September 2015 41 airplane production continues to grow. The foam recycling is part of the waste reduction and conservation plan at the Materials Marketplace, the Renton site’s new central receiving station for parts and material bound for the 737 factory managed by the Commercial Airplanes’ Materials Management Group. Designing a system that would efficiently collect a huge volume of discarded foam required creativity and cooperation, said Kelly Richard, 737 Materials Management coordinator. “We brought our groups together and shared ideas on designing carts to collect the foam and selecting a local recycler to process the material,” Richard said. The discarded foam is now collected in pushcarts—designed by 737 Lean+ professional Jon Kramp—lined with large reused plastic bags. The foam-filled bags can be removed easily and staged on the Marketplace loading dock for pickup by the recycling company, Richard said. Between February and July this year, the Marketplace recycled 2,404 cubic yards (1,839 cubic meters) of foam, enough material to fill more than 10 737 jetliners and provide critical help in meeting the environmental targets. “If all of us didn’t work together and collaborate so well, this project couldn’t have happened,” Gilbertson said. Working together also helped Boeing’s North Charleston, S.C., site reduce waste on the 787 Dreamliner assembly line. The automated drills that help assemble the aircraft’s midbody sections use a steady flow of coolant fluid to keep tools at a temperature for proper functioning. The midbody team noticed the coolant was getting contaminated with fine dust from the carbon-fiber material used on the 787. The contaminated fluid was clogging coolant lines and required frequent replacing. “The coolant was lasting several days instead of several months. We were picking up 10 drums of used coolant for disposal each week,” said Michael Ward, operations specialist with Environment, Health & Safety. “Now, we’ve reduced that to one.” Ward and Site Services machine maintenance technicians Michael Smith and Wayne Pierson brought the problem to a midbody employee team that focuses on improving work processes. The team helped design a filtration system that removes most of the carbon-fiber particles from the coolant, so it can be reused. “Coolant used to be our largest liquid waste contributor; now it’s our smallest,” Ward said. Added Smith: “It’s a solution that can grow and expand along with our airplane production. It’s all possible because people from different areas worked hand in hand.” n patrick.a.summ ers@boeing.com Photos: (Left) Michael Ward, left, and Michael Smith inspect an automated drilling tool at Boeing South Carolina. ala n ma rts | boeing (Above) Beth Gilbertson, left, and Anne Stilts sort through foam pieces bound for recycling at the Renton, Wash., site. Jim Anderson |Boeing
Frontiers September 2015 Issue
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