Developing a rapid response production system for aircraft manufacturing

In this paper, the modeling methodology of rapid response production systems (RRPS) is proposed, and a case study in an aircraft manufacturing company has been developed to illustrate the application of the methodology. A new RRPS model has been proposed, and 12 components included in the model are alarming system of abnormal events, rapid response service station, coordination processing center, evaluation management, problem management, response visualization platform, unified graphic user interface, database, knowledge base, rapid response team, operation procedure standards (OPS), and rapid response training. The developed RRPS has been illustrated and implemented in Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company (SAMC); the test has shown that the proposed methodology and the corresponding RRPS model has improved the capability of rapid response to changes and reduced the economic losses caused by abnormal events. Besides, the discussion and analysis has suggested that the developed RRPS has the distinguishing characteristics of agility, integration, robustness, and leanness.