March 5, 2020 News Last Update: 30 July 2021 Visitor and External Premises COVID-19 Policy Overview We have undertaken COVID-19 risk assessments for all our operations. In line with government guidelines, we are in a phased return to work where our team will be working either at home, at our office and at client premises. Please be assured that our email and phonelines continue to be monitored and we are responding to enquires during our usual office hours of 8:30am – 4-30pm. We are continuing to offer customers support virtually where practical. Where this is not practical please see the following guidance in relation to i) visitors attending the SMMT IF offices and ii) our staff working on external premises. Visitor Policy (IF Office, Birmingham) We are operating in line with the latest Government guidance on social distancing. We ask that you be mindful that others may still be adjusting to the changes within social distancing or may need to minimise their exposure risk and who would therefore wish to continue to maintain a 2m distance. Staff and visitors that are attending the office or moving about for work are strongly encouraged to take a government provided Lateral Flow test twice per week and report the results as required. People may choose to wear a face covering if they wish to do so. You are also encouraged to check in on our QR code when entering the building You MUST NOT attend the office if you have recent onset of any symptoms of coronavirus such as; A new continuous cough A high temperature A loss of, or change in, your normal sense of taste or smell (anosmia) If you have symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19), however mild, OR you have received a positive coronavirus (COVID-19) test result, the clear medical advice is to immediately self-isolate at home for at least 10 days from when your symptoms started. Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. You should arrange to have a test to see if you have COVID-19 symptoms which can be arranged by contacting the NHS, here. You should consider alerting anyone you have had close contact within the last 48 hours to let them know you have symptoms of COVID-19. If close contacts include people you have interacted with on SMMT IF premises or SMMT IF staff members, please inform the SMMT IF Health and Safety Officer Leanne Brend. Please do not attend the office if: You are directed to self-isolate by the NHS Test and Trace Service. You have travelled from a country which requires you to quarantine in the last 14 days prior to attendance on site. You have travelled from a country where you are required to self-isolate on arrival and this period has not yet expired. Attending the SMMT IF Office and Learning Centre Attendance at the SMMT IF Office and Learning Centre must be pre-agreed with your host or via booking a training course; please do not turn up unannounced. You may be asked to arrive at certain times so we can respect social distancing on entry to the office. Please try to adhere to your time wherever possible. If you are unable to meet your slot or are running late, please contact the office on +44 (0)121 717 6600. On arrival at the SMMT IF Office and Learning Centre, we advise all visitors to check in on our QR code when entering the building. There is also a hygiene station which we encourage you to use throughout the day. Throughout the building there are hygiene stations at strategic points e.g. on entrance to Learning Centre, in break out areas. We advise wearing additional clothing layers in cooler weather as windows and doors may be opened to allow fresh air circulation. We will be limiting the number of people attending training courses on site to ensure we can maintain government guidelines. Delegates will be allocated a table for the duration of the training. Additional training rooms have been opened where possible to allow for social distancing for those still adjusting to the changes during your breaks. Cleaning wipes are placed by communal refreshment points. If you have any concerns, please let your host know and they will contact the appropriate member of staff to discuss your concerns with you. Our staff working on Customer and other external sites In line with Government advice, activities may take place in person or virtually. Site based activities can only take place subject to national and regional restrictions. No international site activity is currently possible but may be conducted virtually. Any agreed onsite activity will require agreed COVID secure processes to be completed, agreed by the client and IF. IF Requirements for Working on Customer Premises: The client must demonstrate they have processes in place to protect against COVID in line with current guidelines and they are adhered to. See below for further information on these. Activity can only take place in enclosed meeting rooms where there is ventilation Please respect our consultant’s wishes if they choose to maintain social distancing and/or wear face coverings Our staff are instructed not to attend company sites if they have COVID-19 symptoms and are instructed to be tested in line with government guidelines. Our staff will not attend customer and other external sites if they are directed to self-isolate as a result of NHS Test and Trace and may also be self-isolating if contacted by the Covid app. We will inform the company if a member of staff who has attended their site subsequently has symptoms of, or is confirmed to have, COVID-19. This will be undertaken in line with PHE guidelines. Prior to agreeing to attend customer and other external sites we will request to see your COVID-19 policies and procedures in place. Our staff are instructed to comply with all the COVID-19 arrangements of the site they are attending including hygiene and social distancing measures. Our staff are supplied with anti-bac products and face coverings, should they choose to wear them. Our staff who are travelling on work related reasons are encouraged to regularly use lateral flow tests to minimise risk. Visitor and External Premises Co-vid 19 Policy Rev 7.0 (23/07/2021)
