Lean product development and operational excellence across the enterprise guide leading aerospace company

Earlier this year, Marshall Larsen, Chairman, President and CEO of Goodrich Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina, NYSE: GR) spoke at Citigroup’s 20th Annual Global Industrial Manufacturing Conference. In his presentation, he shared three foundations for the top-quartile aerospace returns he expects for the $5.9 billion global company: balanced growth, leveraging the enterprise, and operational excellence in product development and manufacturing.

            The company Larsen leads has a long and notable industrial background. With roots going back to 1870, Goodrich Corporation is a leading supplier of systems, products and services across commercial, civil, business, and military aviation markets. With a long history in the tire and rubber business as the former BFGoodrich Corporation, the company numbers significant aerospace developments throughout its life. Among them are the first airplane tires, aircraft de-icing systems, brake systems, and the first high-altitude pressure suits for pilots and astronauts.

            By 1995 when the company celebrated its 125th anniversary, it was completely out of the tire business and poised to acquire Rohr, a leading supplier of integrated aircraft systems, which it finalized in 1997. By 2001, BFGoodrich officially became Goodrich Corporation, and by 2002 it acquired TRW Aeronautical Systems, creating the world’s largest pure-play aerospace company.

Balanced Growth
            For its $5.9 billion size, Goodrich supports a remarkably balanced set of aerospace businesses. Its total commercial original equipment business represents 33%, commercial aftermarket business is 36%, and its defense and space portion, both original equipment and aftermarket is 25%, with 6% remaining for other.

            At present, the forecast is favorable for commercial aircraft deliveries. Research shows large commercial single- and twin-aisle fleet growing an average of 5% per year through 2015. Goodrich is well-positioned to capitalize on aircraft production growth as it provides both platform components and systems throughout the aircraft, including nacelles (engine housings and components), landing gear, fuel and fuel-management systems, exterior lighting, power generation and distribution systems and much more, from pilot seats to tail cones.

Leveraging the Enterprise
            Goodrich possesses a large production base with more than 90 facilities across 16 countries employing some 23,000 people.  Concurrent with its strategic initiative to leverage the enterprise has been Goodrich’s commitment to operational excellence. This goal has three main objectives: to push aggressive supply chain management and continuous improvement efforts, to drive breakthrough change using lean techniques in product development, and to continually improve engineering and manufacturing efficiencies throughout the enterprise.

            Goodrich’s Landing Gear division is a good example of the company’s use of leading technology to eliminate waste from manufacturing processes. Landing gear production facilities are located in Everett, Washington; Cleveland, Ohio; Tullahoma, Tennessee; Oakville, Ontario; and Krosno, Poland. It also has relationships with forging operations in Russia and China, where it obtains steel and titanium forgings. Drop-test towers at the Cleveland and Oakville operations are the largest in the world, capable of supporting up to 400 tons and performing static tests with loads of up to one million pounds.

            The Goodrich Tullahoma, Tennessee landing gear plant actually dates back to 1956 when it produced aircraft skins adjacent to the Tullahoma airport. The plant started manufacturing landing gear components in 1978 and became part of Goodrich in 1993 with the acquisition of the Cleveland Pneumatic Company.

            Maintenance and Facilities Manager Joe Pannell Jr. has been with Goodrich for 11 years, and has more than 20 years of manufacturing experience prior to that at such companies as General Dynamics and Automation Industries. Pannell stated that his first involvement with manufacturing was running a Kearney & Trecker machine with a manual tape reader.
           
Increased Competitiveness
            According to Pannell, Goodrich has always scanned the horizon for new manufacturing technology to leverage in its manufacturing processes. 

            Pannell describes the search for new technology as “serious.” “We have good equipment, but it is absolutely imperative for us to continuously strive to improve cost-competitiveness,” he says.

Landing gear components are both large and complex with certain components such as truck beams, the foundations for the actual landing gear components where the wheel axles go through, weighing up to 7,400lbs at the beginning of the manufacturing process and only 1,000lbs when finished.

            Pannell reports being contacted by machine-tool companies from around the world offering turnkey production solutions, and his response to each was the same “Prove to us you can run a complex landing gear part.”

Jerry Edwards of Pinnacle Machine Tools (Meridianville, Alabama), a distributor for Mazak Corporation (Florence, Kentucky) responded to Pannell’s challenge. Mazak makes the Integrex e-650H Multi-Tasking Production Centers that can turn and machine large parts complete in one setup. “We sent a forging to Florence, they programmed it for us, and we were in business,” Pannell says.

            Although Goodrich will not reveal specific production improvements, Pannell called the resulting throughput improvements “huge.” Multi-Tasking equipment facilitates integration of multiple processing steps into one, thereby reducing flow times and work in process. In some cases products come off of a single operation ready for heat treatment.  

Center of Excellence
            The Tullahoma plant received ISO 9001:2000 certification in September 2001 and ISO 14001: 2004 certification in July 2005.  Overall quality is managed, along with other critical metrics, through lean daily management activities as part of the plant-wide continuous improvement effort.  Operators find the Mazak e-machines easy to work with both in programming and operation. “With one machine and one tooling package, it makes facilitating setups a whole lot easier”.

             “We cut a lot of steel, 4340M and 300M, and a lot of titanium” Pannell says. “Not only does our Multi-Tasking equipment make us more efficient, we are also getting excellent surface finishes, helping to reduce secondary operations.”  One of the goals of the plant is to be recognized for its proficiency machining titanium.

            While the market currently is forecasting growth, Pannell realizes competition is growing as well. “Customer expectations are ever-increasing, and it is imperative that all processes are constantly evaluated for elimination of waste and variation and to improve manufacturing competitiveness”.

 

Complex Machined Features of Landing Gear Drive Manufacturing Technologies.	Mazak Integrex e-650 H-II at Goodrich’s Tullahoma, Tennessee plant.