62; 62 & 63 40; 48; 50 & 44 53; 58; 60 & 59

56

Aug 05 Sep 05

4 4

51; 58; 64 & 63 60; 59; 61 & 62

236 242

59 60.5

Figure 4.8 Month wise average employees attend the clothing issue program The net average = Sum of the averages of months/ Total number of month = 61.5 + 60.5 + 45.5 +57.5 + 59 + 60.5 / 6 = 58 (approx)

METHOD USED TO FIND OUT THE TOTAL WAITING TIME There are 58 persons attend the clothing issue programme in one program day. The observed distribution of arrival times and service times are recorded and solved by system simulation. By repeated observation, direct data collected from the persons involved in the programme. The following frequency distributions of inter arrival time of employees and service time of the counter have been established.

Table 4.6 Frequency distribution of inter arrival time

57

Inter Arrival time (Minutes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Frequency % 15 25 35 10 8 10 20 35 10 25

This system is carried out in one service counter and served by one bearer only. Hence the persons at queue will enter the service channel as per FCFS basis. Simulation of the clothing issue system with one counter and assigning random number for inter arrival time of persons to path in queue and service times in the counter is allotted in following table: -

Table 4.7 Random number distribution of Inter arrival time Inter arrival time(in mins.) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Frequency % 15 25 35 10 8 7 Cumulative Freq. 15 40 75 85 93 100 Random number 0-14 15-39 40-74 75-84 85-92 93-99

Table 4.8 Random number distribution of Service time Inter arrival time (minutes) 5 6 7 8 9 10 Frequency % 10 15 25 35 5 10 Cumulative Frequency 10 25 50 85 90 100 Random Number 00-09 10-23 24-49 50-84 85-89 90-99

58

The simulation of this study (clothing issue program) is carried out in one counter. The persons in queue enter the service channel (counter) as per FCFS (First come first service) basis is recorded in the following taste to find out the total waiting time of the workers. From this waiting time, it can be conclude that the wastage of man-hours in the manual system and which is removed by the computer support system. Table 4.9 Analysis of waiting time by simulation modeling Sl Random Inter arrival Random Service Number time Cumulative Service Service Waiting arrival time Begins (SB) 0 1 19 27 35 43 5 58 64 71 78 86 94 102 110 118 125 132 140 147 156 165 171 178 185 193 201 209 216 226 Ends (SE) 10 19 27 35 43 50 58 64 71 78 86 94 102 110 118 125 132 140 147 156 165 171 178 185 193 201 209 216 226 234 time (WT) 0 10 17 23 29 36 42 46 52 58 65 71 78 84 92 100 102 106 110 115 122 129 133 140 143 149 155 160 163 170

No Number arrival 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 (RNA) -11 71 65 41 35 17 01 7 34 12 43 38 49 13 05 95 76 85 69 57 63 41 3 91 58 62 75 89 23

time(IAT) service (in mins.) -0 2 2 2 1 1 4 0 1 0 2 1 2 0 0 5 3 4 2 2 2 2 0 4 2 2 3 4 1 (RNS) 96 82 56 68 58 40 82 11 34 25 66 17 79 58 67 42 38 84 38 86 85 12 27 46 58 69 53 48 93 61

(ST) (in (CAT) minutes) 10 9 8 8 8 7 8 12 12 13 13 15 16 18 18 18 23 26 30 32 34 36 38 38 42 44 46 49 53 54 59 0 0 2 4 6 7 8 12 12 13 13 15 6 18 18 18 23 26 30 32 34 36 38 38 42 44 46 49 53 54

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

11 36 59 39 19 21 74 86 90 64 18 18 67 20 72 34 54 30 22 48 74 76 02 07 64 95 23 91

0 1 2 1 1 1 2 4 4 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 3 0 0 2 5 1 4

89 98 58 95 81 34 23 92 71 78 05 32 41 84 79 86 88 72 45 32 99 59 69 29 50 48 10 30

