How Aviation Companies Can Incorporate Lean Manufacturing Techniques in Their Current Workflows

The pressure is on for aviation manufacturers. Margins are thin. Schedules are tight. And demand for new aircraft and MRO turnaround is stretching aviation supply chains to their limit. In this high-stakes environment, lean manufacturing is a survival imperative.

Originally pioneered by Toyota, lean manufacturing optimizes work processes across the shop floor and beyond. For aviation companies, it provides a core framework for eliminating waste, streamlining operations, and freeing up capacity across everything from assembly to procurement to back-office tasks.

Since you don’t need a massive reorganization to get started, this approach is only growing in popularity.

Why lean manufacturing matters more than ever

Aviation manufacturers are under unprecedented pressure. Passenger travel is again surging, defense contracts are evolving, and suppliers continue to battle labor shortages, delays, and cost overruns. Against this challenging backdrop, lean principles help companies adapt faster and lower costs without sacrificing quality.

Boeing, for example, has expansively adopted a lean approach. On the 737 line, they’ve implemented automated guided vehicles, visual control systems, and synchronized production choreography to reduce waste and tighten task time intervals. These updates have helped stabilize flow and optimize output without expanding its labor headcount.

In MRO environments, delays often stem from bureaucratic bottlenecks rather than technical repairs. That’s where lean shines; it identifies non-value-added steps by mapping workflows and building feedback loops to accelerate turnaround and improve customer satisfaction.

Core principles of lean, explained simply

Lean isn’t necessarily about speeding things up, as many think. Rather, it’s about getting waste out of the way so the work can flow, often with increased speed a natural outcome. That waste (or muda, in lean terms) includes overproduction, excess inventory, unnecessary movement, waiting time, and rework. This waste shows up just as often in a scheduling spreadsheet as it does on a factory floor.

Core lean concepts include:

Tools like value stream mapping, standard work, and 5S (Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) provide structure to these goals. For example, Lockheed Martin used cellular manufacturing layouts to cut cycle times in its aerospace components division and slashed non-value-adding transport between stations.

How Boeing and GE use lean to cut costs and boost throughput

Boeing’s application of lean principles goes far beyond assembly lines. With the 777X, Boeing reimagined its entire production philosophy by borrowing more deeply from automotive-style standardization. Led by a former Toyota executive, the company began automating wing panel assembly and deploying robots for repetitive tasks—like drilling—for faster, more predictable manufacturing with less scrap and fewer injuries.

GE Aerospace has also taken a hard look at internal inefficiencies, honing in on MRO delays tied to business processes, not mechanical fixes. In one case, it took 24 days to get customer cost approval on engine repairs. By hosting a kaizen event, GE mapped every step using sticky notes (a literal wall of them), pinpointed bottlenecks, and created visual workflows to reduce approval time by more than 50%. That translated to a 13-day improvement in engine turnaround time.

Both examples show that lean is about improving the whole system, from procurement to delivery.

Using lean to improve procurement, inventory, and supplier coordination

Many aviation companies mistakenly limit lean to production, but procurement and supply chain operations are full of hidden waste, which lean principles are tailor-made to fix.

Take supplier coordination. In traditional setups, part deliveries are often made in large batches, boxed inefficiently, and stored in bulk before being used.

Boeing changed this, bringing innovation to how goods are put in a box. The OEM implemented just-in-time delivery systems, with parts arriving in the exact orientation needed for installation, which dramatically slashed parts-handling time and storage costs. This freed up valuable factory space and improved overall cash flow.

Lean inventory practices like kanban systems and visual pull cues can help prevent overstocking and reduce the risk of obsolescence. Lockheed Martin's lean implementation specifically targeted inventory bloat by analyzing flow and load leveling, reducing space needed per work center, and eliminating unnecessary tools and material storage.

When suppliers become looped into value stream maps, bottlenecks and redundancies across the network become easier to spot and fix.

Start small: Lean success comes from quick wins, not aggressive overhuls

One of the biggest myths about lean manufacturing is that it requires a sweeping transformation. In reality, lean thrives on incremental gains.

Walter Odisho, a former Toyota executive, drove major transformational changes from 2013 to 2020 when he headed Boeing’s manufacturing, safety, and quality.

