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“Great thanks to the MCE team for this outstanding achievement. The Recaro team truly appreciates the exceptional effort which went into this.”
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THE CHALLENGE
RECARO Aircraft Seating is a global manufacturer of high-end business and economy class passenger aircraft seating with production facilities in Europe, Africa, and the US. Based on Mid-Continent’s reputation as an experienced aerospace manufacturer with strong program management, complex-assembly and machining capabilities, we were awarded the bid to manufacture 3,150 of their new kinematic seating systems. The key challenges we faced with this project were:
The Solution
To launch this product we worked closely with RECARO engineers full-time over a 3-week period. Critical steps taken included:
RECARO Aircraft Seating is a global manufacturer of high-end business and economy class passenger aircraft seating with production facilities in Europe, Africa, and the US. Based on Mid-Continent’s reputation as an experienced aerospace manufacturer with strong program management, complex-assembly and machining capabilities, we were awarded the bid to manufacture 3,150 of their new kinematic seating systems. The key challenges we faced with this project were:
- Produce an acceptable First Article on-time
- Maintain an aggressive production schedule
- Control cost on a new production run
- Effectively manage an international supply chain
The Solution
To launch this product we worked closely with RECARO engineers full-time over a 3-week period. Critical steps taken included:
- Appointed an internal Project Manager
- Established action list and communicated with customer daily
- Executed manufacturing planning and machine programming concurrently
- Helped RECARO improve their documentation package
- Dedicated lean cell for assembly
- Negotiated long-term supplier contracts
- Launched a capacity planning tool for the automated machining centers
- Created supermarkets and Kanbans for inventory with on-site supplier stocking
The Result
This business class seat assembly, comprised of 40 plus precision machined components and capable of multi axis movement represented a great achievement in design engineering. The seat allows passengers to lie down in a full flat position. Due to this complexity, the assembly sequence was critical to allow full functional movements of the product. Some of the most important successes were:
This business class seat assembly, comprised of 40 plus precision machined components and capable of multi axis movement represented a great achievement in design engineering. The seat allows passengers to lie down in a full flat position. Due to this complexity, the assembly sequence was critical to allow full functional movements of the product. Some of the most important successes were:
- Delivered product at the customer’s target price
- Achieved 99.9% on time delivery — 1 late seat out of 3,150
- Quality System described by RECARO as “outstanding”, 99.9%
- Engaged in the highest level of collaboration, became a virtual extension of Recaro’s company
