After we had completed employment documents and toured the plant my supervisor and his team explained to my co-op fellow and me what he expected from us and how he wished this project to be completed. Our task was to conduct time studies on different processes a part must go through. The supervisor explained to us that he needed the time studies on two different parts and that the studies would be used for two different reasons.
             First, he wanted time studies done on the Bearing Carbon Seal in order to help him understand why he was not meeting the delivery schedule; and second, he wanted time studies done on the Blade Outer Airseal (BOA) in order to develop a standard work combination and to improve his planning capacity.
             Since the Bearing Carbon Seal has a less complex process and an established value stream map, my supervisor thought it easier to start on that. During our first week I felt a bit disoriented. Unfamiliar with aviation manufacturing, I felt as if I were learning a whole new language of acronyms only.
             That feeling soon ended as I began feeling more comfortable with the assignments. I spent the first three weeks conducting observation time studies on the carbon seals. I followed and timed every process the bearing carbon seals undergo from the time they arrive at the plant to the time they leave.
             After we had recorded all of the times on an Excel spreadsheet and presented our findings to the Bearing Carbon Seal cell leaders and engineers, we and they concluded that the workload for the cell was feasible within the demanded time. One major issue identified during the study was a lack of cross-training; i.e., delivery misses were caused by lack of better management of the cell.
             My next task was to conduct time studies on the Blade Outer Airseal (BOA) cell. This process was less clear-cut because within this one cell seven different parts exist, with pretty much the same processes; but significant...