February 27, 2020 Industry Forum Blog Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) is a strategy for reducing lead-times across all functions of an organisation. The resulting improvements in speed and responsiveness increase the organisation’s agility and responsiveness, resulting in competitive advantage. Many well-known Lean Manufacturing tools have been developed for high volume/low variety, or ‘mass production’ environments. Think of techniques such a Pull Systems, Kanban, Line Balancing and Heijunka for instance, often applied to fast moving production lines. However, these tools often do not translate well to low volume/high variety environments, which require short batch runs, higher levels of customisation and fast response to changes in customer demand. For businesses facing the challenge of meeting increased customisation and speed, QRM is a strategy which relentlessly focuses on reducing lead-time both on the shop floor and in the office operations. QRM strategy comprises of 4 core concepts; The power of time, Organisation structure, System dynamics, Enterprise wide application. Quick Response Manufacturing applies to every aspect of an organisation, is singular in its focus and simple to understand – generating competitive advantage through relentless reduction of lead-time. Industry Forum has now partnered with The QRM Institute, which provides four levels of training and certification in QRM to offer the only QRM Silver Course® in the UK. The QRM Institute Silver ® Course combines theoretical knowledge of QRM principles, with practical applications through exercises and simulations. It illustrates the transformation of a cost-centric traditional organization (shop floor or support services) into an agile QRM-cell organization, focused on the reduction of the lead time. The QRM approach is not about working faster, but about working better together. In order to simplify operations and streamline the company’s processes – both internally and externally (suppliers and customers) – by creating a motivating and sustainable collaborative dynamic. The course, which is suitable for a great number of roles within the manufacturing environment, enables attendees to respond better to the challenges and demands of customers who are moving towards high mix / low volume environments. Find out more about this course
February 18, 2020 Industry Forum Blog During my career, I have had the privilege to work for a major proactive OEM that has been a significant driving factor in the advancement and development of aerospace quality standards, one of which is AS9145 – Aerospace Series – Requirements for Advanced Product Quality Planning and Production Part Approval Process. There have been a number of repeat and common issues that I have seen regarding the APQP/PPAP process, of which were neither commodity or sector dependent. I am highlighting these issues to help suppliers avoid falling into these common traps. 1. Plan I will start with a quote from Benjamin Franklin: ‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail’. This is very true when it comes to APQP and PPAP. During reviews of PPAP, it soon becomes apparent that the creation of the PPAP document was an afterthought. The philosophy of APQP and PPAP is that the PPAP documents are created during the APQP process and not a case of “let’s create all these documents today so we can submit to the customer”. If APQP is done correctly, then you have created a plan by using the knowledge of a cross-functional team. This plan will allow you to deliver all the required deliverables. APQP ensures that you are doing the right things (DFMEA, PFMEA, MSA etc.) at the right time within the process, with the right people for the right reasons. If APQP has not been planned appropriately then tell-tale signs start to appear within the PPAP submission. It is important to understand the timeline behind the documents created. For example, if a drawing was released as a finished drawing in January 2019 and updated due to a modification in February 2019, we would need to review the dates of the documents within the submission. If the DFMEA was created in March 2019, then it was created too late to achieve its true purpose and the supplier has missed a golden opportunity to improve the design of the product prior to design release. DFMEA considerations would not have been available for the original drawing release or its first update Also, another example is when the Control Plan is created prior to the PFMEA. When I see these types of issues, it leads me to ask the supplier lots of questions to identify if they have undertaken an effective APQP program or just created a PPAP as a ‘tick box exercise’. 