23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA www.tocpractice.com
21-22 March, 2016, Tennessee, USA
Using Theory of Constraints, Lean & Six Sigma (TOC-LSS) within Delta Air Lines Operations Kathy Austin Focused Profit Strategies, LLC, USA March, 2016
Kathy Austin Kathy currently is Chief Strategist at Focused Profit Strategies. As Director, Operations Continuous Improvement at Delta Air Lines, she established the internal consulting department. Kathy and Gerry Kendall co-authored Advanced Multi-Project Management in 2012. In 1997, she and Ted Hutchin co-authored Why It’s Not Luck. Kathy became a Jonah in 1989 and a Jonah’s Jonah in 1991. Since leaving the US Air Force in 1991, she has worked large and small implementations, both commercial and military, in the US and internationally in Production, Project Management, Supply Chain, and Management Skills. Kathy is certified in all areas of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) Body of Knowledge (BOK) and has been a member of TOC-ICO since the first meeting in Atlanta. She is currently serving on the TOC-ICO Board of Directors. Additionally, she has developed and taught multiple basic, expert, and licensee courses across the entire TOC BOK. Kathy is past vice-chair of the APICS CM-SIG and co-authored/edited (with Jim Cox) the APICS TOC series. She is also an ISCEA Certified Critical Chain Project Manager. In the past, Kathy has held various positions with the Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute (AGI) and APT Concepts. www.tocpractice.com
[email protected] http://www.focusedprofit.com +1.404.692.0213
23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
TOC-LSS in Delta Air Lines Operations • Engine Maintenance reduced WIP by over 70% • Set the bar for world-class TAT in the industry • Centralized internal consulting group (Operations Continuous Improvement) established by COO, Gil West, in 2014 • Goal: Drive innovative and reliable improvement through operations • TOC: Over-arching architecture for analyzing and focusing improvements • Existing TOC solutions, Thinking Processes, Lean & Six Sigma: Tools and methods to enable sustainable improvements
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Operations Continuous Improvement Team
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Implementation Model Design the Improvement • Discovery: Understand and document the current situation, including significant policies, measurements and behaviors (AS-IS) • Answer “What to Change?” • Determine future state (TO-BE), including revised policies, measurements and behaviors • Strategically answer “What to Change to?” and “How to Cause the Change?” including customized improvement project plan Deploy the Improvement Project Plan • Initial phase of buy-in and stabilizing improvements • Additional phases of planned step-wise improvements Sustain • Hand over support to trained local experts for holding/increasing the gains • Provide audit/retrain/reach back as required www.tocpractice.com
23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Catering Project 1 Challenge: Flights delayed waiting for catering In-flight meals, beverages, snacks One location Up to 800 flights per day Carts and contents specific to flight: vary by aircraft configuration, time of day, and destination Changes in gates and aircraft type can occur within an hour of departure Constraint/Solution • Dispatch schedule done with paper and pencil • Gate and aircraft changes communicated via radio and updated in dispatch plan manually • Drivers not getting changes www.tocpractice.com
• SaaS solution for central data and dispatch planning • Real-time feed from airline systems of changes in gates and aircraft type • Smartphone app for immediate driver notification • Beacon technology to time stamp catering arrival/departure at aircraft 23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Catering Project 2 Challenge: Improve performance while supporting growth up to 850 flights per day, including bringing work back in from a satellite location. • Operating Make-to-Stock (MTS) in a custom flight environment • Push system • Inefficient operational layout
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Catering Project 2
Inventory • Hard to find • FIFO difficult • Locations not labeled
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Catering Project 2
Solution • New flow for returning carts • 3 standardized flow lines • Make-to-order (MTO) • Tying rope from dispatch to induction by flight • Improved security sweep process
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Catering Project 2
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Delta Pilot Training
General Delta Training
Training time longer than expected
Fleet Specific Qualification
Operating Experience
Qualified to Fly Delta Aircraft
WIP increasing
Not keeping up with demand www.tocpractice.com
23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Delta Pilot Training
Solution: Drum-Buffer-Rope 1. Synchronize Delta General Training class start dates and quantities of students with the Fleet Qualification schedule 2. Unbalance the line: Increase the capacity of Operating Experience to exceed the capacity of Fleet Qualification 3. Elevate the constraint: Fleet Qualification 4. Re-engineer and add capacity as needed to keep the constraint in Fleet Qualification
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Ground Support Equipment
Challenge: Improve repair times of Jet Tugs, Bag Tugs and Belt Loaders to support airport operations Discovery: 3 focus areas for improvement: • Scheduling of repairs • Parts availability • Communication
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Atlanta Operations
Challenge: Improve ground-time performance Discovery: Integrated ground time AS-IS
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Atlanta Operations: CRT & FRT
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
Atlanta Operations: Strategic Implementation Program
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23rd International Conference of the TOC Practitioners Alliance - TOCPA
