In The News


As written in the online December issue of Aviation Maintenance, a subsidiary of Aviation Today, Your First Destination For Global Industry Intelligence
Monday, December 1, 2008

Kairos Assists LTP with Lean Initiatives - Methods help lower costs, boost efficiency for commercial MRO provider.

(Excerpts)
Lynn Sutton, a managing principle of Kairos Consulting Worldwide, is accustomed to being ready. After all, the word Kairos means the right or opportune moment when an opening appears which must be driven through with force to achieve success.

The specific assignment for LHT Philippines, which serves international and local carriers that fly to the Philippines, was simple: implement a Lean Six Sigma initiative — a business improvement methodology that seeks to speed processes, increase efficiency and improve customer satisfaction — at Lufthansa Technik’s Manila facility, with the goal of increasing the speed and service quality.

"This was an organization that decided to focus on Lean and embed that into their culture," says Sutton. "They were looking for someone who could not only implement the Lean Six and get them lean and mean relatively quickly, but who also had significant experience working within the Asian community," she adds.

According to Mark Hehl, a leading management consultant with Kairos on the project, Lufthansa Technik — which has more than 2,000 administrators and technicians in Manila serving both Lufthansa Airlines and other carriers — had three key objectives: identify opportunities to streamline their processes and bring about savings, teach Lean Six Sigma techniques, and establish a lean culture.

"They wanted a lean culture to be the way they addressed and approached their business," says Hehl, who’s been consulting since 2003 and has spent a majority of his career implementing quality assurance programs. "They decided to change their focus with the promise of savings and the opportunity that would come afterwards."

Throughout the process, Lufthansa communicated to Kairos their primary objective was not focused on the monetary aspects as much as getting it right and deeply ingraining the lean mentality. "They understood that with lean you could see results very quickly up front, but if the mentality is embedded into the culture you would see ongoing results," says Hehl.

Challenges and Payoffs

Culture differences served as another challenge. In the Asian community, older people of authority and in upper management are held in high regard. Hehl says that two young engineers assigned to him had difficulty in challenging anyone that was older.

Hehl reports that the company’s efforts resulted in $14 million in annual savings over a six-month period for Lufthansa Technik — a figure well above expectations. However, Hehl not only measures the level of success financially, but whether the organization’s mindset has changed, including one person who came out openly against it.

To see the full article, click the corresponding link to the right.

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