News

HVM journey continues with help from lessons learned

  • Published
  • By Wayne Crenshaw
  • 78 ABW/PA
In Robins' first test of High Velocity Maintenance - which marks a radical change in the way work is done here - some things went well and some things didn't go so well.

Now, with the second test under way, the HVM team is applying those lessons learned and has already seen big improvements.

HVM consists of three basic tenants that aim to dramatically reduce programmed depot maintenance downtime for C-130s and eventually other aircraft.

The first tenant is to inspect planes before they come to Robins so that maintainers will know ahead of time what needs to be done and can have parts and tools ready to perform those tasks without delay. On that score, the first HVM validation for a C-130 that arrived here last August went exceptionally well, said Doug Keene, HVM product lead.

The second tenant is to have those parts and tools assembled in "task kits" for each major job. On the first HVM plane, there were nine major findings in the field inspection for which task kits were assembled to repair those problems.

That part gets an A+ as well.

"We did very well on that," Keene said. "The mechanics were very excited about it. The stuff they needed was there and it was delivered on time."

Furthermore, there were no additional major findings during the process, showing that the field inspection uncovered everything that needed to be known in advance.

The third HVM tenant, which turned out to be the trouble area, is to have all of the maintenance tasks mapped out in a day-to-day schedule so that the project can remain on track and necessary tools and parts will be available to complete those tasks.

"We did not do well at all," Keene said. "That was our big downfall."

There are several reasons for it, he said, but one critical problem is that they soon realized that they had broken down the task order into too much detail. With several hundred tasks identified to be done each day, it turned out to be logistically too difficult to keep everything going according to the schedule.

With the second HVM plane, which arrived in early December, they have organized the requirements package into a higher level, such as removing a gear, rather than breaking down every single thing involved with that.

"Overall it has been much better from the standpoint of the sequencing," said Jerry Mobley, the HVM team lead. "We've still got room to improve but we feel much better about the package."

Also, Keene said, they realized with the first plane that they needed to do more training with the support personnel, so that mechanics can focus on working on the airplane. That has also been improved with the second aircraft.

"Our support people understand their role and responsibility," Keene said. "They are working together as a team."

Under current programmed depot maintenance, a C-130 comes in every five to six years for a complete overhaul that takes an average of 164 days. Under HVM, the plane would come in more often for shorter periods of time, and instead of overhauling the entire plane the mechanics would focus on the fuselage, the wings, the tail section or the flight controls.

The first two HVM planes have been fuselage jobs. This year they are planning one more fuselage job, then two planes in which wings will be done, two for the tail section and two for the flight controls.

Once those are done the HVM team will evaluate the process and determine whether HVM should be implemented for every C-130 that comes into Robins. It is expected to eventually spread to all other aircraft throughout the Air Force. Tinker Air Force Base, Okla. and Hill AFB, Utah also have HVM teams but Robins is the first to actually go to the validation phase.

Whatever problems there have been have not been enough to cause any doubts about whether HVM will work. Quite the opposite, Keene said, there is growing enthusiasm about the new process. In fact, he said that aspects of HVM are expected to be implemented before it begins as a whole. The pre-inspection and task-kitting process, for example, has gone so well there are calls to start doing that with the regular PDM process.

"You are going to see that start happening within the next few months," he said.