At Salmesbury, BAE Systems machines parts for the aft fuselage, and vertical and horizontal tails of the F-35 Lightning II. The facility represents an investment worth £150 million in support of the F-35 programme. However, increasing production rates and growth in capability have in turn placed greater emphasis on tool presetting to keep the plant’s machines running efficiently. With this in mind, operations manager for machining, Gareth O’Beirne, requested assistance from System Store Solutions.
“The cutter pre-set area is key to our operational efficiency; we have to keep the machines fed with cutting tools, so we needed an efficient and effective solution,” he explains. “We looked at it with a Formula One pit-stop mentality, where cutting tools come in and are turned around very quickly. Therefore, the working area, which covers the size of a swimming pool, had to be organised in such a way that we could achieve a high level of efficiency.”
System Store Solutions was given a blank sheet of paper to come up with a design that met BAE Systems’ requirements. Using the company’s experience and workshop knowledge, the solution has resulted in the operators having everything to hand, with individual stations for tool assembly, Kanban storage, and general racking for tools.
“What we have now is a highly efficient, ergonomic working environment that meets our requirement to ensure the machining facility meets its production targets,” concludes O’Beirne.
