New maintenance philosophy revolves around mechanic Published June 6, 2008 By Amanda Creel 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Robins Air Force Base, Ga. -- "Stop the chaos and bring order" is a simple phrase epitomizing the philosophy of high velocity maintenance. Members of the high velocity maintenance high performance team are convinced they can tame the chaos. The search for order began because Warner Robins Air Logistics Center maintainers are spending too much time searching for parts or equipment. No one would ask someone on an assembly line to walk away and get their own parts said Doug Keene, HVM high performance team co-lead. "If we want to see things change, we have to keep the mechanic on the airplane," Mr. Keene added. "We want the universe to revolve around the mechanic," said Terry Mobley, HVM high performance team co-lead. A few members of the 402nd Maintenance Group in the 560th Aircraft Maintenance Group A flight are putting some of the theories of the philosophy to the test by implementing them on a C-130 at the T-spot 9. Their hangar is equipped with a visual board forecasting assigned tasks for the following 10 days. The hangar is home to PSC or Production Support Center cage, where many of the required materials for the mechanics are waiting for them including their daily use items or usables such as masking tape, trash bags, sanding discs and ear plugs. "They are no longer standing in line to get their harnesses and lanyards," said Robin Hamsley, HVM integration team member. The mechanics are able to focus on the maintenance immediately after arriving to work versus having to spend the beginning of their shift securing the needed materials to perform a task. "Everything is on hand we don't have to scrounge and hunt for it," said Harold Ingram, lead night shift sheet metal mechanic. Task kits are prepared with everything required for each individual job such as tools, technical data and parts. Members of the HVM high performance team described the effort as "choreographing or synchronizing" the maintenance efforts. This way, mechanics will spend their time actually turning wrenches instead of searching for materials or setting up. For the new maintenance philosophy to work, it requires a detailed plan and process. "We want to devise a very standard process where it is difficult to make a mistake," Mr. Keene said. Many of the A flight mechanics said the new organization of their tools makes getting aircraft out on time and ready for the fight easier. "We are letting the mechanics tell us what they need and we are tweaking it as we go," Ms. Hamsley said. The mechanics said they also are thrilled to see that their opinions and needs are being addressed as part of the HVM experiment. "They listen to what we want and it doesn't take long for a turn around," said Larry Sterner, work leader for airframe repair flight controls crew. "We are using this to validate the process," Mr. Mobley said. The experiment in T-spot 9 is just the beginning as the team prepares to test out more of the philosophies' theories. Currently aircraft in the Air Force's fleet return for program depot maintenance approximately every five to six years. Because the planes are out in the field for such long intervals, when the aircrafts return for PDM any foreseeable maintenance must be performed. The new maintenance philosophy would allow for less maintenance to be done each time an aircraft returns because the airplanes are returning more frequently. Under the proposal the maintenance would be divided into quadrants where maintenance would be preformed every 18 months. The change would return 52 to 55 airplanes back to their operational wings instead of having 70 C-130s sitting on the ground at anytime. "We fight wars and save lives in our aircraft, so availability is very important," Mr. Keene said. That's $1.6 billion in assets that can be returned to the warfighter, Mr. Keene said. "It's of no value in the depot. It's only valuable in the wing," Mr. Keene added. The new approach to maintenance is similar to the approach of many commercial airliners where less maintenance is performed at more frequent intervals. Another key to the new maintenance philosophy is taking the time to inspect the aircraft after each quadrant of maintenance. This allows parts to be ordered and plans to be made prior to the aircraft's return. In the past, parts have been ordered based on history. For example, if a part was repaired five times in one year, it would be ordered five times the following year. The new process allows them to monitor maintenance issues, rather than performing unnecessary maintenance because it could become a problem before its next date with program depot maintenance. "If its not a safety of flight issue, we can leave it for next time," said Mr. Keene. Another issue with existing maintenance procedures includes a lack of communication between field and depot maintainers about what maintenance was performed in the field. "We want to get to the point where we know the condition of the aircraft before it gets here. In order to make sure we have the parts ahead of time," Mr. Mobley said. Though the philosophy is just beginning to be implemented at Robins, the team expects the first Air Force Special Operations Command C-130 prototype to arrive in October. "We want to really stay focused and make sure what we are doing is creating order rather than more chaos," Ms. Hamsley said.