Lufthansa Technik Landing Gear Services adopts Orchestrate production scheudling software to deliver improved throughput and profitability

Lufthansa Technik Landing Gear Services (LTLGS) UK is a leader in the repair and overhaul of aircraft landing gear, flap tracks and carriages and related components. Based near London’s Heathrow airport, LTLGS’s purpose built facility is one of the most modern landing gear shops in the world. In January 2013, the company implemented the Orchestrate production scheduling software, with almost immediate benefits in productivity and profitability.

The Company

Although part of the Lufthansa group of companies, LTLGS UK serves a high proportion of the world’s airline fleets as an independent, international maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) service provider. Customers include names like Virgin, BA, Air France and Ryanair. With an annual throughput of 300+ overhauls, the company is one of the leading landing gear specialists in Europe.
The business has expanded rapidly since it was established in 1998, steadily increasing its product range and creating a very broad global customer base. In addition to its UK facility, LTLGS has landing gear MRO operations in Hamburg, Los Angeles and China.

The Challenge

An aircraft’s landing gear is a complex assembly of anything between 1,000 and 3,000 components and can account for between four to five per cent of an aircraft’s take-off weight. A scheduled overhaul can take anything between 30 to 45 days, involving strip down, inspection, repair, refurbishing and replacement and build.
“The complexity comes from having to work to constantly changing customer maintenance schedules, which are further compounded by unscheduled repairs to Aircraft On Ground (AOG),” explains Brett Lambourne, Planning & Scheduling Manager. “Even though we provide ‘exchange assets’, scheduling can be a nightmare. Until the initial stripping and inspection loop has been completed it’s not possible to accurately schedule repairs, machining, manufacturing, plating, testing, fitting, rebuild and so on. And, of course, different elements compete for limited resources.”
Until the introduction of Orchestrate production scheduling software, planning was performed using multiple spreadsheets, created and maintained by different people in different departments. Getting the right mix of work going through production can have an enormous impact on cash flow and profitability, none of the spreads sheets were linked and the commercial or financial aspects were not part of the planning process.

The Solution

The company recognized the scale of the challenge and recruited Brett because of his experience in planning and scheduling, gained in the (construction) Manufacturing industry. He joined the company in December 2012 and, as part of a systems evaluation, downloaded a free version of Orchestrate from the web. “It was an ideal test of the system’s capabilities as well as ease of use,” says Brett. “In no time at all, I had developed a fully functional personalized demonstration, using our own data - without any need to contact Production Modelling, the software authors. This was sufficient to convince me that the system would easily accommodate our reporting and planning needs. Because the demo was built using our own processes and data, it was also an ideal tool to convince others within the company.”
“We went live in my fourth month with the company, including integration with our SQL-based systems used produce works orders. Integration with legacy and ERP systems is another of Orchestrate’s strengths and, in practice, took us just a matter of hours.”
Introduction of new systems have, of course, meant a culture change from independent list-driven processes to coordinated, ‘visual’ plans and schedules. Brett believes that the ease of use and the graphic output from Orchestrate have helped speed up the process of culture change.

The Benefits

“Orchestrate production scheduling software has dramatically cut the time taken in planning and has given us an accurate end-to-end planning view for the first time, helping us to improve productivity. By June, we had cut the time devoted to planning by 20-30% and I can confidently predict that improvement to increase to a total of 60%. As to throughput in build-to-schedule, that has improved from a historic performance of 70-80% to a current achievement of 95%.”
Marrying the commercial aspects into planning will help us achieve a much more cost-effective mix of work going through the production and finishing loops. Meanwhile, systems integration has speeded up the process, eliminated manual data entry and transcription errors.”
Brett also reports an improvement in customer communications. “As a recent example, we were able to accommodate a rush request by re-scheduling another customer’s work, with each customer confident of delivery because we were able to show them how completion would be achieved. Again, this is a very ‘visual’ approach.”

The Future

Currently, LTLGS uses a projector in their morning planning meetings and printed output for use in the works. Once everyone is fully used to the new format, they intend to have displays around the production bays, an approach successfully adopted by a number of Orchestrate customers.
Finally, the systems will be rolled out to other facilities around the world. Brett Lambourne: “The company plans common systems in each of our facilities and our next project is to start in August at the Landing Factory in Hamburg Germany. Next in line will be a visit to Sun Valley, LA, for review of adopting orchestrate later in the year. Orchestrate production scheduling software already has big name users in North America. Last of all, I believe we will have a opportunity to review the potential of implementing the system at our plant in Beijing, China – probably a first for Orchestrate in the People’s Republic.

