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Study Case

The Boeing 737 has been in production for almost 50 years and is the best-selling commercial jet airliner in history. As airlines replace aging fleets, Boeing must ramp up production of its only narrow-body aircraft, the 737, including new models like the 737MAX, to meet demand efficiently without expanding facilities. Boeing relies on employee innovation teams, consisting of 7-10 workers from varied backgrounds focused on specific aircraft parts, to generate ideas for improving production processes, like rearranging workspaces to assemble more engines simultaneously. These teams have helped Boeing reduce final 737 assembly time from 22 to 11 days over the past decade as it works toward completing assembly in 9 days.

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489 views3 pages

Study Case

The Boeing 737 has been in production for almost 50 years and is the best-selling commercial jet airliner in history. As airlines replace aging fleets, Boeing must ramp up production of its only narrow-body aircraft, the 737, including new models like the 737MAX, to meet demand efficiently without expanding facilities. Boeing relies on employee innovation teams, consisting of 7-10 workers from varied backgrounds focused on specific aircraft parts, to generate ideas for improving production processes, like rearranging workspaces to assemble more engines simultaneously. These teams have helped Boeing reduce final 737 assembly time from 22 to 11 days over the past decade as it works toward completing assembly in 9 days.

Uploaded by

anis arshad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CASE APPLICATION 2

737 TEAMING UP FOR TAKE OFF

COMPANY: BOEING: page: 466 - 467

Info from the Case Interpretation

The Boeing 737


 A short-to medium-range twin-engine.
 Narrow-body jet.
 First rolled off the assembly line in 1967.

Here
 almost half a century later.
 It’s the best-selling jet airliner in the history
of aviation.

The 737
 Boeing’s only narrow-body airliner in
production.
 With the -600,-700,-800, and -900ER series
currently built.

The re-engined and re-designed


 737MAX is set for debut.
 In 2017

As airlines
 Replace their aging jet fleets.

The burden is on boeing


 To ramp up production to meet demand.
 To do so efficiently.

As boeing manager state


 “how do you produce more aircraft without
expanding the building?”

Managing production of the multimillion dollar


product
 737-800 is sold for $84.4 million
 Mean
- “walking an increasingly
- fine line between generating cash
- stoking an airplane glut
 boeing is relying on its employee innovation
team
- to meet the challenge

Boeing using
 employee generated ideas since 1990s

Manufacturing in Renton began


 adopting ‘lean’ manufacturing techniques
Today
 Employee teams are leaving
- “few stones unturned”

For instance
 A member of one team
 Thought of a solution
 To a problem of stray metal fastener
 Sometimes puncturing the tires
 As the airplane advanced
 Down the assembly line

The solution
 A canvas wheel cover that hugs
 The four main landing-gear tires.

Another team figured out


 How to rearrange
 Its work space
 To make four engines
 At a time instead of three.

Another team
 Workers in the paint process
 Revamped their works routines
 And cut 10 minutes to 15 minutes
 Per worker off each job

It took
 Five years for another employee team
 To perfect a process
 For installing the plane’s landing gear
hydraulic tubes,
 But it eventually paid off

These,
 Employee team are made up
 Of seven to ten workers with

 ‘varying backgrounds

From,
 Mechanics to assembly workers
 To engineers

And,
 Tend to focus on
 A specific part of a jet
 Such as:
- The landing gear
- The passengers seats
- The galleys
These team,
 May meet as
 Often as once a week

What’s,
 The track record of these team

Today,
 It takes 11 days for the final assembly
 Of a 737 jet

That’s
 Down from 22 days about a decade ago

The near-term goal is:


 ‘whittle that number down to nine days

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