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American Airlines workers think fast
Innovation is the key to cut costs
11:08 PM CDT on Thursday, July 1, 2004
By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News
TULSA, Okla. – The hunt for "muda" here is about job security.
Muda, meaning "waste," and "kaizan," for "continuous improvement," are just some of the Japanese words rolling off the tongues of aircraft mechanics at American Airlines Inc.'s maintenance base, where planes are stripped to their frames and rebuilt every few years.
Among the projects, all part of a massive cost-cutting campaign as the world's largest carrier overhauls its operations: Taking fewer steps each day to get aircraft parts. Rethinking how to stock chemical cabinets.
Savings vary from several thousand dollars a day to several million a year. But more must come, airline officials say.
"We need a cultural revolution here," said Carmine Romano, an American vice president who heads the Tulsa facility. "We have to be able to adapt."
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey wants to hear the mantra of continuous improvement resonate throughout the operations of the Fort Worth-based airline, which is struggling to regain profitability in an era of low fares and high fuel prices.
Just as American has to battle discounters, the Tulsa base's 8,000 workers will have to outthink competitors.
But while American executives fret over strategies to fight the likes of JetBlue Airways Corp., workers in Tulsa and at two other major overhaul centers in Fort Worth and Kansas City, Mo., are facing off against third-party contractors such as Timco Aviation Services.
Outsourcing firms such as Timco hire licensed mechanics at about half of American's wage rate.
American relies less on outsourcing than most major rivals. United Airlines Inc., for example, recently began to farm out much of its heavy-duty plane work.
As a result, the outsourcing firms are growing quickly. Timco's first-quarter revenue rose 63 percent over last year.
Keeping it in-house
But American executives believe their higher-paid workers function faster and more accurately, making it a smarter choice to keep the business under the carrier's own wing.
Had American followed United's direction, only three of the base's 22 maintenance lines would remain open, according to a recent presentation to employees.
Mastering Japanese-style techniques is only part of the challenge for the Tulsa base.
American is simplifying its fleet of 700 planes, with the last of its Fokker F100s retiring from service by the fall. Tulsa will inherit work on American's Boeing 737s that had been moved from Kansas City to help make up the difference.
Improving processes can mean more business.
After employees helped redesign the shop floor layout in the engine overhaul center here, 22,000 extra square feet of space opened up. That allowed the base to bring in a new engine type to service.
Mr. Romano said he believes more "in-sourcing" will come as his employees become more efficient. Tulsa recently started work on regional jets flown by American Eagle, also owned by American parent AMR Corp.
Workers interviewed in Tulsa said they were initially skeptical about the techniques, but the new thinking is catching on.
"It's not just the line from management," said Gavin Punch, a 16-year mechanic for the airline who participated in several of the more than 350 kaizan events conducted.
One project redid messy chemical supply cabinets by clearly labeling bottles. Continuous improvement techniques have been around for decades; they involve teams that examine every step of a process to find weaknesses and waste. Collectively the group sets an efficiency goal and tracks their progress.
In some cases the jobs became easier and less time-consuming.
At the engine shop, mechanics designed their own movable work stations that made handling the steel shafts far easier, said Oliver Martins, managing director.
Many of the continuous improvement projects involve "kitting," or creating bags that have all the parts and tools a mechanic needs to complete a job.
The kits cut down on time mechanics spend walking to bins to get the right parts. Having the right kits for mechanics shaved 2.7 days off a complex cockpit-rewiring project for MD-80s, for example.
In some cases mechanics are walking several miles less each day; some joke they're worried about their weight rising with the streamlined methods.
The union remains wary of continuous improvement, said Randy McDonald, president of Transport Workers Union Local 514.
"We're not going to support anything that involves more layoffs," he said, noting that more than 700 of his members remain out of work from cutbacks.
American's Mr. Romano promises the projects won't mean fewer jobs, but he can't promise the laid-off workers will return soon.
Increasing productivity
Even if the Tulsa base wins more work from outside, the continuous improvement program aims to raise efficiency without adding personnel, dimming hopes for recalls. The base is down about 1,500 positions from its peak employment four years ago.
Mr. Romano said he realizes that not everyone endorses the continuous improvement or the labor-friendly management outreach under way in Tulsa. But American's future probably means fewer aircraft types, meaning fewer lines of work at all three bases.
But the airline will probably keep its heavy maintenance bases because of concessions it won from civic leaders last year in all three cities, said airline consultant Robert W. Mann, who has worked with American's pilots' union.
Mr. Romano said he's excited about improving an operation that already sets the global standard in how quickly it turns around aircraft. "You sometimes wonder why we haven't been doing things this way for years," he said.
Are you doing your part to bring work in-house???
Contact your Local RO Committee if you see a part that has an outside vendor Tag? Can this part be repaired in-house or has it been repaired in-house in the past and now you see a 3rd party tag? You are the eyes!!!!! Become an advocate!
