AGILE THINKING SECURES QUALITY IN SOLIHULL'S FINAL ASSEMBLY 1

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In the week before the Whitsun shutdown, one team in Solihull's FA1facility had to think quickly on their feet and produce an agile solution after the specification of an engine mounting bracket changed.

Josh Painter, a CME Engineer in the final year of his apprenticeship, was alerted to a change in the high-pressure die-cast engine mounting bracket. Supporting the introduction of new parts and associated tooling is the day job for Josh, but in this instance things were different.

Josh explained, “The change meant Operations would need a new tool to fit the updated part. After speaking with a number of tooling suppliers, new tools would’ve taken over four weeks to arrive and our current tooling would be out of specification too.”

With help from several teams, Josh jumped into action and in true agile fashion, set about designing and making new tools in-house. Josh continued, “Waiting four weeks wasn’t an option as we’d be stopping the line. With help from the tool room, we fabricated a set of sockets which would make our existing tooling compatible."

Not only did Josh secure quality in FA1, avoiding a significant line-stopper, the set of in-house-made tools cost less than 1% of purchasing new tooling – amazing!