Total quality in Rolls-Royce plc
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Total quality in Rolls-Royce pic Task Forces and Departmental Task Analysis are key features of the Militaty Engine Business 's approach
Janet Palmer and Dean Taylor In the late 1980s, a series of Total Quality initiatives was
Finally, there is the emergence of new aero-engine
launched within Rolls-Royce which were to change
manufacturing nations such as Japan and Malaysia. Any
fundamentally the way/n which its business was carried out. The Supply Group, which is responsible for parts manufacture, was the first area within Rolls-Royce to begin its own Total Quality programme. This began in 1987 and used Manufacturing Systems Engineering Task Forces to identify improvements in the way parts were manufactured. The Total Quality programmes carried out so far have been independent and have now moved over to the non-manufacturing side as welL This article
of these factors, taken separately or all together, are threatening Rolls-Royce's profits, and we must improve our working methods to be competitive and to survive.
Task forces While slogans such as 'eveything you do matters' help to reinforce the Total Quality message among
considers the Total Quality initiatives in the Militaiy
employees, the thinking behind the concept is far more complex and involves structured, rigorously-planned
of the reasons behind their introduction are common
running.
methods of operation for its launch and continued
En gifle Business (MEB) of Rolls-Royce, although many throughout the whole company.
MEB's Total Quality programme is organized and co-
MEB is one Business within the Aerospace Group of
ordinated by the Operational Planning Department.
Rolls-Royce pic and operates largely as a separate lt receives requirements and orders from
Operational Planning staff prepare and deliver training material in the techniques and are used as expertise in the Task Forces. The Operational Planning Manager
company.
customers and then arranges the design and
manufacture of the parts with other Businesses, such as Engineering and Supply.
liaises with the Total Quality Steering Council (see below) to identify and select the Task Forces. The programme
MEB itself does not manufacture the parts. Its role is to co-ordinate the activities involved and to assemble the
management studied the concepts of Total Quality to find the most effective way of applying it to our business. At the beginning of 1989, other managers were briefed on these findings through Awareness Seminars.
began towards the end of 1988, when senior
parts into complete engines which it then tests and delivers to the customer. Only about 10% of MEB's employees - those involved in Assembly and Overhaul - actually touch the engines.
Following the seminars, a Total Quality programme using specially-selected Demonstrator Task Forces was launched. These Demonstrator Task Forces were a form of pilot scheme designed to:
What are the factors in the aero-engine business that have made it necessary for Rolls-Royce continually to improve the way it works? As far as MEB is conc
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