DEFENCE & AEROSPACE
Delivering complex programs.
We drive tangible improvements in the quality, cost, and delivery of complex engineering programs. Our work starts on the front line, from the drawing office to the production hall, and throughout the supply chain.
Whether it's maritime platforms, land equipment or aerospace, we help organizations:
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Identify and prioritize key drivers of cost, quality and schedule adherence
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Save time, resources and costs from concept to disposal and across the supply chain
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Increase performance by 20% to 50%
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Demonstrate improvement to key stakeholders (e.g. shareholders and MoD partners)
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Overcome financial challenges relating to The Strategic Defence and Security Review
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Engage their workforce to embed a proactive improvement culture
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Design & Engineering Change
Design
We tackle the problems faced by design departments and unlock value across build programmes by addressing the root causes of errors, deficiencies, and delays. We also work with design teams to drive significant improvements in the rate of design delivery, while dramatically reducing errors and the need for change downstream.
Our team understands the challenges of system-orientated design, part-orientated manufacture, area-orientated production and system-orientated commissioning. We address the problems of information flow between different functions and different design areas, including across different countries and time zones, developing and modifying business processes and systems to sustain improvements.
Engineering change
One of the major challenges to complex programmes is the management of engineering change.
Change is often responsible for causing the greatest schedule delays and cost escalation,
and its impact greatly increases after each stage of the production process.
At Origami we focus on:
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Understanding the true scope of work
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Challenging root cause
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Reducing cycle time to process change
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Providing visibility of upcoming change
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Reducing the impact of engineering change
Configuration management
Our approach to configuration management is highly tailored to the individual demands and regulations of each project and we have successfully implemented and improved the change and configuration management processes of some of the UK's largest defence projects.
Bid Management
Our extensive experience working across all levels in the defense and aerospace industry and our scientific approach means we're ideally placed to help teams deliver smart, accurate, low-risk bid responses.
We work with client teams to cost up engineering bills of materials (BoM) and draw up bids that accurately reflect changes to design and information throughout the bid process. This means remaining competitive while reducing commercial risk.
We develop our solution to meet each specific client's needs but our systems typically create savings in the following areas:
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Providing a breakdown of costs, line by line, throughout the BoM, and removing errors
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Providing visibility of BoM line items currently excluded from the bid
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Enabling live reporting on the status of the bid and current price
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Clients get instant 'what if' calculations with multiple scenario options (currency, inflation, product changes etc.)
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Providing standardization and automation of the data recording and processing, which enables the bid team to challenge elements of the bid, rather than focus on administering quote entry
Procurement
Good procurement within a defense and aerospace setting is about so much more than price. It's about getting the right product, with the right level of quality, in the right place at the right time. Only by understanding the impact of all these factors can we select and work with the best suppliers to deliver whole business value.
Taking a total cost of ownership approach with a cross-functional team of design, production, logistics, and procurement gives a true picture of costs in a business and allows us to identify significant, previously hidden opportunities.
Our successful track record of reducing annual costs in a range of spend categories, including raw materials, high-grade fasteners, complex pumps, machines, equipment, and logistics.
Supply Chain and Logistics
Within defense and aerospace, supply chains are typically very complex. High value builds often involve a wide range of low volume, high-tech supplied parts – and in a sector where quality is vital, keeping control of suppliers' cost and delivery is difficult.
Origami Engineering works across a wide range of programmes and has an in-depth understanding of the additional complications contractual quality standards in this sector can bring.
There are many opportunities for increasing efficiency and reducing costs. We help establish and optimize an efficient and effective supply chain, using our knowledge and analytical expertise to deliver improvements in all areas – from procurement to warehousing and distribution.
With a cross-functional team of design, production, logistics, and procurement gives a true picture of costs in the business and allows us to identify significant, previously hidden opportunities.
In the majority of programmes where there are delivery problems, material supply is usually one of the major issues. Challenging the supply chain strategy within larger multi-site or multi-business unit organizations often brings significant benefits.
Working with our senior advisors and transferring best practice from other industry sectors, we bring in group procurement functions to maximise price leverage, question the value of in-house against outsourced warehousing, and optimise distribution networks.
Manufacturing and Construction
Manufacturing
In the early stages of a programme, our work often involves addressing complex technical issues to help ensure individual components meet specification and pass First Article Inspection. On-time component delivery is then critical, especially in the defense and aerospace sector. We tackle late parts delivery problems to optimise the supply chain, minimise inventory and maximise invoiced sales.
Throughout production, we challenge established processes and look for opportunities to improve quality and reduce cost. In many projects, it's the small quick changes in day-to-day operations that deliver the greatest improvements.
We've dramatically improved manufacturing performance across a wide variety of processes including high precision machining, automated NDT and manual composite lay-up, welding, laser cutting, and perforate drilling.
Construction
We possess a deep understanding of labor-intensive construction processes, with experience of optimising labor hours, material flow, product quality and on-time delivery – from highly regimented Takt driven, lean pulse lines, to the long duration, complex and unpredictable construction and refit facilities.
