News

566th EMXS flight uses AFSO21, VPP to earn Pinnacle Award

  • Published
  • By Holly L. Birchfield
  • 78th ABW/PA
The 566th Electronics Maintenance Squadron's Avionics and Instruments Flight, formerly known as the N-1 Gyro Shop, had been doing business as usual for years.

After taking a look at their process through the lenses of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century and the Voluntary Protection Program, two programs meant to make practices more efficient and safer, the team of 18 workers stepped outside of its comfort zone to better meet customer demand.

As a result, Brenda Romine, 542nd Combat Sustainment Wing director and soon-to-be Warner Robins Air Logistics Center executive director, presented the Inaugural AFSO-21/VPP Pinnacle Award, an honor sponsored by former WR-ALC commander, Maj. Gen. Tom Owen. The award recognizes the use of AFSO-21 tools and VPP principles to transform work processes to meet future customer demands, to the shop on behalf of the WR-ALC senior leadership.

The ceremony took place in Bldg. 158 on Aug. 6.

John Dunn, deputy Avionics and Instrument Flight director in the 566th Electronics Maintenance Squadron, said changing the shop's business approach was not easy.

"The N-1 Gyro Shop is one of the older systems that we've had," he said. "We've had it in the building since the 1950s. Until recently, we've had some of the same folks working on it that had 30 and 40 years of experience. Now, we have a lot of the brand new vocational technical students and trainees from Middle Georgia Technical Institute incorporated into the N-1 Gyro line."

Mr. Dunn said one change the shop has done is to ensure trainees learn the AFSO-21 thinking from the start.

"About August 2006, we were in dire straits," he said. "The raft was burning, if not sinking. We were behind on our workload. The customer was presenting us with letters to sign (saying) that we couldn't meet customer demand. They wanted a second source of repair, so things were really critical."

The situation became worse before becoming better.

Mr. Dunn said the 402nd Electronics Maintenance Group leadership called for its Gyro Shop workers to change their business approach, which kicked off a total overhaul of the shop.

After multiple Lean events and the organization's adoption of a new Lean approach, things began looking up for the shop, Mr. Dunn said.

The shop changed from having 137 backorders to zero and has decreased mission impaired capability awaiting parts hours from almost 9,000 hours down to zero.

Mr. Dunn said the shop also stepped up its integration of VPP principles into its processes, as well as ensuring workers used those safe practices at home.

The shop's workforce had been rebuilt, with only about two of the original 20 people working online within a year.

After all that, things began looking up for the group, Mr. Dunn said.

"The letter requesting a second source was replaced with a coin and a letter of appreciation from the group commander at Tinker who was our customer," he said.

Mr. Dunn said the shop's employees made a miraculous turnaround as a result.

Fearis Hudson, an electronics technician in the 566th EMXSS, who transferred from another shop to help with its changes, said he knew it had to be an all or nothing change.

"I was there from the beginning when it was horrible to when it was one of the best places to work in the Gyro Shop," he said. "We just really embraced the AFSO-21 and the Lean principles as part of what we do. It's not something extra. It's something we just do because it's part of our job now."

Mr. Hudson said changing the work culture was one of the hardest parts of the transition.

"The hardest part of the transition was getting everybody on board with it," he said. "We had to overcome a lot of bad habits because the way we did things prior was completely different with Lean."

The new way of working wasn't that hard for LaNicholas Butler, an electronics mechanic in the 566th EMXSS who is relatively new to the shop.

"I talked to a lot of my friends from school and when quality walks in, they stop working and start running around cleaning and doing stuff," he said. "When they walk in our building, we're just hot. We know everything is up to par. We do everything by the book."

Mr. Butler said while it's nice to win awards, he knows his team still has some work to do to improve their processes.

Ms. Romine, who toured the shop shortly after the award presentation, said she was impressed with the great strides the team has made.

"The work accomplished by this shop has just been phenomenal," she said. "It made them absolutely the right choice for the recipient of this award the first time. They've just done a phenomenal job in turning around their shop and setting up the model cell, driving down backorders. I believe at one time they were the highest MICAP driver at almost 8,800 hours. Now, there aren't any and they have really turned production around and become the supplier of choice for their customer."

Ms. Romine said the shop is setting the example for present and future workers to follow and she couldn't be prouder of the team for that.