Aerospace Company Improves Safety on the Assembly Line

It’s surprising how many companies have been launched on the basis of an overheard conversation.

One such company is Exotic Metals Forming, now a division of Parker Hannifin Corp. In 1963, engineer Don Lindsey was visiting Boeing’s assembly plant in Everett, WA, when he overheard a conversation in the lobby regarding the failure of titanium sheet metal flanges on the company’s new 727 jetliner, which had just entered production.

Lindsey immediately recognized the problem as an opportunity to apply a new manufacturing process he was developing—axial-load bulge forming—that promised to revolutionize how sheet metal parts were formed. A consummate salesman, Lindsey stepped up to declare he could solve Boeing’s flange issue.

The Kent factory went from 80 recordable incidents in 2019 to just six so far in 2024—none of which are ergonomics related. Photo courtesy Exotic Metals Forming, a Division of Parker Aerospace

From that chance encounter, a concept that began in Lindsey’s garage grew into a company in Kent, WA, with nearly 1 million square feet of manufacturing space and a long history as a world leader in the manufacture of sophisticated sheet metal fabrications. Today, the company makes a variety of aircraft parts, including exhaust components, ducting, flex joints, and door thresholds. Many of the world’s leading aerospace manufacturers rely on Exotic Metals, including Airbus, Collins Aerospace, Gulfstream, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, and Safran.

Manufacturing conglomerate Parker Hannifin Corp. bought Exotic Metals in 2019. A Fortune 250 company, Parker is a global leader in motion and control technologies, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of mobile, industrial and aerospace markets. With a presence in 44 countries, Parker employs 62,500 people worldwide and operates 335 manufacturing plants.

Safety has long been a priority at Parker. During the past five years, the company reduced its recordable incident rate by 45 percent, and its safety performance ranks in the top quartile among peer industrial companies. The company has a continuous improvement focus, incorporating an ergonomics process along with other safety initiatives to improve operations and the well-being of employees through risk reduction of work-related illness and injuries.

Workers are required to complete short e-learning sessions on ergonomics and safety once a month. Photo courtesy Exotic Metals Forming, a Division of Parker Aerospace

Reducing Injuries in Washington State

So, when Exotic Metals was acquired in 2019, Parker implemented its ergonomics program across Kent operation. Shasta Denoso, safety manager at the factory, looked forward to incorporating the program. She had set a goal of reducing the factory’s average of 80 recordable injury incidents per year. A new program would be just what the doctor ordered, since a large percentage of the factory’s recordable incidents were strains and sprains.

A key tool in Parker’s program is Industrial Ergonomics software from VelocityEHS.

“We were excited to use VelocityEHS Industrial Ergonomics so we could assess and quantify improvements,” says Denoso. “Strains and sprains unfortunately tend to go unnoticed because there isn’t immediate visibility, [since they usually develop] over time.”

Software helped engineers better understand how to reduce high-risk motions and postures. Photo courtesy Exotic Metals Forming, a Division of Parker Aerospace

Parker assembled an ergonomics team consisting of people from safety, engineering, lean manufacturing, and fabrication. Once this group finished the ergonomics training, they took their new skills and walked the factory, engaging with different workers to better understand the difficulties of their jobs and their day-to-day routines. They took pictures of different areas, weighed materials, used the motion capture tool for high repetition jobs to get a good baseline, and gathered information to find improvement opportunities.

The Kent campus consists of four buildings with site leaders. Once the ergonomics team gathered its data, they presented it to the site leaders, providing a list of improvement opportunities for each building. Each site leader was asked to pick their top five opportunities, which would be added to an “action list.” This gave the ergonomics team a starting point of 20 action items.

“It was a very collaborative process,” says Denoso. “The team would meet and come up with a problem statement for each action item, so we knew where to focus our efforts. This was important because as we brainstormed, our ideas would evolve, and they could sometimes get off track, so having a problem statement helped to keep us anchored to finding an actionable solution to the original problem. 

Exotic Metals Forming makes a variety of aircraft parts, including exhaust components, ducting, flex joints, and door thresholds. Photo courtesy Exotic Metals Forming, a Division of Parker Aerospace

“Throughout the process we were able to have fun with it—nothing was off the table. We would look at each problem, then draw or mock-up solutions expanding on all the different proposed ideas. Once we had a solid list of actionable solutions, we attached grades to them and put them in different categories based on costs, ease of implementation, and overall effectiveness.”

As the team analyzed each solution, they were able to settle on ones that could be a good starting point. 

“Not every idea that we thought would be the best solution ended up working, but we learned from it and were able to come up with even better solutions,” says Denoso. “We made sure we celebrated the solutions that did work across the campus, creating visibility and excitement. This helped to build passion around improving ergonomics in the workplace.”

One project that successfully reduced injury risk was the development of a pivoting or inversion cart. As some objects are moved through the campus, they either need to lie flat or vertical depending on the layout of the plant. The ergonomics team developed the cart to help the worker easily change the position of the object with little to no strain.

When implementing an ergonomics program, engineers are well-advised to involve the people who are actually doing the work. Photo courtesy Exotic Metals Forming, a Division of Parker Aerospace

Keys to Safety Success

As the team implemented different solutions throughout the campus, they quickly started seeing great results. Before they knew it, recordable incidents were dropping. The first step was changing the conditions in the workplace, making it more comfortable and efficient for workers. The next step was to start examining the different behaviors of the workers to better understand how to reduce high-risk motions and postures.

“With the positive results we saw from changing the conditions of the workplace, we wanted to further involve our members and help them better understand the ergonomics process through e-learning,” says Denoso. “We started doing monthly micro-sessions, where they would learn about different risks. From these sessions, members were in a better position to know how to prevent high-risk postures and movements, while at the same time being able to identify a more appropriate tool to use for different jobs.”

The combination of incorporating ergonomic design into the workplace and educating the team through digestible e-learning sessions helped everyone meet the goal of reducing recordable incidents. The Parker Kent campus went from 80 recordable incidents in 2019 to just six so far in 2024—none of which are ergonomics related. That’s a 92 percent reduction from 2019.

When asked what advice she would give to others looking to implement a successful ergonomics program, Denoso says, “It’s important to get people involved. Engagement and collaboration with team members doing the job is key. There are so many great ideas out there, and they know the jobs best. There are several wins that are easy to achieve with small changes, such as simply getting stuff off the ground, so members aren’t bending over to pick things up. A lot of improvements can be made with very little capital expenditure. 

“Also, don’t get overwhelmed by the process. Take it day by day. There will always be improvement opportunities, so take it one step at a time.”