9 10 8 10 8 7 6 10 8 8 5 7 7 8 8 9 9 8 7 7 10 8 8 7 8 7 6 7

54 55 57 58 59 60 62 66 70 72 71 71 74 75 77 78 80 81 82 84 86 89 89 89 91 96 97 101

234 243 253 263 271 279 286 292 302 310 318 323 330 337 345 353 362 371 379 386 393 403 411 419 426 434 441 447 Total

243 180 253 188 261 196 271 204 279 212 286 219 292 224 302 226 310 232 318 238 323 247 330 251 337 256 345 262 353 268 362 275 371 282 379 290 386 297 393 302 403 307 411 314 419 322 426 330 434 335 441 338 447 344 454 346 10217 min

It is concluded that, 170 man-hours saved in one program, 680 (170X4) man-hour saved in one month and 8160 man hours saved per year. Table 4.10 Comparison of old and new clothing issue program Old Method 1. Wastage of man-hours. 2. Low level of employee satisfaction. 3. Employee do not get his full entitlement. 4. Chance of hampering of planned work. New Method 1. Drastic saving in man hours. 2. High level of employee satisfaction. 3. Employee gets his full entitle in time. 4. No chances of hampering of planned task.

4.3 STEP VI IMPLEMENTATION 60

All the four critical areas of study are analyzed and implemented by Kaizen tools are elaborately discussed in succeeding paragraphs. The existing spare management system was causing more delay in supply of spare to the maintenance line and resulting in non-completion of maintenance schedule in time. By

implementation of Kaizen tools i.e. cause and effect diagram, pareto diagram and check sheets, the delay in supply of spares is reduced to a great extent i.e. 68%. The existing method for preservation and depreservation of aero engine was resulting in a large wastage of material and producing hazardous environment. By introduction of Kaizen tool 4 M check point, it is revealed that an improvement can be made with a jet in the existing dispenser in the preservation and depreservation trolley. As a result, it leads to a reduction of 37.5% of material and also improved the safety to the man carrying out the operation. Material handling equipment, which is third critical area of study, is discussed in detail under analysis stage. The existing handling of material (aero engine diffuser) was performed manually, for which 8 men were needed and involved with negligible safety to man and material during replacement of after burner diffuser in aircraft maintenance. By using kaizen tool 3 MU an improvement in replacement of after burner diffuser is brought out. This is done by a locally manufactured lashing cable and utilizing an idle material handling equipment (i.e. lifting crane). This improved the performance of aircraft maintenance and saving in man-hours. Computer support in Logistics division is discussed under the analysis stage of this chapter. The existing system for personal clothing issue for the maintenance and non-maintenance employees was wasting a lot of man power in the form of waiting time for clothing issue program in the logistics section, which was also hampering the maintenance work of the aircraft. The Kaizen tools suggestion system is utilized for improvement in issued program.

61

By addition of personnel clothing menu on existing IMMOLS network and change in the procedure of personnel clothing issue, it is revealed that there is a tremendous reduction in man hours as described in analysis stage of this chapter. Thus introduction of Kaizen tools improved the overall performance of maintenance and logistics operation. Since it is a continuous improvement process, it needs to be always considered as best tool for further improvement.

Chapter -5
62

CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

5.1 CONCLUSIONS
With the application of kaizen methodology in maintenance and logistic operations, The following conclusions were drawn:(i) On the basis of questionnaire filled by the employees, the four critical areas i.e. spare management, method improvement; material handling and computer support were identified. (ii) By implementation of kaizen methodology in spare management, the delay in supply of spares is reduced by 32%. (iii) In method improvement, change in design of nozzle made a fine spray of preserving oil. It leads to reduction of 15 liters of oil consumed (37.5% reduction) and hence Rs. 90000/- per year. (iv) By applying kaizen tools in the area of material handling, lifting crane is utilized by the means of a locally fabricated lashing cable. This small kaizen task, improved the safety handling procedure during maintenance work and saved 108 man hours every year. (v) The upgrading procedure of personal clothing issue programme in logistic division reduced 8160 man-hours every year.

