OREANDA-NEWS. NPO Saturn has summed up the results of the eighth wave of Lean-transformations during which 7 Lean-projects were implemented in several departments of the company.

The first three projects were conducted within the “Compressor blades” competence center. They were aimed at increasing the efficiency of the end-to-end compressor blades production process, boosting the throughput of the compressor blades grinding sector and optimization of receiving the rough parts. The fourth project was focused on increasing the effectiveness of equipment maintenance by introducing the TPM (Total Productive Maintenance) tool. The fifth project was carried out in the Purchasing and Logistics Direction with the goal of reducing the inventory request paperwork processing lead times. The implementation of the sixth project took place in the Technical Direction of NPO Saturn with the aim of improving the existing design documents coordination workflow. The main objective of the seventh project was to increase the efficiency of producing isothermal dies and stressed structure dies by SatIZ (a tooling-manufacturing subsidiary of NPO Saturn).

In the frame of the eighth wave of transformations an already traditional project excellence competition was conducted. The winners of the competition were:

1st place – The “Design documents coordination workflow improvement” project. Project pilot – Alexander Okrugin, PD-14 design integration department.

Due to the design and implementation of a new pattern of coordinating the design documents which takes into account the latest organizational changes at NPO Saturn, primarily the creation of the competence centers and also due to the introduction of the design documents coordination monitoring tools and duly reacting to arriving issues, the project team has been able to reduce the workflow duration by 2.3 while the number of blueprint returns for correction has been decreased by 2.

2nd place – The “Reducing the inventory request paperwork processing lead times” project. Project pilot – Alexander Romanov, head of the metals and rough parts department.

The organization of the performance management system introduced in two departments of the Purchasing and Logistics Direction has allowed to reduce the inventory request processing lead times by 3 for the metals and rough parts department and by 14.8 for the furnished equipment and dressing department.

3rd place – The “Increasing the efficiency of the compressor blades end-to-end production process” project. Project pilot – Ilya Kleymenov, head of shop № 35, a Lean black belt.

The introduction of visual management allowing to monitor the production process, constant analysis of the indicators and making appropriate managerial decisions along with the implementation of a number of technical measures increasing the efficiency and quality of the compressor blades machining have led to decreasing the compressor blades production lead times by 30 % and increasing throughput for the SaM146 engine by 1.3 and for the D-30KU/KP by 1.25.

The best Lean-project implemented in the course of the 8th wave of transformations according to the steering committee’s voting was the “Increasing the efficiency of producing isothermal dies and stressed structure dies by SatIZ”. Project pilot – Andrey Zhurov, production manager of the SatIZ shop № 77.

The organization of order processing, a new system of planning and data registration combining the interests of the customer (NPO Saturn) and SatIZ, introduction of visual management and implementation of the 5S system have allowed to reduce the lead times of production and repair of dies by 2 and increase order on-time performance by 3.3.

Summarizing the results of the eighth wave of transformations, NPO Saturn deputy CEO for the production system development Ilya Pautov noted: “the results of the Lean-project excellence competitions administered since the 6th wave of transformations clearly demonstrate that the efficiency and quality of projects from one wave to another are steadily growing while the involvement of the company personnel in the change process is increasing. I therefore wish to thank all the working group members who took active part in the continuous improvement processes during the 8th wave of projects and promise you even more challenging and ambitious projects in the future whose outcome will allow us to achieve even more convincing and tangible results as a consequence of Lean-events.”

As a reminder, NPO Saturn set out on its Lean-Continuous Improvement journey back in October 2009 on the initiative and under personal leadership of Ilya Fedorov, NPO Saturn chief executive officer. Since then the company has undergone 8 waves of transformation comprising the implementation of 64 Lean-projects; to date the company has designed and adopted its Lean-policy until the year 2020, a process aimed at growing change leaders has been launched: green belts and black belts (at the moment there are 5 green belts and 13 black belts working at Saturn). The main goal of all the NPO Saturn Lean-projects which are already implemented or currently in implementation is to improve the company’s operating performance by eliminating the 8 types of waste: overproduction, unnecessary transportations, unused inventories, unnecessary processing stages, unnecessary movements of operators, waiting, defects and unused intelligence of the employees.

Research and Production Association Saturn JSC is an engine-building company specialized in design, manufacture and after sales support of gas-turbine engines for military and civil aviation, the Navy boats and power-generation and gas-pumping installations. NPO Saturn JSC is a part of the United Engine Corporation Managing Company JSC.

United Engine Corporation Managing Company JSC is a subsidiary of the United Industrial Company OBORONPROM JSC. The Company integrates over 85% of Russia’s leading companies specialized in design and development, serial production and service support of gas-turbine machinery, as well as the key enterprises – the industry’s integral players. One of the UEC’s prioritized fields of activity is the implementation of comprehensive programs of development of the companies within the industry with introduction of the world-class new technology.

United Industrial Company OBORONPROM JSC is a diversified machine-building group of companies founded in 2002. It is a part of Russian Technologies State Corporation. Key businesses: helicopter production (Russian Helicopters JSC), engine production (UEC) and other assets.