Innovation is the key to cut costs
11:08 PM CDT on Thursday, July 1, 2004
By ERIC TORBENSON / The Dallas Morning News
TULSA, Okla. – The hunt for "muda" here is about job security.
Muda, meaning "waste," and "kaizan," for "continuous improvement," are just some of the Japanese words rolling off the tongues of aircraft mechanics at American Airlines Inc.'s maintenance base, where planes are stripped to their frames and rebuilt every few years.
Among the projects, all part of a massive cost-cutting campaign as the world's largest carrier overhauls its operations: Taking fewer steps each day to get aircraft parts. Rethinking how to stock chemical cabinets.
Savings vary from several thousand dollars a day to several million a year. But more must come, airline officials say.
"We need a cultural revolution here," said Carmine Romano, an American vice president who heads the Tulsa facility. "We have to be able to adapt."
American chairman and chief executive Gerard Arpey wants to hear the mantra of continuous improvement resonate throughout the operations of the Fort Worth-based airline, which is struggling to regain profitability in an era of low fares and high fuel prices.
Just as American has to battle discounters, the Tulsa base's 8,000 workers will have to outthink competitors.
But while American executives fret over strategies to fight the likes of JetBlue Airways Corp., workers in Tulsa and at two other major overhaul centers in Fort Worth and Kansas City, Mo., are facing off against third-party contractors such as Timco Aviation Services.
Outsourcing firms such as Timco hire licensed mechanics at about half of American's wage rate.
American relies less on outsourcing than most major rivals. United Airlines Inc., for example, recently began to farm out much of its heavy-duty plane work.
As a result, the outsourcing firms are growing quickly. Timco's first-quarter revenue rose 63 percent over last year.
Keeping it in-house
But American executives believe their higher-paid workers function faster and more accurately, making it a smarter choice to keep the business under the carrier's own wing.
Had American followed United's direction, only three of the base's 22 maintenance lines would remain open, according to a recent presentation to employees.
Mastering Japanese-style techniques is only part of the challenge for the Tulsa base.
American is simplifying its fleet of 700 planes, with the last of its Fokker F100s retiring from service by the fall. Tulsa will inherit work on American's Boeing 737s that had been moved from Kansas City to help make up the difference.
Improving processes can mean more business.
After employees helped redesign the shop floor layout in the engine overhaul center here, 22,000 extra square feet of space opened up. That allowed the base to bring in a new engine type to service.
Mr. Romano said he believes more "in-sourcing" will come as his employees become more efficient. Tulsa recently started work on regional jets flown by American Eagle, also owned by American parent AMR Corp.
Workers interviewed in Tulsa said they were initially skeptical about the techniques, but the new thinking is catching on.
"It's not just the line from management," said Gavin Punch, a 16-year mechanic for the airline who participated in several of the more than 350 kaizan events conducted.
One project redid messy chemical supply cabinets by clearly labeling bottles. Continuous improvement techniques have been around for decades; they involve teams that examine every step of a process to find weaknesses and waste. Collectively the group sets an efficiency goal and tracks their progress.
In some cases the jobs became easier and less time-consuming.
At the engine shop, mechanics designed their own movable work stations that made handling the steel shafts far easier, said Oliver Martins, managing director.
Many of the continuous improvement projects involve "kitting," or creating bags that have all the parts and tools a mechanic needs to complete a job.
The kits cut down on time mechanics spend walking to bins to get the right parts. Having the right kits for mechanics shaved 2.7 days off a complex cockpit-rewiring project for MD-80s, for example.
In some cases mechanics are walking several miles less each day; some joke they're worried about their weight rising with the streamlined methods.
The union remains wary of continuous improvement, said Randy McDonald, president of Transport Workers Union Local 514.
"We're not going to support anything that involves more layoffs," he said, noting that more than 700 of his members remain out of work from cutbacks.
American's Mr. Romano promises the projects won't mean fewer jobs, but he can't promise the laid-off workers will return soon.
Increasing productivity
Even if the Tulsa base wins more work from outside, the continuous improvement program aims to raise efficiency without adding personnel, dimming hopes for recalls. The base is down about 1,500 positions from its peak employment four years ago.
Mr. Romano said he realizes that not everyone endorses the continuous improvement or the labor-friendly management outreach under way in Tulsa. But American's future probably means fewer aircraft types, meaning fewer lines of work at all three bases.
But the airline will probably keep its heavy maintenance bases because of concessions it won from civic leaders last year in all three cities, said airline consultant Robert W. Mann, who has worked with American's pilots' union.
Mr. Romano said he's excited about improving an operation that already sets the global standard in how quickly it turns around aircraft. "You sometimes wonder why we haven't been doing things this way for years," he said.
Are you doing your part to bring work in-house???
Contact your Local RO Committee if you see a part that has an outside vendor Tag? Can this part be repaired in-house or has it been repaired in-house in the past and now you see a 3rd party tag? You are the eyes!!!!! Become an advocate!
