The aerospace industry is experiencing unprecedented demand due to strong growth trends in commercial aviation and defense, and manufacturers are scrambling to find ways to keep pace.
For example, Airbus recently announced plans to double its aircraft fleet over the next two decades, while defense contractor RTX, formerly Raytheon, entered 2025 with a backlog of more than $200 billion across its aviation and defense segments.
The good news is that this is exactly the type of challenge Toyota’s engineers had in mind when they established the lean-focused Toyota Production System in the 1980s. Lean manufacturing – with principles grounded in 5S workplace organization, value stream mapping, and waste reduction, is tailor-made for the current production/demand profile in the aerospace industry. In this blog post, we will share how lean practices can help companies bulk up their production capacities without incurring extra cost.
Why Lean for Aerospace?
While lean management has its roots in the automotive industry, its principles are universally applicable and have proven to be particularly effective for companies operating in high-precision, highly regulated industries with complex supply chains. Along with financial services and health care, the aerospace industry is among the most regulated in the world, and manufacturers must consistently balance regulatory compliance with meeting quality and safety standards and being efficient in terms of cost and speed. A tall order, for sure, but one that lean’s emphasis on quality and value, waste reduction, and continuous improvement can help execute.
For companies looking to increase production capacity, the lean approach helps by:
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Reducing waste and increasing efficiency
Lean strategies like Value Stream Mapping (VSM), which identifies bottlenecks and eliminates any non-value-add time in the process, and 5S, which provides workplace organization guidelines for ensuring an efficient process setup that is conducive to a streamlined workflow.
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Improving production flow
Instead of batch production, lean helps companies achieve more continuous flow through one-piece flow and cellular manufacturing strategies, which cuts down on delays and waste. Deploying Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing helps ensure that materials and parts arrive exactly when needed, which reigns in both excess inventory and storage costs.
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Enhancing quality and minimizing defects
Total Quality Management (TQM) instills a quality-first mindset at every stage of the manufacturing process, which reduces the need for costly reworks and helps improve first-pass rates. Another lean approach – known as poka-yoke – provides an error-proofing hierarchy first by preventing defects from occurring; second, by detecting defects at the source; and third, by detecting defects at other workstations. In an industry like aerospace, where the smallest of defects can have the largest of consequences, this additional error-proofing analysis gives companies a critical edge in expanding their ability to produce more with less.
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Stabilizing supply chains
Lean supply chain management helps companies proactively manage their supply chains and strengthen relationships with their core suppliers so they can consistently meet demand and balance priorities. This in turn can help ensure timely deliveries and cut down on delays, which can be particularly expensive in aerospace manufacturing.
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Instilling a continuous improvement mindset
Kaizen, which directly translates to “change for the better”, is a lean-based approach that encourages employees to recommend incremental improvements, with the idea being that the sum is greater than the individual parts. One of its many proponents, Lockheed Martin, has deployed kaizen for years across its operations and experienced strong results – including halving inventory, delivery times, and waste, and achieving finished product on first pass more than 98% of the time.
Implementation Considerations
There are certain challenges involved in implementing a lean-centric shift, but the benefits – both short and long-term – can far outweigh them. For example, there will always be some level of resistance to significant change, which makes having employee engagement strategies at the ready key. Aerospace companies also need to walk a tightrope in terms of balancing lean principles with strict aerospace industry regulations. Also, as they roll out these strategies, companies must invest in employee training and continuously ensure leadership support as the tone is always set from the top.
Ramping Up
If we could paint a picture of the demand and production situation in the aerospace industry, it would be an up and down see-saw with demand on the upside and production capacity down, trying to get to an equilibrium. Finding that balance by growing production capacity will require aerospace manufacturers to continuously monitor supply chains, invest in workforce development, and optimize core operations and processes, all tasks for which lean management is a highly effective playbook.
