Original Date: 08/20/2001
Revision Date: 12/14/2006

Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Surface Systems established a Cable Database to provide real-time information on cable parts and configurations. Key to its success was the customized use of Lean and Six Sigma improvement processes.

In the past, Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems-Surface Systems (NE&SS) used a manual method of design review to identify possible matches between old and new baseline designs. This method was very labor intensive and not very accurate, considering that thousands of cables had to be reviewed in each drawing. To resolve this dilemma, Lockheed Martin NE&SS-SS established the Cable Database.

The company created the Cable Database by employing a unique blend of Lean and Six Sigma improvement processes. The Lean and Six Sigma methodology was customized to work on a process involving 27 key subject matter experts (SMEs) in a manner that significantly shortened the process redesign time to meet the urgent business need. The entire redesign and implementation were accomplished in one month. The Cable Database provides a method of locating resident cables in the Product Test Center and re-using them to test future design versions. By creating a database compatible with the design software, all new design cables can now be compared to existing cables. This approach locates matched cables in minutes rather than months. This Access-based tool can sort by component attributes, and can be applied to other sites in Moorestown as well as across the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Since implementing the Cable Database, Lockheed Martin NE&SS-SS has reduced cycle times and produced significant savings. The cost savings from both re-used cables and labor are estimated at $1 million for one new design version. The savings for labor alone are conservatively estimated at 0.2 hours per cable for 1,300 cables.

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