Implementing Lean in aerospace—challenging the assumptions and understanding the challenges

Lean manufacturing appears to hold considerable promise for addressing a range of simultaneous, competitive demands including high levels of process and product quality, low cost and reductions in lead times. These requirements have been recognised within the aerospace sector and efforts are now well established to implement Lean practices. Lean manufacturing was initiated within the automotive sector. However, since the publication of the influential book, The Machine That Changed the World (Womack et al., 1990) there has been a range of documented cases of Lean implementation in a variety of sectors. Despite this evidence, the perception remains that Lean manufacturing is to some degree, an ‘automotive idea’ and difficult to transfer to other sectors especially when there are major differences between them. In this paper we discuss the key drivers for Lean in aerospace and examine the assumption that cross-sector transfer may be difficult. A Lean implementation case comparison examines how difficulties that arise may have more to do with individual plant context and management than with sector specific factors.  2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.