At Lean Design For Manufaturing, the focus is on unlocking the power of your team by unlocking and releasing the individual’s potential. We do this by establishing cultural lean foundations, structuring the approach to gaining objective perspectives on your product designs, standardising and systemising the repetitive to increase efficiency and increasing individual and team knowledge.
1986, NASA Space Shuttle orbiter, Challenger broke shortly after launch, 7 crew members on board died. An O-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed at lift-off allowing pressurised burning gas to escape and damage the adjacent fuel tank. The O-ring was not suitable for the unusually cold conditions on launch day. The flaw had been known for several years and warnings about the launch day temperatures were ignored.
2002, the Excalibur yacht capsized 40 miles off the New South Wales coast. 4 crew members drowned. A keel had been cut and re-welded in manufacture. On ground of serious negligence due to improper quality control, the company director was initially charged with manslaughter and sentenced to 3 years in jail although acquitted on appeal.
2010, an engine explosion mid-flight with 469 people on board. The Airbus A380, Quantas flight landed with no casualties. A misaligned counter-bore in a machining operation on a small oil pipe in the engine resulted in fatigue cracking and an oil leak in the engine. 34 out of 80 Rolls Royce engines in service carried this fault.
2007, a bridge on the Mississippi river collapsed killing 13 and injuring 145. Due to a design error, gussets plates used at all the joints in the framework weren’t large enough to support the load. Over 50mm of concrete had been added to the road surface since original construction and 262 tonnes of construction equipment and materials had been left at the weakest point on the bridge awaiting further construction work.
