Lockheed Site 7, Plant 42

In 1992 the F-117A CTF moved from Groom Lake to Site 7, Plant 42. Site 7 was originally established in 195? for Lockheed. The three original hangers now house the 410th TFLS.


Also at Site 7 are the three buildings used for F-117A mods and upgrades.




The following is from the April 2001 "LM Aero Star":

F-117 applies Lean processes to mod line
By Alice Seabaugh

"LM Aero modifies nine F-117 aircraft per year at its Palmdale facility. In order to improve the current process, a 25-member team recently analyzed the modification line with Lean principles in mind.

"By improving the current process, we will ensure customer satisfaction and win future new business for LM Aero," said Rory Johnson, team leader for F-117 Operating Excellence Deployment. "Our team consisted of employees from various programs and disciplines, plus the dedicated F-117 mod-line workers who provided 'hands-on' suggestions for improvement."

Within one week, the team members successfully value-stream mapped the process and identified ways to improve it in the areas of transportation, waiting, overproduction, motion, inventory, processing waste and defects. They identified the value-added -- those affecting form, fit or function -- and non-value-added tasks in order to remove waste.

There are approximately 130 steps in our current modification process with parts and the aircraft traveling a total distance of 78.1 miles. Our goal is to reduce this to 30 steps and 42 miles."






www.f-117a.com...

[Edited on 20-1-2003 by quaneeri]