2. ‘All the chapters in the story must be from the same book’. Let me explain… The PPAP submission is like a story; in essence, you are telling the story of the creation of this part and the process that makes it. All the bits of information need to tie up. For example, if a drawing has a dimension that is measured with a height gauge. When I review element 6 within the PPAP file – Measurement System Analysis, I would expect to see a MSA study for the height gauge measurement system. In reality, what I have seen on a number of occasions is suppliers providing a data dump of all the MSAs they have undertaken. Then as a reviewer, I need to work out which are valid and which are not. In one example, a height gauge was used but a MSA study was provided for a shadowgraph. On closer examination of the PPAP documents, it was determined that a shadowgraph was not listed anywhere within the Control Plan. 3. If you have a problem, know what you are doing to fix it. If the PPAP file is not complete or contains discrepancies when making the PPAP submission, an action plan detailing how the submission will be completed/corrected should be included. The submission warrant in AS9145, also called the Production Part Approval Process Approval Form contains the following statement: ‘I, the supplier, submit this PPAP Approval form as declaration of having met all applicable requirements of the 9145 standard, except as noted…’ ’What this means is that as a supplier, you are aware of issues or non-compliance with the standard and have a closing action plan which is resourced with completion dates. The approach I have seen too often is that the supplier submits their PPAP pack and waits for the review/approval authority to list and report the issues found. Often, the supplier only acts on the issues highlighted by the review/approval authority, which is clear evidence that the supplier is not accepting responsibility for the parts they have designed (if design responsible), and the associated manufacturing process they have developed. The supplier is best placed to know what issues and risks they carry, and as such, what they are going to do to resolve them. The onus is on the supplier to identify all issues and to create an appropriate closing action plan. Just a thought; if the review/approval authority signs off the PPAP file with discrepancies within it, that on its own does not resolve the discrepancies in the file. The customer’s signature on the approval form does not make the file contents right; the corrective action plan does! 4. Not submitting on time is not an option Consider the following: A submission date has been given to the supplier by the customer’s project management team at the start of the programme of work, and this date has been agreed by all the parties involved in the project (customer and supplier side). The agreed date is fast approaching but the supplier knows that they will not have everything done on time. So the supplier decides not to submit on the agreed date but carries on undertaking all the required actions to submit a fully complete and acceptable submission. Meanwhile, the customer is expecting the submission on a certain date. Imagine you are the project team manager responsible for a completely new engine; think of all the thousands of parts that require PPAP. The part in question is just one of many thousands and as such you, the project manager have a real need to understand the status of each of the parts. If the supplier does not submit on time, you do not know whether or not the supplier has a serious problem. The expectation is that the supplier submits on time so that there is a stake in the ground and everyone (your company and your customer) knows how the project is progressing. If you take on board the pointers above then it will help you to deliver a successful APQP programme and PPAP submission. – February 2020 authored by Andrea Goddard A Bit More About Andrea For the past two years, Andrea has been working as a Senior Consultant for Industry Forum specialising in the aerospace sector and associated industry standards. Prior to Industry Forum, Andrea worked for Rolls-Royce Ltd in various manufacturing engineering positions. Andrea was the European PPAP Champion and part of the team that implemented the Rolls-Royce version of APQP & PPAP (a forerunner to AS9145).
February 14, 2020 Articles As the complexity of automotive projects has increased exponentially over the last 20 years, we’ve witnessed a seismic shift from the once emphasis on mechanical challenges to those born from mechanical parts being required to work in harmony under the influence of increasingly complex software systems. A single modern luxury vehicle now can integrate as many as 150 Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Not only that, but there is a growing customer focus and expectation of comfort, safety and infotainment systems; all of which are factors that force the automobile industry to change its development process and focus. In response to this shift, an internationally accepted process model, Automotive SPICE®, was developed by experts. The standard defines the processes and best practices for software and software based system development, specifically for the automotive industry. The model provides a well defined guideline for how to organise project work and how to make sure those projects are manageable. It enables companies to improve processes either for themselves or for their suppliers. Automotive SPICE® is used by many OEMs and suppliers as a means of qualifying their suppliers, as well as assessing the risks associated with those suppliers. Often, they are required to achieve a certain capability level in selected processes, even before winning a contract. Reaching the level is checked through performing assessments. If you want to, or already deal with customers organised within the VDA, you should understand, implement, and follow Automotive SPICE® as the standard process model. Industry Forum is the only Training provider in the UK to run open courses, so if you would like to know more about Automotive SPICE® and how the standard can be successfully implemented in your organisation, why not book on one of our upcoming courses? Who should attend? This course is best suited to personnel wanting to understand the Automotive SPICE® assessment process, personnel in process groups, process and project managers responsible for complying with Automotive SPICE® processes. It’s suitable for professionals and executives in engineering and IT, process managers, project managers, system and software engineers, consultants, and quality managers from companies of all sizes. Find out more and Book Now!
