Continuous Improvement Policies

[The Invisible Man]

Have other companies around the world adopted the "we must continually improve" philosophy" Where do you take your good ideas within your company? How do you justify the cost and savings? We spend thousands on training courses to develop good ideas, and then forever and a day putting them into practice because of justification. Example... communication between Engineers on the line and Shift Leader. Six Engineers doing their own thing on different aircraft, Avionic problem arises with A/C Engineer doing departure. We have radios but they are bulky, unreliable, and hardly ever taken out by all. Phone on airbridge U/S. Tech delay arises. One suggestion was personal mobile phones, controlled and paid for by the company. Justify the cost say the company.....justify the tech delay say I.
How do other companies control communications I wonder?

[The Invisible Man]

JFD and Balti King you are forbidden to reply to above !!! Oh go on then.

[jetfueldrinker]

Hi T I M

I know exactly what you mean. When doing the 'Introduction to C I' course a few years ago (free coffee, free butties with more to spare for the lads, and a free C I mug) we had to come up with a few ideas for possible future projects. Mine was that grease cards should be plasticised. Other people came up with more technical ideas, but we were told that my idea would more than likely be the one to be accepted as it would involve the least expendituer to the company. Enough said? C I sucks.

[The Invisible Man]

Whats the current feeling on Six S---A. Wont print the full name just in case its against the rules, but you know what I mean

[spannersatcx]

VHF - a/c already has it and so should most line offices! You call base with the problem then the shift leader sorts it, after all that's why he's paid more!

[This message has been edited by spannersatcx (edited 13 March 2001).]

[The Invisible Man]

Hi spannersatcx,
Tried it and failed, Shift leader not always where he should be, often out on the line due manpower shortage( wont go into that one) Office not continually manned.
Correct me if I'm wrong here but someone told me you need a radio licence to transmit through aircraft radio....not that its ever stopped anyone !! Another instance, No power to aircraft, remote stand etc. Aircraft pushed back....towing team notice FOD in wheel, avionic on departure, need A/C for opinion, Pushback team dont have headset to talk to Flt Deck. The list is endless.

[aeroguru]

Yes,but where is that rule?Heard of it (in U.K.) so often but anyone have a reference?
Abroad I have used aircraft radio when towing, requesting airfield temp and elev on engine runs etc.
Why do we make life so difficult for each other in the U.K.????

[spannersatcx]

If using VHF radio from office you need radio licence for that, £250/year + cost of equipment. The a/c should have a radio licence anyway otherwise it shouldn't be flying.
Sounds like mobile phones in this instance are the answer. I know that Delta engineers in UK operate this way.

[H721]

believe it or not, the tariff of mobile phone in hkg can be as low as us$5 per month, with 800 mins air time.

however there are operators that don't allow the use of mobile phone inside their aircraft.

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Not much of an engineer

[balti king]

OK here I am! I won't say much except that in my experience companies pay exorbitant amounts of money to integrate these initiatives into an arena that just doesn't suit. We're not burger flippers and that is who these schemes are best suited too. We are common sense people (except management) that can react to change without the use of ridiculous buzz words/champions/black belts. Good for all the useless gullible people that get involved as it gives them a purpose/title and a free mug and ballpoint. Waste of money.

[The Invisible Man]

No response on this Six S--ma thing then??

[jetfueldrinker]

I was involved in CI for a bit, but will not have anything to do with sick smegma as I think it is more of a waste of time and effort. As for CI, all this is is nothig more than a talking shop designed to make 'hands on' people make management decisions. The CI project that I was concerned with did not have the required outcome as far as I was concerned. But it shouldn't take a shop floor bloke to find that there was a batch of oil in stores 10, yes, 10 years old. All this highlighted to me is that there are too many people in positions of authority in our place that do damn all and hide behind their status. Obviously something must change, but to what and to whom I don't know. But if I was in charge.............. (don't even go there).

Now every one who reads these pages knows that we are not the most efficient organisation in the business; unless they know different. So come on all you engineers out there, twiddle the key boards and post some replys about how good or bad your company is at making fundimental decisions. We would love to hear from you.

[troubleshooter]

So what is this six S? thing all about? All I have heard from my company that it is a set of tools used to improve processes and ultimately costs. Seems all common sense but if that's the case, why doesn,t management and engineers work efficiently and make the right decisions?
TS

[The Invisible Man]

T.Shooter,
If you look around the internet you'll find loads of sights to do with Sixsigma. Our company has invested in training courses for some staff. Basically they tell you what you already know about cost savings and ways to achieve. After many years of being involved in a Continuous Improvement world, we still do the job the same way as we did many years ago. Was and is the expence worth it???

[innocent bystander]

g'day invisible man, i think an answer could be job creation and empire building in these dept's ,surely if you have too change a wheel or brake pack they cant invent many different ways to do it to try and save dollars, they probably want you to only change that wheel the landing before it fails, then they would save money and probably get a (your) pay rise, another secretary, and the empire gets bigger!
this is a great site with great topics, you would think caa, casa, faa etc would monitor this site and learn what going on in the real world.


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dont look at me,i didn't signe it out,i'm just an innocent bystander

[time-ex]

All companies seem to have their own version of this, not restricted to engineering I think. I could list Big Airlines efforts ad nauseum. They all have a twee little acronym. The bottom line is that the management want to introduce something which they perceive as a benefit, but they have found that if they get their staff happy enough they will be convinced that a grass roots staff member thought of it. Management "pick it up and run with", send it up the flagpole and see who salutes it" If nobody thinks it's a good idea or it fails well it was only Barney Arsescratcher's idea anyway. If it works well
BA's management take the credit.

[troubleshooter]

T.I.M.
Thanks for the interesting ! info re; the six sigma sites. I have had a look at some of them. Its all stupid words, but still seems a lot of commen sense to me. Why do a lot of things to get a job done if you can do it in less. (I'm not talking about cutting corners) Just because we have been doing it that way for years, is there a better way, or as engineers, do we think it is the best way?
At my place, the management have suggested that we know what's wrong and what to buy to permanently fix it, so why dont we offer the suggestions rather than a manager who would probably get it wrong. The manager then approves it (if budgets allow)and in more cases than others, it has been succesfull. Mind you, it wasn't CI or six sigma, just seems reasonable man-management.
TS