Odisho emphasized that significant savings don’t come from one single act, but from dozens of small improvements that add up over time.

For companies looking to begin, start by walking the floor. Where do things slow down? Where are people waiting or repeating steps? What gets lost in handoffs? Identify one problem. Fix it. Then move on to the next. This is lean’s core philosophy: Eliminate waste, one fix at a time.

How AI can multiply the impact of lean in aviation

When it comes to lean manufacturing, artificial intelligence is a force multiplier. AI can detect inefficiencies invisible to the human eye, forecast bottlenecks before they happen, and optimize resource allocation in real time. By pairing AI with lean, you can prevent more waste and react faster where it does occur.

Predictive analytics forecasts part failures and flags maintenance needs before breakdowns take place, cutting downtime. AI vision systems catch defects early, reducing waste. And with standardized workflows, AI performs even better, as consistent inputs lead to more accurate predictions.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have both explored this lean-AI blend. Lockheed's success in F-16 assembly was based on standardizing steps, flow, and load leveling, setting the stage for future integration of smart manufacturing systems.

Apply lean beyond the factory: Office and engineering workflows count too

Lean goes beyond the factory floor, with slow approvals, duplicate paperwork, and delays in quoting and contract management.

GE Aerospace applied lean to reduce turnaround time in its Brazil MRO shop by updating office workflows to improve the cost estimate approval process. A cross-functional team identified that 24 days were lost just waiting for sign-off. Through a value stream mapping session (again using sticky notes), they cut that to 11 days—nearly a 54% reduction.

For companies looking to adopt lean in their support or engineering functions, start with a kaizen event. Choose one process (like onboarding a customer or producing a compliance report), map every step, and identify where there is value and where there is wait. Then apply countermeasures. Repeat the process regularly and make it part of the company rhythm.

Make material flow a competitive advantage

If you want lean to succeed, material flow must become a core design consideration, not an afterthought. Boeing’s 777X program prioritized rethinking how parts moved through the facility, shifting toward direct deliveries and smarter sequencing, not just Amazon-speed drop-offs.

This idea has roots in the Toyota Production System: Materials should arrive just in time, in the right orientation, and ready to be installed. When this happens, you free up space, reduce cash tied up in inventory, and avoid wasted movement and rework. You also enable workers (or robots) to do value-adding work, not sort through disorganized bins.

Build cross-functional teams, not silos

Lean manufacturing strategies for aviation only work when cross-functional teams are empowered to solve problems together. At GE Aerospace’s Celma facility, the breakthrough in turnaround time came from engineering, customer support, operations, and the client all working as one team. They mapped the process together, saw delays from each other’s perspectives, and designed countermeasures that reflected the entire system, not just their own department.

In traditional aerospace firms, departments often operate in silos. Engineering may optimize for design specs without considering ease of assembly. Procurement might select parts based on cost alone, ignoring delivery lags or shop-floor fit. But lean requires every function to collaborate to align around flow and customer value.

It often starts with one cross-functional value stream team. Give them authority to challenge the current state, making sure everyone understands the full process, not just one department’s role. Use daily standups, visual boards, and performance metrics tied to shared outcomes.

Create a culture of continuous improvement

The most effective lean aviation companies don’t rely on one big transformation project. They treat lean as a daily mindset, where employees at every level can speak up.

Boeing’s lean journey goes back decades, but recent efforts—like hiring Toyota executives and introducing more standardization—show a deeper cultural shift. Efficiency wins are slow and steady, built on an ethos of constant refinement.

You don’t need a budget to start building a lean culture. Begin with a whiteboard, a problem, and a brainstorm. Create a visible space for small improvement ideas. Make it normal to raise problems and fast to test solutions.

Use lean to strengthen supply chain resilience

Aviation companies know the pain of fragile supply chains. Delayed parts, mismatched components, and overwhelmed MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) shops can ground aircraft and hemorrhage millions. Lean manufacturing helps by tightening coordination between design, procurement, and production.