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5.2 FUTURE SCOPE

1. The study explained, can be expanded and implemented in other stations of the Indian Air Lines. 2. The research work can be expanded in the same field by using other techniques of Kaizen such as Kanban, JIT, TPM and TQM. 3. The Kaizen methodology can be applied for further study in operational (flying) field of aviation in Indian Air Lines.

APPENDICE A

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QUESTIONAIRE Responders are requested to express their opinion enabling the study to identify the real problems. Responders Name: Designation: Age: Sex: Length of service: Educational qualification: SECTION A (1) Will you agree that there should be continuous improvement in maintenance in the aviation field? (a) Yes (b) No SECTION B ( ) Tick marks the suitable answer. Sl. Questions Yes No

No. 1. Do you feel the need of computers in your maintenance tasks? 2. Will information technology be accepted by all personnel of your 3. 4. 5. organization? Do you need the on-line data on performance of aircraft maintenance? Is the existing methodology for maintenance of aircraft time consuming? Is there a need of introduction of improved method of maintenance? Contd/02 -02-

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6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Do you feel safe when involved in maintenance activities of aircraft? Are you satisfied in your work output in maintenance work with existing tools and equipment? Are you satisfied in the existing spares management system? Does the existing spare management system help in forecasting of spares/equipment? Is your Priority demand of items supplied in time to work site? Is the degree of safety adequate with the existing material handling equipment? Are you comfortable with your working environment? Are you satisfied with the material handling equipment used in maintenance operation in IA? Is there any arrangement for social gathering in your organization? Do you feel improvement in maintenance methods and facilities to reduce the wastage of resources? Does existing material handling equipment need improvement? Do you think satisfaction of workers increase the productivity of maintenance work? Is there any importance of personal morale in the IA? Do you think maintenance improvement is an endless process? Is the training plays a vital part in aircraft maintenance?

Signature of responder

APPENDICE B 3- MU CHECKLIST OF KAIZEN ACTIVITIES MUDA(waste) MURI(strain) MURA(discrepancy)

1.Manpower

1.Manpower 66

1.Manpower

2.Technique 3.Method 4.Time 5.Facilities 6.Jigs and Tools 7. Material 8.Production volume 9. Inventory 10. Place 11. Way of thinking

2.Technique 3.Method 4.Time 5.Facilities 6.Jigs and Tools 7. Material 8.Production volume 9. Inventory 10. Place 11. Way of thinking

2.Technique 3.Method 4.Time 5.Facilities 6.Jigs and Tools 7. Material 8.Production volume 9. Inventory 10. Place 11. Way of thinking

APPENDICE C THE 4 M CHECKLISTS (i) Man (operator): Does he follow standard? Is his work efficiency acceptable? Is he problem conscious?

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 (ii)

Is he responsible? Is he qualified? Is he experienced? Is he assigned to the right job? Is he willing to improve? Does he maintain good human relation? Is he healthy?

Machine (Facilities) Does it meet production requirement? Does it meet process capabilities? Is the oiling adequate? Is the inspection adequate? Does it meet precision requirement? Does it make any unusual noise? Is the lay out adequate? Is every thing in good working order?

(iii)

Material Are there any mistakes in volume? Are there any mistakes in grade? Are there any mistakes in the brand name? Are there impurities mixed in ? Is the inventory level adequate? Is there any waste in material? Is the handling adequate? Is the quality standard adequate?

(iv)

Method Are the work standard adequate?

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Is the work standard up graded? Is it a safe method? Is it an efficient method? Is it a method that ensures a good product? Is the sequence of work adequate? Is the Set up adequate? Is there adequate contact with the previous & next process?

JUSE TQC TPM QC CEO SLO AOG ATF IMMOLSFCFS IAT RNA ST RNS CAT SB SE WT -

Union of Japanese scientist and engineers Total quality control Total Productive Maintenance Quality Circle Chief Engineering Officer Senior Logistic Officer Aircraft on ground Aviation Turbine Fuel Integrated material management on line system First Come First Service Inter Arrival Time Random Number arrival Service Time Random Number service Commutative arrival time Service begins Service ends Waiting time

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