February 11, 2020 Industry Forum Blog Line balancing as a technique is most usually applied to assembly lines, where products can move easily from work station to work station in sequence, often one piece at a time. The principle of line balancing is very simple; ensure that you have allocated and arranged sufficient production resources (machines, manpower, time) for each process step to produce the required customer demand, within the time available to meet that demand. A common way of calculating the required rate of production to meet the Customer demand is known as Takt Time. This is the production rate (or ‘drum beat’) that a production line needs to achieve, within the available production time, to meet customer demand and NOT overproduce. In simple terms, balancing capacity with demand – but doing so for each process step to allow the product to flow. The following is an example of a Takt Time calculation; A Customer orders 3,000 widgets per week from a Supplier. The Supplier dedicates a production line working a single 40 hour/5 day per week shift pattern to make these products. Subtracting any planned downtime such as lunch and other rest breaks, planned maintenance, team briefs etc. that are expected to happen over this working week pattern, we are left with the available production time. Let’s say that the planned downtime amounts to 50 minutes per day. So the available production time per week would be (40hrs x 60mins) – (50mins/day x 5 days) = 2,150 mins/week. Therefore Takt Time would be (2,150 mins/week) / (3,000 widgets per week) = 0.717 mins/widget, or more simply; 43 seconds. So, if a good quality widget comes off the end of the production line every 43 seconds, then over the working week, Customer demand will be met exactly, and there will be no over production. Of course, in real life there will be some hiccups – so it is common practice to balance the production line so it cycles slightly faster than Takt (90–95% is common). This allows the line to accommodate small stoppages and still meet customer demand within the available production time. A critical piece of information to allow companies to efficiently balance their production lines is to properly understand the cycle time for each process within the line. This is where standard work really supports Line Balancing. It is essential that processes are standardised and performed consistently. This involves identifying and standardising the ‘Best Known Way’ to perform each task, and ensuring operators are trained and competent to follow this standard. Once this is achieved, the process can be recorded (video footage is often the easiest way to do this), and the process broken down into individual steps, or ‘elements’, for which individual times can be recorded. These times should be consistent – too much variation would suggest the process has not yet been sufficiently standardised. These element times then become the building blocks that can be used for the Line Balancing activity. Once you have understood the manual work content of the product you are making, and have correctly calculated Takt Time, it is easy to work out what the ‘ideal’ or minimum manning level for the production line is. Distributing the work element times evenly across the number of workers will balance the line, and support the smooth flow of products through the production line. There are many benefits to this approach – minimising work in progress, reducing production lead time and improving quality to name but a few. A more in depth explanation of the approach can be found in the publication, ‘Implementing Standardised Work – A Guide’ – published by SMMT, and referred to as a Best Practice within Annex B. of the Automotive Quality Standard IATF 16949:2016. – February 2020 authored by Mike Scull A Bit More About Mike Mike Scull has over 30 years of manufacturing experience within the automotive, aerospace, electronics, off highway, white goods and apparel sectors. Joining Industry Forum in January 1998, Mike underwent training and mentoring in the implementation of Lean Manufacturing with Japanese Master Engineers from Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Mike’s current role at Industry Forum is Principal Consultant – Lean Manufacturing. Mike is a Chartered Engineer (CEng MIMechE), and has a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering. He has professional qualifications including APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and Certified Production and Inventory Management (CPIM), Certified Demand Driven Planner, PRINCE2 Practitioner and is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. He is also an Assessor for the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Levels (NMCL) programme. Click here to contact Mike or give us a call on +44 (0)121 717 6600.
