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| Press Release Number: ENI200302061 | 06-Feb-03 |
NAVAIR Depot North Island makes fleet readiness top priority |
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NAVAIR Depot North Island makes fleet readiness top priority By Bill Bartkus NAVAIR Depot North Island CORONADO, Calif. - In the fast-moving world of naval aviation, time can mean the difference between being ready to fight the battle when it must be fought or being less than ready to face the enemy from the strongest position. At the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Depot North Island, the artisans who provide maintenance, repair and modification to the Navy's top-of-the-line strike fighter, the F/A-18 Hornet, made time their top priority. At NAVAIR Depot North Island, the key phrase is turnaround time. That's the time between a Hornet's arrival at the Depot and its return to the fleet. And TAT, as it's called, is crucial, because for that period the aircraft is not available to the squadron and readiness is reduced. The North Island artisans and managers work diligently to find new ways to do things better and faster, because that's their way of supporting the warfighter. The single seat version of the Hornet, the F/A-18C, or "Charlie", is at the tip of the Navy's spear, deployed aboard the carriers that are closest to the action. Their readiness is the fleet's readiness, and the fleet called upon the NAVAIR Depot team to enhance fleet readiness by moving an additional dozen Charlies through the Depot with a reduced TAT so the Hornets, critical to the warfighter's inventory, would be available sooner. Shawn Delaware, the Depot's F/A-18 program manager, took on the challenge for his own team and the entire Depot, saying, "Our goal was to reduce the number of F/A-18Cs in flow at North Island...these aircraft have more work content and are in production flow longer than the aircraft in the field." He had 14 Charlies at the Depot, and another six total at MCAS Miramar in San Diego and at NAS Lemoore, Calif. "We felt we could expedite these aircraft to provide the fleet with at least 12 Hornets additionally available to their inventory by (the end of 2002)," said Delaware. To do that, he instituted a separate F/A-18C production line with a dedicated group of artisans and production controllers to work on these particular Hornets. His team established a second shift to allow work on the aircraft 16 to 20 hours a day in order to meet the goal of 12 completed by year's end. Other innovations followed aimed at reducing TAT. The Depot's Strategic Business Office team aggressively looked at how the aircraft were coming to NAVAIR North Island and how to anticipate requirements to lower the maintenance man-hours on each by streamlining operations to provide for a quicker throughput of the Hornets. "First, the team looked at a triage method, because without knowing what they had to do, they could not tailor the events preceding the aircraft throughput," said Delaware, noting that the Depot's team of F/A-18 pilots offered to perform aircraft delivery to North Island and perform flight tests on the aircraft while en route to North Island. This provided an opportunity to find discrepancies at the start of the aircraft production cycle that might not have been discovered until final test phases. Depot test pilots evaluated the aircraft en route to the Depot and then downloaded the information to the examination and evaluation team on the ground. "This prevented any surprises," said Delaware. "The Aircraft Discrepancy Book (an aircraft maintenance history) generally lets us know what the problems are with an aircraft, but sometimes it's nice when the pilot who flies it back has a general feel for the aircraft." Cmdr. Dan Turner, one of the Depot's three F/A-18 pilots, explained that "it was just one more way to make sure the jets get (back to the fleet) on time. We often have to spend additional days fixing discrepancies" not noted in the book. "The jet has to fly home, and we only fly 'up' jets." Teaming with organizations outside the Depot was important to the success of the effort as well, as material is one of the biggest drivers for the Depot to produce aircraft. "Material plays a huge part in our ability to produce jets," said Walt Loftus, deputy F/A-18 program manager. "We needed to push everything out to the aircraft so when (it) went from metal to assembly all of the parts were pushed there. When it came down to priorities, these F/A-18Cs were first." To help with material requirements, the Defense Logistics Agency, the Navy Inventory Control Point, and San Diego's Fleet and Industrial Supply Center teams worked with the F/A-18 Strategic Business Office trying to fill daily requirements for these aircraft. "With the use of the newly developed master scheduler reports from MRPII (a workload control system) and discovery, daily requirements were easily identified and reported to the Depot's NAVICP suppliers and prioritized during weekly conference calls with these teammates," Delaware said. There were many Depot support providers as well. The Components Program team, Depot engineers and its Maintenance Control Dept. all had a part in accelerating the aircraft through the plant. "Without these teammates, we could not produce aircraft out the door, let alone expedite them ahead of schedule," said Delaware. "The fleet set our goal at 12 F/A-18C aircraft and we actually produced 19," Delaware pointed out. He was particularly proud that his team had produced three of these critical Hornets with a TAT of only 65 days. "This was a major effort and a big drop from the average turnaround time." Final validation of the success NAVAIR Depot North Island achieved came from Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dave Kelly, the Fighter Class Desk Engineering and Programs Officer for the Navy's Pacific Air Force. "I can't thank the Depot enough for their effort in getting (one of the jets) turned around in, I think, record time, a 49-day period. I know all the stars fell in line here.(but) this effort was really impressive and proves it can be done," he said in an email to Delaware. NAVAIR provides advanced warfare technology to the American warfighter. Located in eight sites around the country, NAVAIR provides precision naval aviation technologies in sensors, aircraft, weapons, training, launch and recovery systems, and communication. NAVAIR warfare technology is delivering transformational service to the Navy, to all other Department of Defense services, as well as military organizations of allies around the world. |
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