Identifying and fixing the root causes of operational problems is only one part of creating a sustainable solution. During our work, we foster a culture of continuous improvement where client teams are encouraged and trained to take ownership of new systems and processes so that lasting financial benefits can be achieved over the long-term.
Test and Acceptance
Testing and commissioning are characterized by unknown outcomes and problem-solving, and it can be difficult to plan work and measure progress. Origami Engineering tackles these issues at the planning and test procedure writing stage in order to achieve a detailed level of integration, as well as clear measures and established tracking for what were previously 'black box' activities.
By providing everyone visibility of the same clear and cleansed information, we help improve schedule, reduce cost and ensure teams get it right first time.
The testing and commissioning process exposes specific problems involving multiple stakeholders and often requires complex, technical solutions. Our work improves efficiency by identifying and resolving the root causes of these problems.
We collaborate closely with stakeholders across the organization and use a reasoned understanding of the technical issues to separate opinion from fact.
Contractual acceptance
Complex defence industry products have to meet specifications that require the customer's approval at each stage of development to ensure a contract is correctly fulfilled. Delays in completing paperwork can lead to late delivery and a risk that the contract has not been accurately discharged. By developing and implementing robust processes, we ensure paperwork approval progresses alongside the actual product so it can be delivered on time and fully signed off.
Asset Operations and Maintenance
Asset Operations
The work defense and aerospace organizations have to do, to achieve their in-service targets, takes huge coordination.
The complexities involved often lead to problems, yet there is also often limited understanding of what the biggest issues are – and what the value and impact of solving them would be.
We maximise operational availability, systematically identifying, prioritizing issues, from planning and scheduling assist deployment to reducing the duration of overhaul and maintenance periods.
Our work ensures contractual targets are satisfied, as well as reducing operating costs to increase profitability. We have a track record of achieving impressive results through improvements to areas such as inventory management, sourcing, supplier management and purchase and repair strategies.
Asset Maintenance
Maximising asset availability without increasing costs is increasingly a critical priority for the defense and aerospace industry. We have proved time and again that organizations can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their maintenance, repair and overhaul functions.
We take a unique approach, assessing how the many culminating factors of a complex asset maintenance project might impact both current and future operations.
We have a deep understanding of the labour-intensive processes involved, with experience of optimising labour hours, material flow, product quality and on-time delivery – from refits to the repair and overhaul of individual parts, where maximising shelf stock by improving turnaround of the repair and overhaul process is key.
We identify and fix the root causes of operational problems through gaining a complete understanding of our clients' maintenance and refit operations.
During our work, we foster a culture of continuous improvement where client teams are encouraged and trained to take ownership of new systems and processes so that lasting financial benefits can be achieved over the long-term.
Safety and Facilities Management
Facility readiness
At Origami Engineering we help ensure our clients are prepared.
Teams running facilities need to know what is required of them and when. Facilities need robust through-life management plans linked to whatever wide range of services they're likely to be used for.
We address the cost of maintenance, looking at:
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Through-life costs: reducing them by selecting more reliable, lower maintenance assets
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Challenging the overhaul regime
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Employing condition-based monitoring
Safety
In addition to the Health and Safety at Work Act, certain engineering environments such as nuclear power stations or submarines, face further stringent regulations. These rules can be complex and restrictive, yet the penalties for negligence can include heavy fines, the revoking of licence and even prison time.
We help companies work up responses to Improvement Notices, deliver specific business enhancements, and developed the means to predict scoring against licence conditions and how these will improve with time.
Training and Coaching
We run regular client training which involves time both in the classroom and at various live project sites, offering insight into the power of operational improvement.
The process of transferring Origami's skills, tools and techniques to client teams can take anywhere from three weeks to six months, and includes both classroom and real-life practical experiences where candidates get to work in a variety of different business environments.
ead by our team and our most experienced consultants, the objective and engaging course reveals Origami's knowledge and experience of sustainable operational improvement, covering areas including:
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Effective problem solving
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Project delivery
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Developing communication skills to drive cultural, sustainable change
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How to embed change
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How to successfully manage and track projects
Business Technology
The defence and aerospace industry has long relied on labour and component intensive build or refit processes.
This means efficiency and effectiveness is often compromised by poor communication between different parts of the business, as well as limited knowledge and understanding of the desired and actual performance metrics associated with specific tasks and procedures.
Our team network is skilled in implementing sophisticated IT solutions that provide the tools to significantly improve management visibility of losses, problems and opportunities for improvement throughout assembly lines.
Deployed as part of an overall transformation programme, our IT systems provide the visibility necessary to make informed decisions about planning assembly lines, using modern efficiency measures to control workflow, reduce bottlenecks, track components and cut out time consuming procedures.
Adding value, on demand
Before considering introducing a new system, we ensure organizations have first fully exploited and optimized their existing systems. When the success of a project is compromised because fundamental IT functionality is missing, however, it's essential that a solution can be quickly and seamlessly implemented in parallel with the transformation programme.