February 11, 2020 Industry Forum Blog The Changing New Product Introduction (NPI) Environment The environment in which new products are introduced today is constantly changing. Factors contributing to this change in NPI operating environments are: Ever-increasing product complexity Demanding regulatory bodies Shifting workforce needs Complex value chain Shrinking product release cycles On the other hand, initiatives to drive a quality culture change in organisations are common across the industrial and manufacturing sectors. Most of these initiatives focus on the message that organisations must evolve to a more proactive quality culture. One critical element to drive a proactive quality culture is early and effective management of NPI. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector still struggle to pinpoint best practices that have a beneficial impact on NPI. In other organisations, best practices may be identified but it still remains an uphill struggle to implement and sustain these best practices to deliver effective results in the area of NPI. What Can You Do as a Manufacturer? 1. Conduct NPI Gap Assessment: The pressure is on and growing for manufacturers. The only way to remain competitive is a continuous review and adaptation of existing processes, practices and skills to deliver effective results in NPI. It is no secret that organisations that benchmark actual performance against best practices in NPI are able to drive and sustain higher performance levels. 2. Review Essentials for NPI: In many ways, you can compare NPI to rocket science; coordination of activities that need to happen at predefined moments and to a certain standard is not an easy task. To get the fundamentals right, companies need to work on a standard approach and review current processes and practices across the six process pillars for NPI. The NPI Process pillar defines a structure and route map with cross functional roles and responsibilities to successfully complete a product introduction. The Project Management pillar helps the governance of each individual product introduction going through an organisation. The Design Excellence pillar helps in managing product risks and driving value throughout the product design and development process. The Manufacturing Process Design pillar helps to pick the right and most efficient manufacturing solution, driving right first time approach. The Product and Process Validation pillar helps to validate customer requirements related to product and internal organisation requirements of a repeatable manufacturing process. The Supply Chain Readiness pillar helps to support the supply chain during NPI and ensure its readiness to launch products right first time and On Time In Full to organisations. 3. Management Support for NPI: The management team must advocate and nurture a collaborative NPI process and ensure NPI stakeholders are working together to achieve common goals. This forms the backbone to align teams, processes and data, and to remove obstacles that prevent collaboration and promote destructive internal competition. While product development is responsible for many tasks in NPI, an effective NPI process should include multiple roles, and integrate voices and processes from commercial, supply chain, manufacturing, quality and others. We Are Here to Help This year, Industry Forum has launched a new course to cover Essentials for New Product Introduction. To find out more about this course and to download your copy of our NPI training brochure, please click here. We can help you with NPI gap assessment. If you would like to know more, please send us an email or give us a call on +44 (0)121 717 6600. Industry Forum has also launched a series of NPI breakfast briefings. These are free events and the next NPI breakfast briefing is planned for 23rd April. To book your free space, please click here. – February 2020 authored by Robin Talwar A Bit More About Robin Robin Talwar has over 20 years of international experience within the manufacturing sector, working with leading OEMs and cross-sector tier 1 suppliers. He began his career as a Quality Engineer for Honda Car Manufacturing, developing skills in Problem Solving, Kaizen and Quality Circles. Moving in to the role of Supplier Development Engineer at BMW Germany, Robin was involved in NPI activities and application of Core Tools with suppliers. Joining the Greenfield Project Team with Daimler Trucks, Robin led the Supplier Selection and Development activities to achieve a challenging 85% localisation target. Before joining Industry Forum in May 2015 as Principal Consultant in NPI and Lifecycle Management, Robin was Head of Logistics Operations for a brand new car manufacturing plant of Honda Cars in India, where he successfully developed a Japanese 3PL for inbound logistics and milk run operations. Click here to contact Robin.
