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Ceremony officially opens KC-135 Aerial Refueling Boom integrated Work Package

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  • Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Oklahoma City
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The June 15 ribbon cutting ceremony in Bldg. 9001 set a partnership in motion much earlier than expected.

Defense Logistics Agency Aviation located in Richmond, Va., developed an innovative answer in response to the Air Force's request for a sustainment solution for the KC-135 Aerial Refueling Boom maintained in the 551st Commodities Maintenance Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base.

This innovative concept -- integrated Work Packages -- combines all material needs per task or stage of repair in the boom shop. These packages include Air Force managed parts and DLA managed parts, along with any other material required to complete the tasks eliminating search time for the mechanic.

The iWP process has been enhanced by the implementation of Point of Use benchmarked from the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. POU is the mechanism to store material per iWP. The POU is located right next to the mechanic responsible for a particular stage of repair.

"Remember the commercial with the guy working in his garage? When he needed a part, he held out his and hand and the guy from the auto parts store was there holding the part. That's what this is," said Col. Rex Adee, commander of DLA Aviation at Oklahoma City. "We don't want the mechanics to wait on the parts to be delivered. They should always be readily available."

The 76th Maintenance Wing provided in-shop space and reutilized containers and DLA agreed to provide the manpower required to support their industrial customer as a no-cost initial implementation solution. Future support will develop into an automated POU scanning process requiring an IT investment on the part of the Air Force.

Kevin O'Connor, 76th Maintenance Wing vice director, said in the maintenance wing, they rely on "the 3 Ps" to accomplish the mission: People, Parts and Production.

"This effort pulls together all three...it improves the Process to make sure our People have the Parts to execute the mission," Mr. O'Connor said. "It was the perfect demonstration of what we as an enterprise (DLA, GLSC and MXW) can accomplish when we work together. Thank you to everyone at every level for everything you've done to make this happen."

DLA has an impressive commitment to the Air Force regarding the KC-135 Boom material support.

Greg Kennedy, DLA KC-135 Weapon System Program manager, said DLA has dedicated support working to meet 100 percent of the Air Force Requisition Objective equating to 77 booms.

"This support includes a dedicated supply planner, single-face procurement POC, sales and operational planning reviews as well as weekly supportability reviews," he said.
To help make this project a reality, DLA and the Air Force worked together to ensure success. The Air Force provided the iWP material lists (grouped appropriately) to DLA and in-turn DLA then planographed the national stock numbers, determined storage requirements, placed storage mechanisms on the production floor, established NSN levels, stored material (labeled/inventoried/ready for issue) and finally provided the mechanics training on using POU.

The initial timeline for KC-135 Boom integrated Work Package implementation was scheduled for July 1 as initial operating capability with full operating capability set in December. However, DLA Aviation Director Brig. Gen. Scott Jansson challenged his team to move those dates to left.

Oklahoma City DLA personnel began the POU implementation per iWP the last week of May and made tremendous progress achieving full operating capability on June 8, despite huge challenges with the containers and locks.

DLA officials said this extraordinarily short implementation timeline would not have been achieved if subject matter expert support from DLA Aviation at Ogden had not been provided. Trisha Pidcock spent one week with the local DLA personnel training them on POU planographing, level setting and issue processes. The cross sharing of resources with the perfect set of knowledge and experience with POU implementation confirms DLA Aviation's committed desire to improve support its customers. One challenge the team still faces is obtaining storage devices for the extra-long material that is upwards of 25 feet in length. Until storage devices are purchased or fabricated, the material will be pre-positioned daily for POU access without a container.

"There was a team effort to get this done," Colonel Adee said. "Everyone worked very hard to make this a reality. The goal is to make the enterprise better by having parts available. I hope this is the first of many POUs at Tinker."

The programmatic updates are provided by the DLA WSPM to the commanders of Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Global Logistics Support Center on a monthly basis and have been well received. Barbara Simbro, DLA Aviation Material Management chief at Oklahoma City, has also received accolades from customers reporting that they are happy with the product she and her team have provided the 551st Commodities Maintenance Squadron.

"I'm looking forward to the results of this," said Mike Mowles, 551st CMXS director. "All of you, thank you for what you've done."