Implementing lean manufacturing by means of action research methodology case study in the aeronautics industry

This article presents and analyzes a study on the implementation of lean manufacturing within a major company in the Spanish aeronautics industry. With this implementation, the company hoped to improve one of its key operative processes and which involved assembly line production of one of the most important components of the final product. The company was particularly interested in reducing manufacturing costs which, due to a broad variety of incidents, were usually greater than the estimated costs. By using the action research methodology, the implementation of the principals and techniques of lean manufacturing made it possible to identify shop floor tasks that do not add value (MUDA). The methodology applied was an important factor in the project's success and led to the development of an individual model based on the intervention process. Lean techniques were only incorporated when it was clear they were relevant to the organization's change processes. © International Journal of Industrial Engineering.