News

Team efforts lead to 97.7 percent on-time rate at fiscal 2012 midpoint

  • Published
  • By Jenny Gordon
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  In October, the first month of fiscal 2012, the 402nd Maintenance Wing delivered all aircraft on time, beginning the year with zero late aircraft and zero unplanned carryovers.

Fast forward to April 2012 - midway into the fiscal year - and Robins is currently in a position it can be proud of - 97.7 percent on-time delivery performance for all aircraft.

"To be at 97.7 percent on time instills a sense of pride," said Col. Evan Miller, 402nd MXW commander. "I attribute that success to a collective commitment by the entire installation, with everyone on base invested in our due date performance."

That collaboration includes key support roles from the 78th Air Base Wing, Aerospace Sustainment Directorate, Air Force Global Logistics Support Center and Defense Logistics Agency.

Horizontal integration, born under Maj. Gen. Robert McMahon's leadership in the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center's Mission Control Room, has been critically important to the success of aircraft delivery. Also included is the concept of True North metrics: Quality - zero defects; Cost - zero waste; Delivery - 100 percent on time; and Safety - zero work-related injuries or illnesses; as well as the continuous drive to produce and deliver every aircraft on time or early every time.

As of March 31, there have been 88 aircraft completed, with 86 of those delivered on time or early. That total includes the delivery of 10 C-5s, 18 C-17s, 31 C-130s and 29 F-15s.

Aircraft depot maintenance is not an easy task. At the end of a long chain of events lies maintenance, which in turn must rely on many sources to make everything happen for the mechanic to turn a wrench and get the job done.

Doug Keene, 402nd MXW vice director, echoed Miller's comments on the strong commitment from Team Robins over the past year. During his tenure, the current collaborative environment has been the best he has ever seen.

"What's going to be the best thing for the Air Force is dramatically increasing the velocity of these airplanes with high quality, and continuing to keep our people safe. That is where the real value is," said Keene, a 25-year veteran of Robins. "We have common goals across the center, and we are the strongest in implementing continuous process improvement tools."

Under AFMC's five-center restructure, Keene said there will be more standardization and opportunities to increase processes already in place at Robins.

An example of some of those CPI tools includes the Maintenance Requirements Supportability Value Stream Analysis event that took place in March. That process now takes a more detailed approach to existing tenets of high velocity maintenance.

It not only improves up-front planning by gaining greater knowledge of an aircraft's condition prior to arrival, but also defines its requirements in greater detail and performs in-depth supportability analysis. MRSP teams, which include those at strategic, operational and tactical levels, will vary, but will include experts from across Robins - one more illustration of horizontal integration.

Another example includes how items are routed to or repaired by the 402nd Commodities Maintenance Group. Coordinated efforts among support groups such as DLA, GLSC and others enable parts-scheduling functions to now be managed more effectively through horizontal integration.

"When everyone is focused on one thing, it makes it easy to speak the same language and not be confused with what the goal is to get aircraft back on schedule," said Col. Randy Burke, 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Group commander. "Our focus is to put out a safe, quality product because people's lives rely on the work our mechanics do. They never lose sight of that."

In fiscal 2011, the 402nd MXW experienced 46.9 percent on-time delivery, beginning the year with 25 unplanned carry-over aircraft.

Once those planes were delivered and fiscal 2012 began with zero late aircraft, the next several months saw momentum continue to build, said Miller.

He pointed out the overall Excellent ratings achieved from the Logistics Compliance Assessment Program and Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health Compliance Assessment and Management Program inspections conducted last December.

"Not only were our inspection results outstanding, we continued to deliver airplanes on time, and our safety incidents continued to go down," he said. "As you enjoy success, you want more and more of it. We are meeting many of our goals today and setting aggressive ones for the future."