Walker Precision Benefit from Rapid Production Planning Solution

Walker Precision Engineering (WPE Ltd) has grown into a cutting-edge contract manufacturing company serving a number of industry leading market sectors. The company has adopted Orchestrate production planning software from Production Modelling that replaces multiple spread sheets and flowcharts with much more intuitive, real-time displays and ‘what if’ scenarios. Early results, using large screen displays and a Windows 8 wireless tablet device used for plant live updates,  have begun the momentum for change – although early days yet, as the system is being fully integrated into more of the business on-time delivery performance is steadily improving.

Walker Precision Engineering Ltd (WPE Ltd)

Walker Precision Engineering are a forward looking technology led contract manufacturing company.

Established in 1979 the company has risen to the challenges of changing market conditions. From small beginnings the company now employs over 150 skilled personnel over three sites.

The company services markets Worldwide, covering a diverse customer base in engineering cutting edge sectors.

 Stuart Glen updating Orchestrate within the shop floor using on a Windows 8 Tablet 

The Challenge

WPE Ltd is a highly successful business that has forged a strong presence as a contract manufacturing company in a number of high-tech industry sectors. Their success has been built around innovation and the ability to provide quality products and services in a  competitive market. With rapid growth, the challenge has been to meet customer expectations. The directors recognised a major potential issue with on-time delivery, customer communications and supply chain transparency.

The scheduling process is complex, involving three very different business units, an assembly area, painting and plating, off site clean room facilities and a production plant in Poland.

• Business Unit One specialises in large, often complex projects offering high quality product to customers in a variety of energy markets including valve bearing and compressor manufacturer. Some parts may progress through as many as eight differing machines/processes and elapsed process time can be measured in weeks.
• Business Unit Two is dedicated mainly to Aero & Defence – low volume, high integrity work, typically involving a single machine process on 5-Axis machine centres.
• Business Unit Three is dedicated to support a leading Aero engine manufacturer. This business process includes repair & design work as well as manufacturing for the aero industry, involving exotic materials with rapid turnaround to support Aircraft On Ground (AOG) situations.

Having invested heavily in advanced numerical control equipment and the latest twin & 5-Axis pallet multi-access machining centres, many machines run for the full 168 hours a week. Monday to Friday, most of BU2 operates a night shift and overtime working is necessary every weekend. The company is focussed to meet demand, but until now this has been very much at the cost of on-time delivery. Credible information was not evident hence customer satisfaction was deteriorating.

Orchestrate installed within production offices on wall mounted large screens

The Solution

Management recognised the need to do something and recruited a Master Production Scheduler, who takes up the story:

 “We looked at more than one potential solution, but very quickly came to the conclusion that Orchestrate production planning software offered a modern interface, was easy to use and provided flexibility within the planning process. The whole approach from Production Modelling was reassuring. First, the demo. They took the time and trouble to make the demonstration meaningful.  After completing a simple questionnaire, they gave us a model to play with for a week. It contained our machines. It looked familiar. Next, they took one of our Microsoft Project spread sheets and within a couple of hours we were working with real-live data. Rather than a dummy company, we were looking at our own jobs running on our own machines.”

A similar, pragmatic approach was taken to training, when the MPS visited Production Modelling’s offices. Using ‘out-of-the-box’ software, without any customisation, the MPS was able to populate the database himself over just two days, adding new orders, materials and so on. This methodology ensured that the MPS gained confidence very quickly, with a sense of ownership over the data and the assumptions in the database. In his own words, “We were able to walk away with something that we could use straight away off the shop floor.” It was also very cost effective, eliminating the need for consultants to spend time at the plant in Glasgow.

Orchestrate production planning software updated by shift supervisor on the shop floor

The Outcomes

The decision to go ahead was in December 2012, and initial configuration and training was completed mid-December, with further testing the system over Christmas. The system went live with Business Unit One 1^st January, including two more days advanced training and data setup during the live run.

“The whole planning process has been transformed. We now have true visibility, with worktop access for account managers tracking customer orders, plus large screen displays in the Planning room and at Business Unit One, where the production manager can clearly see any potential materials shortages or capacity bottlenecks. Everything is so visible, with colour coding for, say, special projects, the ability to zoom into detail and then out again for a factory-wide view. Information without overload.

“We also use a wireless tablet on the shop floor. It’s great having it to hand, entering data or making enquires in real-time, right there at the machines. Updates are instant, so by the time we get back to the office, everything is already up to date. In real life, engineers may schedule work differently to the plan, so that amendments can be captured there and then, with ‘What if’ scenarios if necessary.”

Last word: “We are making consistent progress as we integrate the scheduling detail within more of the business. Some jobs take an elapsed period of weeks, so it will be some time before we can state definitively what the improvements will be, but we now have momentum and are well on track for achieving high on-time delivery rates even for complex orders and the ever-changing demands of our customers.