root causes, and the fixes become the new “standard” process, which can lead to other issues down the road—and perpetuate the myth the problem may never be completely solved, according to Schnettgoecke. That’s what a team at the Satellite Development Center in El Segundo, Calif., discovered as it worked to reduce small but costly problems cropping up in the satellite factory. Through the implementation of Lean+, the team was able to find underly-ing causes of these problems and then develop and install permanent solutions. The Satellite Development Center developed a process years ago to help spot and fix potential defects that could prevent a satellite assembly from being unfolded in space. This process relies on inspection, verification measurements and deployment testing during the satellite build and test phases, explained Karen DeWeese, Engineering “Capturing the Value of Quality” project lead for Space and Intelligence Systems. DeWeese found that many employees believed it was not practical to introduce design process changes to eliminate the problem, due to the complexity of the satel-lites they build. A myth had developed that further improving the design process would be too difficult or prohibitively expensive. “We needed a culture shift from addressing these problems as they arose, to preventing them at the start,” said Mike Littleton, the Root Cause Analysis subject-matter expert who worked with the team. To tackle these challenges, DeWeese and Bob Morita, senior manager of Space and Intelligence Systems Mechanical Sys-tem Architecture, led a team of employees with different areas of technical expertise to dig down and discover the problem’s root causes. The team found discrepancies in computer-aided designs; tasks that didn’t have a specific person held respon-sible for their completion; and insufficient design standards. After these matters were addressed, programs were able to identify and often ILLUSTRATION AND PHOTO: Boeing’s satellites team used Lean+ to find ways to improve manufacturing efficiency, as well as the quality of products such as the 702MP (medium power) satellite (illustration) and the Wideband Global SATCOM, or WGS, satellite (inset photo). ILLUSTRATION: BOEING; PHOTO: JONATHAN DAVINO/BOEING BOEING FRONTIERS / JUNE 2013 39
Frontiers June 2013 Issue
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