22nd Congress of International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences, Harrogate, UK, 28 August - 1st September, 2000
Paper ICAS 2000-5.9.1 (IL)

AGILE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

S. Timms, T. Ogle, M. Jackson, C. Cooper
BAE Systems, UK

Keywords: agile, agility, lean, manufacturing, development, customer

Agility is the next buzz-word for the aerospace industry. Agility literally means: Quick in movement; nimble. If we expand on this meaning further then it may look something like; speed of reaction, responsive to change, rapid processing. Agility goes much further than the realms of manufacturing and extends through the product development processes and into the entire organisation and affects the role of the customer. The key corner stone of agility is to completely and explicitly understand the customer requirement. The challenge then lies in translating these requirements into customer value, quicker and cheaper then anyone else. The manufacturing agility is a key enabler, but willl be constrained by the agility of the whole enterprise. This paper explores these ideas and draws upon the recent experienced gained during the launch of the Series Production activities in Eurofighter Typhoon, within BAE Systems.

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