Lean Six Sigma and Aviation

The aviation industry involves a series of interlocking processes, each with its own
challenges. In addition to the issue of safety, airlines aim to improve passenger satisfaction.
There are many areas where this can go wrong, from delayed flights, missed connections,
long layovers, lost luggage or, worst of all, cancelled flights.

The weather plays a role in some of these issues, and certainly that is beyond an airline’s
control. However, as McKinsey & Company reported, airlines also have delays at gates after
airplanes land, under-utilized aircrafts and other expensive equipment and staff that remains
idle for long periods of time.

Many of these issues can be reduced or even eliminated by applying the tools used in Lean
Six Sigma, including the following.

Six Sigma can help aviation professionals manage the critical issues of passenger safety,
cost savings and traveler satisfaction. Six Sigma serves the aviation industry well because it
gives managers and frontline workers a common language to unite them in their efforts to
improve quality. Six Sigma also gives aviation professionals a tool box full of best practices
that can help resolve process flaws and improve performance.

Consider these three important areas of the airline industry that can benefit from Six Sigma.

Passenger Satisfaction

Thousands of travelers every year add their story to the overabundant complaints about long
layovers, lost luggage and delayed or canceled flights. Six Sigma’s strong focus on the
customer helps the industry make changes where they are most needed. Capturing the voice
of the customer using surveys, focus groups and interviews can give Six Sigma teams the
raw data they need to identify critical to quality (CTQ) requirements. CTQs are specific,
defined requirements that must meet client expectations.

Improved Departure Time

Six Sigma has the tools to help cut the time it takes to move passengers down the walkway
and seated on the plane. Like other processes, this one is packed with duplication,
redundancy and delays. Six Sigma teams can get a much clearer view of the process of
boarding a plane by breaking it down into sub-processes and obtaining granular detail for
every step.

This finely-detailed view of the boarding process is combined with an accurate measurement
of the time it takes to complete each step. Estimations are not to be acceptable. Experienced
Six Sigma teams have learned not to depend on intuition, as estimates can be unreliable and
can disrupt the entire project.

Combining a detailed understanding of the boarding process with accurate and objective time
tracking may help airlines decrease their overall aircraft loading time.

Aircraft Maintenance

Efficient maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) operations are critical to an airline’s
profitability since grounded planes reduce an airline’s ticket revenue. The sooner crews can
complete scheduled maintenance and repairs, the sooner the planes can be filled with ticket-
buying passengers.

Six Sigma can help MRO crews complete their work safely and quickly by implementing
several initiatives:
  Creating communications systems that provide real-time maintenance status across
all levels
 Coordinating different levels of shop maintenance activity
 Optimizing the crew’s time on assigned tasks
 Encouraging continuous process improvement with data capture, reporting and
analysis
 Optimizing tool allocations and task assignments to reduce waste

Six Sigma offers many tools to help airlines operate more safely and efficiently. 

Wasted Employee Time

One of the eight wastes identified in Lean is employee time. Airlines have an abundance of
this, according to McKinsey & Company. Part of the issue is not accurately determining the
right level of staffing both in customer service and in maintenance despite the often-routine
nature of tasks. This can lead to a single clerk checking in hundreds of passengers, an
understaffed baggage carousel and mechanics trying to find a part rather than working on a
plane. McKinsey found that in some maintenance areas, 20-to-30% of mechanics’ time are
spent in the break room.

Applying Lean’s examination of the eight areas of waste would lead to identification of these
issues and provide the tools to fix them.