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This panorama shows the inside of Goddard's High Bay Clean Room, as seen from the observation deck. Photo Credit
The second and final stop on our tour was the High Bay Clean
Room located in the Goddard Space Flight Center. This Class 10,000 cleanroom is where all the
modules carrying supplies and parts for the International Space Station (ISS) are
assembled. 
-->A module being readied for transport to the ISS
One of the continuous
improvement projects that has been implemented by Boeing contractors working
with NASA technicians is an RFID tool box.
The environment at the Space Station is so sensitive that if any foreign
objects make it there - even something as small as a paperclip - it could mean
life or death for an astronaut who inhales it.
The problem that was solved with the RFID toolbox was that
of missing tools. If any tool was
missing from a toolbox at the end of the shift, everything shut down until that
tool was found. The module could not go
up in space if there was potential for a foreign object. The RFID toolbox requires technicians to
swipe their badges for access and log the tool they take and where exactly they
plan on using it. In this way, every
tool is accounted for and tracked. There
is also less downtime due to hunting for missing tools.
RFID toolboxes co-developed by NASA and Snapon
The Future of NASA
President Obama recently announced the winding down of the
United States Space Shuttle Program. Currently, there are only two more missions scheduled
(one mission is scheduled for this fall on Endeavour, and there is a potential mission next year on
Atlantis) to take supplies up to the International Space Station on US shuttles.
Once NASA decommissions its shuttles, the United States will
send supplies to the Space Station on Russian rockets that do not have the
payload capacity of US space shuttles.
The large modules that are now assembled in the High Bay Clean Room will
no longer be utilized. Smaller modules
that are packed inside the large modules will be shipped individually, and these will still be assembled in the High
Bay Clean Room. The advances gained by
using lean tools and techniques can be carried forward in the packing of these
smaller modules and future endeavors that NASA takes as its role changes.
Editor's Note: Click here for Part 1 of this series.
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Re: NASA is Getting Lean (Part 2)