January 17, 2020 Industry Forum Blog 2020 is now well and truly upon us, and many Learning and Development (L&D) functions are putting together their plans for the year ahead. We all know the benefits of training for both the employer and organisation. For most, these are a given and few would deny the generic benefits, which include: • Improved employee motivation and well-being • Reduced employee turnover • Improved organisational efficiencies • Reduced organisational risk • Increased capacity to adopt new technologies Historically, L&D teams could often justify their L&D spend on the benefits above without too much question. However, today this is not enough. Although most business leaders would accept these generic benefits, in tough economic times, this can sometimes not be a strong enough business case to justify the investment required – particularly when there are often countless competing priorities. So, what is the answer for L&D teams? How do you create your plans and strategies that can demonstrate real business value over and above what is often thought to be the ‘softer benefits’ (even though all of the generic reasons would have financial impacts)? The key is to link your L&D plans to the organisational strategy and demonstrate how L&D can truly support the organisation to succeed. This is a bold statement, but is one that I truly believe. L&D is a key enabler to organisational success and can add real, tangible, business value if done right. But remember, if you make this claim then you will need to be able to back this up later on in terms of ROI metrics. So now is the time to make sure that your L&D plans are aligned to your business strategy and my ‘top tips’ for this are as follows: 1. Engage with your Senior Leadership teams to understand the organisational goals and challenges – make sure you really understand these and question the links to skills in each case. 2. Don’t just focus on the tactical priorities – build a 3-5 year plan that articulates how L&D can support the business strategy over the long-term. 3. Agree the business KPIs for the training upfront – what measurable things do you want people to be doing as a result of the training? If you can agree these and build them into the training programme, you will be able to measure ROI. “For an investment of £X, we got an improvement in Y-metric”. 4. Acknowledge where you don’t have the internal expertise or resource to deliver the solutions. Your role as an L&D team is about facilitating the intervention – if you have the right partners, you can often deliver more in a shorter time period. 5. If you are using a supplier, then partner with one which has an in-depth understanding of your business and sector, as well as the L&D expertise – having this will enable them to really partner with you to align development solutions to business goals. They can even support you to articulate the links and benefits to your business leaders. Would you like to discuss your training plans for 2020? Industry Forum has a depth and breadth of experience in helping manufacturers understand, optimise and improve both manufacturing capability and business performance. We have a team of consultants and practitioners who are seasoned expert engineers with multi-sector manufacturing experience. This means we can bring together a world-class combination of improvement competency, insight, process and best practice. Industry Forum also provides support to organisations on-site to help overcome Leadership and HR challenges. Our specialist consultants work with manufacturers on a project basis to provide assistance, objective reviews and solutions. We regularly offer to support organisations in Leadership, Organisation & Culture training, creation and management of Skills Matrices, Psychology Assessments and HR Practices such as; Talent Management, Succession Planning, Strategic Employee Planning and much more. Please do get in touch to arrange a call with one of our expert Learning and Development team. Andy Kennard General Manager – Learning and Development tel: +44 (0)121 717 6600 | web: industryforum.co.uk | email: enquiries@if.wearecoal.work A Bit More About Andy: Andy Kennard has a BA (Hons) in Business Information Systems and a Post Graduate Certificate in the Psychology of Organisational Development and Change as well as over 10 years’ experience leading Learning and Development programmes from both in-company positions and as a training content provider. Andy’s in-depth expertise of all aspects of the people agenda including Learning and Development, Performance Management, Change, Talent, and Employee Engagement. At Industry Forum Andy heads up the Learning Centre and is responsible for the learning and development aspect of the organisation. Click here to contact Andy.