Lockheed Martin’s lean transformation included working closely with suppliers to standardize parts and reduce waste. By adopting lean logistics principles such as just-in-time (JIT) delivery, supplier integration, and direct-to-line delivery, Lockheed trimmed inventory while improving on-time delivery rates.

Aviation companies can apply this same thinking by:

The goal isn’t just to cut costs—it’s to build a system that adapts to disruption, rather than collapsing beneath.

Design with assembly in mind

Commonly, the design phase operates independently from the realities of the shop floor. That’s a major source of waste. Engineers may choose parts that are difficult to install, require specialized tools, or force awkward motion, all of which slow production and increase errors.

At Boeing, leadership challenged teams to consider “build quality” early in the aircraft design process. For the 777X, engineers worked closely with manufacturing teams to reduce part complexity, enable automation, and sequence materials to match assembly needs for more predictable production workflows and fewer reworks.

Aviation companies can replicate this by:

Run kaizen events to unclog bottlenecks

Kaizen events are focused, short-term efforts to solve specific process problems, and a cornerstone of lean. While aviation often applies kaizen on the production line, some of the biggest wins come from processes like quoting, inspections, or approvals.

Kaizen can be applied to:

Every wasted minute in these workflows contributes to delays, missed KPIs, or cost overruns. Kaizen gets the right people in a room and fixes it, fast.

Streamline with standard work and visual cues

Consistency is clutch. In aviation, where human error carries real risk, standardizing best practices across shifts, teams, and locations cuts down defects and improves safety.

Boeing's shift toward Toyota-style lean emphasizes standard work even for complex assembly tasks. Drawing from his experience with the Japanese automaker, Waltera Odisho introduced methods to reduce motion waste in robotics and human workflows, pushing for simplified, repeatable tasks across production lines.

Ways to implement this:

Enabling predictive maintenance with lean manufacturing

In aviation, any maintenance is expensive—but reactive maintenance, especially as it disrupts schedules and requires unplanned assets, such as IoT sensors and AI systems, is on the rise.

Lean principles help teams turn raw data into insights for a reasonable course of action by streamlining how data flows between engineering, frontline techs, and supply teams. At GE Aerospace’s MRO facility in Brazil, lean mapping helped align technical steps with parts logistics and cost approvals, ensuring that once an issue was identified, it could be addressed swiftly without red tape or rework.

Lean-enhanced predictive maintenance can:

Reorganize physical layouts around flow

In traditional manufacturing, the factory layout often follows historical precedent or functional work groups. But in lean environments, the physical space is shaped by flow, thus people, parts, and workstations are organized to move products through each step with minimal handoffs or backtracking.

You can get started in your existing facility

A lean layout saves time, improves safety, reduces inventory, and makes deviations (like missing parts) instantly visible.

Integrate digital twins and lean to improve real-time decision-making

Digital twins, virtual replicas of physical systems, are gaining traction in aviation for everything from design testing to maintenance planning. But a digital twin alone doesn’t guarantee better decisions. Lean principles make sure these insights aren’t over-engineered or siloed, but quickly applied in a practical manner.

At Lockheed Martin, lean practices were combined with digital modeling tools to shorten assembly cycles, cut costs, and reduce errors. For example, visual work instructions (enabled by digital twins) were paired with lean task time strategies to ensure every station met production goals without overburdening teams.

A lean-driven digital twin approach means:

Start small, then standardize big

Many of the most successful lean transformations begin with a single value stream, then expand. Standardizing what works, then scale. This prevents wasted effort and down-the-road change resistance.

Lean manufacturing isn’t a one-time improvement or a toolkit for just the shopfloor. It’s a mindset that aviation companies can apply across design, operations, and support functions to drive value at every level.

Whether you’re using sticky notes to solve approval delays or robots to streamline assembly, the core lean goal is the same: Reduce waste, respect people, and deliver value continuously.

As aerospace leaders have shown, lean thinking helps build resilient, adaptive organizations ready for the next disruption.

Ready to turn lean theory into results? ePlaneAI helps aviation companies operationalize lean with smart tools that expose waste, streamline flow, and accelerate decision-making across your entire value stream. Talk to us today.

Resources:

Boeing

GE Aerospace

Manufacturing Digital

LinkedIn

Lockheed Martin