Team Tinker receives Chief of Staff Award

  • Published
  • By Kandis West
  • Tinker Public Affairs
One team, one mission.
   This single concept helped Operation Team Spirit from the Air National Guard Readiness Center win one of the most coveted awards in the Air Force, the Chief of Staff Team Excellence Award on Sept. 25 in Washington, D.C.
   The unique team, composed of members from Air National Guard, 827th Aircraft Sustainment Group, Tinker AFB, Defense Contracting Management Agency and the three sources of repairs for the KC-135, 76th Maintenance Wing, Tinker AFB, Boeing and Pemco, contributed to a decrease in programmed depot maintenance flow days, quality defect rates and home station inspection times, resulting in increased aircraft availability.
   Over the last five fiscal years, Operation Team Spirit helped slash PDM flow days by seven months and grounding or critical defects per aircraft from 2.1 to 0.3, a 63 percent reduction.
   In just two years, home station inspection days were reduced from 52 to 14.
   Team leaders estimate the PDM unit sales price was reduced by $916,000 per aircraft, equating to a $71 million savings for the fleet of 501 tankers.
   "Through cross-command, peer to peer teaming, we were able to work as a single team to produce quality aircraft faster with far less discrepancies," said Air National Guard Senior Enlisted Advisor at Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Chief Master Sgt. Richard Perrier, one of the innovators of the program.
   In 2000, there was greater than 50 percent a PDM aircraft would have a grounding defect. Therefore the ANG tanker maintainers partnered with the depots to assess the aircraft at the source of repair after approximately 80 percent of the PDM maintenance was complete.
   This process, Chief Perrier said, allowed owning units and the depots to work together to correct defects on the spot, eventually reducing home inspection times by 75 percent. The process also helped the depot mechanics understand the expectations of the Air National Guard and the Guard maintainers were able to better understand the challenges of depot maintenance.
   'The customer wants an aircraft that they can fly to fight out of depot maintenance," Chief Perrier said. "Likewise, depot maintenance strives to produce an aircraft on cost and on time. Team Spirit is the enabling process to accomplish those goals."
   He said total team work by all parties attributed to the program's success.
   Twenty-two teams competed for the honor and five were selected. Chief Perrier said the competition was unique because each team had to present and validate their process to a panel of judges.
   "It's not just a paper that you send in," Chief Perrier said. "You have to stand up and present and validate your process improvement. Then you are grilled with questions from the judges."
   Team Spirit was selected by the KC-135 Program Office as a part of their initiative to support the Air Force Chief of Staff's Aircraft Availability Improvement Plan to increase aircraft availability by 20 percent in 2011.
   The program was also considered an Air Force Best Practice and weapon systems like the A-10, C-130, F-16 and F-22 have now adopted the program, Chief Perrier said.