January 14, 2020 Industry Forum Blog The year 2020 is going to prove to be a very interesting year regarding Quality Management Systems and supporting standards within the Aerospace sector. These are my predictions for the year to come. Many organisations within the Aerospace sector, including OEMs and key Tier 1 suppliers are now upskilling their own internal teams with respect to the AS9145 APQP/PPAP standard. Expect to see in 2020 a growing emphasis by the OEMs and Tier 1s within the aerospace sector supply chain, to implement the requirements of AS9145 and hence provide benefits to themselves and their customers. Without doubt, this will over time roll out across multiple tiers of the supply chain. Compliance to AS9145 may not currently be mandated to you but you can expect that it will be over the next few years. Why wait until you are told to do it by your customer? Start implementation now and get the full benefits sooner. To be successful in the effective implementation of AS9145, a deeper understanding of the principles of APQP is required, along with the supporting APQP activities. The OEMs and Tier 1s are also growing their understanding of the supporting tools and techniques and will be looking to the supply chain to also strengthen understanding and implementation. Expect to see the following under greater scrutiny in 2020: – Problem solving to AS13000 – Alternative Inspection Frequency Plans to AS13002 – Measurement System Analysis to AS13003 – Process FMEA and Control Plan to AS13004 – Process Control Methods to AS13006 Also expect greater emphasis during 2020 for Design Risk Analysis, typically with the customer’s expectation of DFMEA or FMECA being conducted. A number of significant Aerospace sector engine suppliers have grouped together to form the AESQ Strategy Group. This group has worked together to agree a number of industry standards, some of which are listed above. The AESQ sponsors a bi-annual conference for interested parties within the Aerospace supply chain, with the most recent being held in Toulouse during October 2019. The message was very clear; the standards are written – it’s time to implement them. Expect to see the attendance at the AESQ conference grow in 2020. The next AESQ conference will be held at the Shanghai Crowne Plaza, Shanghai on the 22nd April 2020 from 08.30 to 17.30 – I hope to see you there. Expect zero defects to be a growing theme for 2020. It was part of the key messaging from last year’s AESQ conference; adopting a zero defects culture is becoming a key survival mantra for the industry. If the OEMs and supply chain do not get on board with a zero defects approach, there will not be a commercial aircraft sector in the future. From accepted Aerospace sector sources, the number of aircraft in the air doubles every 15 years. It is predicted that if the level of product reliability/quality stays at its current levels, by 2036 there will be 2 serious incidents a week, with many of them resulting in plane crashes. I cannot see any government allowing airlines to consider that as being acceptable. Expect to see the success of the Industry Forum AQMS event grow during 2020. The team at Industry Forum collects key players from the Automotive Sector and brings them together for an annual conference. This event is billed as the AQMS and will be held on the 20th and 21st of October 2020. Although primarily aimed at the Automotive sector, much of the subject content and discussions could equally be applied to the Aerospace sector. It provides a good opportunity to meet other Quality industry professionals and make networking contacts. More details of this event will be published soon. A Bit More About Richard Richard Hammond has over 30 years of auditing and consulting experience within automotive and aerospace sectors. He began his career at Rolls Royce Motors Plc, where he graduated to the role of Maintenance and Installation Engineer, before progressing to his current position as Principal Consultant at Industry Forum via Industrial Robotics and Certification Body Auditing. As a qualified SMMT trainer, Richard delivers the recognised International Automotive Task Force (IATF) ISO/TS16949 Certification Body Auditor training and evaluation. Richard is an approved IATF Witness Auditor and delivers Core Tools training (APQP, PPAP, SPC, MSA, FMEA and Control Plan) into major aerospace and automotive OEMs and tier 1 suppliers. Click here to contact Richard.
January 7, 2020 Industry Forum Blog Six Sigma is a methodology for maximising value through minimising mistakes. Mistakes generate costs – cost of reworking a part made incorrectly, cost of losing a customer, efficiency losses, cost of making scrap, cost of unnecessarily complicated procedures etc. All businesses have these costs driven by wastes in their processes – and the costs can add up to as much as 20-30% of their revenue! So, what is Six Sigma? A Greek Symbol? A Statistical Measure? A Methodology? A Business Philosophy for Continuous Improvement? A Benchmark? A Goal? Well….yes, it’s all of these. Many people quote 3.4 ppm (that’s parts per million) as the threshold for Six Sigma, but hey, if I am getting my measures at 99%; OK, surely that’s good enough…right? Wrong! Six Sigma has grown from its original purpose in the mid-1980s as a quality improvement methodology, to today’s general purpose approach to minimising mistakes – and hence maximising value. It is data-driven problem solving. It is a project-based approach rather than a business strategy, and follows a disciplined and gated process called DMAIC – shorthand for; Define Measure Analyse Improve Control Unlike PDCA (Demings’ improvement cycle; Plan-Do-Check-Act), which is most often illustrated as a circular cycle that should never end, DMAIC is a linear project – with a defined start and finish point. Temporary teams are assembled to conduct Six Sigma projects, and project charters are developed to scope the problem, define the measure of success and record the resources and timescale agreed to get the results. So, what about these DMAIC steps? Some simple definitions… Define the Problem (Management) Define a clear Project Charter addressing a real problem that is relevant to the customer and will provide significant benefit to the business. Measure the Process (6Sigma expert-led) Measure the current performance against relevant KPIs and set a baseline for improvement. Analyse the Process (6Sigma expert-led) Find the Root Cause of the problem. Six Sigma talks about y=f(x) where the Y results from, or is a function of the Xs. If we think about a recipe, the Y may be a loaf of white bread for example, and the Xs are the flour, water, yeast, salt, mixing, resting time, baking temperature, baking time etc. All of these have quantities, specifications and tolerances. Get them wrong and your result is no good. Understand them and control them well enough and your product will consistently meet requirements. If you understand and can control the problems that impact the Xs, you can literally switch the problem on and off! Improve the Process (6Sigma expert-led) Identify, develop and implement the best solutions to countermeasure the identified Root Causes. Notice the improvement stage only comes in at step 4 – once the problem is thoroughly understood. Control the Process (Process Owner) Before the project can be closed, the Process Owner must ensure the process has robust controls ensuring the solutions are properly embedded – no repeat concerns! But be careful, not every problem needs a Six Sigma project approach. Only use Six Sigma when…. • There is no known solution • The Root Cause is unknown • The problem needs statistical analysis • The process is repeatable (i.e. we have already applied the standard Lean tools, such as Standardised Work, 5S etc.) • There is data available (or we can obtain data) • There is a financial benefit – a Six Sigma project takes time and resources! Six Sigma requires discipline, effort and resources whilst going through the pain of change. But the rewards can be the minimisation of mistakes, resulting in improved performance, better served customers, reduced costs and maximised value. Industry Forum offers both Six Sigma Yellow and Green Belt certification, which are run as virtual courses, open to anyone, or can be run on your site as a closed course for organisations which require training for 4 or more delegates. Contact Us via the form on the left of this page should you wish to discuss Six Sigma programme for your organisation. – January 2020 authored by Mike Scull A Bit More About Mike Mike Scull has over 30 years of manufacturing experience within the automotive, aerospace, electronics, off highway, white goods and apparel sectors. Joining Industry Forum in January 1998, Mike underwent training and mentoring in the implementation of Lean Manufacturing with Japanese Master Engineers from Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Mike’s current role at Industry Forum is Principal Consultant – Lean Manufacturing. Mike is a Chartered Engineer (CEng MIMechE), and has a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering. He has professional qualifications including APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and Certified Production and Inventory Management (CPIM), Certified Demand Driven Planner, PRINCE2 Practitioner and is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. He is also an Assessor for the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Levels (NMCL) programme. Click here to contact Mike.
January 7, 2020 Industry Forum Blog Odette and AIAG recently announced the release of Version 5 of MMOG/LE. This new version of the widely used supply chain capability assessment tool takes account of the latest evolutions in supply chain processes, logistics and communications technology, cyber security and related audit standards. The tool itself has also evolved and is now available as a browser-based application, which can be found here: MMOG.np Several OEMs have already started to request MMOG/LE v5 from their suppliers and it is vital that all suppliers have a strategy in place to migrate to the new version on the new platform in order to be able to meet the requirements of their customers. However, MMOG users do not need to wait to migrate to v5 in order to start benefiting from the advanced features of MMOG.np, as the application also supports MMOG/LE v4 and all customers are able to accept v4 assessments produced using MMOG.np. To support the community in this migration and address any possible knowledge gaps, Odette and AIAG are running free webinars for each major automotive region. Target audience Companies using MMOG/LE v4 in Excel who would like to take early advantage of MMOG.np Companies who need to migrate to MMOG/LE v5 Companies already using MMOG.np who want to enhance their knowledge of the tool Companies who are considering requesting MMOG/LE from their own supplier base What you will learn The key drivers for the development of MMOG/LE v5 How to order and set up your MMOG.np ecosystem How to migrate seamlessly from MMOG.xls to MMOG.np How to create an MMOG/LE assessment in MMOG.np Register for your free MMOG webinar Asia Pacific ~ 22 January 2020 Europe ~ 23 January 2020 North America ~ 24 January 2020 Updated: 07/01/2020
