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Operation Team Spirit saves Air Force money, readiness days

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Operation Team Spirit is alive and well at Tinker.

Implemented roughly six years ago, the program invites KC-135 Stratotanker unit maintenance personnel to participate during programmed depot maintenance performing streamlined acceptance inspections. Initially introduced by Air National Guard units, the program has grown to include six other major commands. It competed for, and won the Chief of Staff Team Excellence Award in 2007 as an Air Force best practice. Today, officials said, the collaborative effort saves the Air Force millions of dollars annually in repair costs and readiness-associated issues.

"Team Spirit is a great communication and confidence builder between the field units and Tinker," said Col. Joe Wilson, Air National Guard advisor to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center commander. "It's a two-way exchange of information and improves communication all the way around and solves a lot of issues."

Chief Master Sgt. Mark Berens, Col. Wilson's chief, agreed.

"The benefit to the depot is improved quality and the benefit to the customer is improved quality and improved aircraft availability," he said. "The peer-to-peer interaction between depot and owning unit technicians is priceless."

Prior to the introduction of the program, aircraft departing PDM from one of three sources of repair - OC-ALC, The Boeing Company in San Antonio or Alabama Aircraft Industries, Inc.-Birmingham - were subjected to acceptance checks by a team of approximately 20 maintenance technicians typically consuming roughly 30 days inspecting the aircraft and engines. When problems were discovered, they were addressed by reporting the repair and a write-up. That process consumed time and resources and was ineffective in addressing the root causes of reported problems.

Officials knew there had to be a better way and concluded if repairs were fixed on the spot, during the PDM process, it would eliminate a cumbersome reporting loop and problems could be instantly corrected.

Named for the "teamwork" and in the "spirit" of good faith across three sources of repair in a collaboration to return fine-tuned, high quality aircraft to the customer, the endeavor reflects its namesake, Colonel Wilson said.

"It's like buying a new car," Colonel Wilson said. "You look for scratches and dings and to make sure everything looks good on the interior and the dealership fixes it for you before you take it home."

Team Spirit invites five unit maintenance technicians to come to the depot facility at Tinker or San Antonio - the site in Alabama is no longer a source of repair for KC-135's - for three days during the last 45 days of PDM. Technicians, work together with depot mechanics to inspect the aircraft and fix issues on the spot.

"We have a lot of knowledgeable mechanics and since the Team Spirit inspections started, we have brought the number of write ups way down. We are getting this down to a science. Foreign-object debris and write-ups are becoming minimal," said Larry Adams, 564th AMXS KC-135 systems check work leader. "I think we have some of the best mechanics here and it's an honor to be a part of a great team."

Roughly 416 aircraft benefit from the collaborative effort. In fiscal 2011, 64 KC-135 PDMs were produced at Tinker and 15 at Boeing in San Antonio.

Team Spirit allows aircraft to be mission-ready at least 10 days before aircraft that are not in the program. Additionally, 10 days of aircraft unavailability for 18 aircraft costs the Air Force roughly $19,500 per day or $3.6 million annually, according to the OC-ALC Plans and Programs August 2008 Operation Team Spirit Business Case Analysis.

"Team Spirit also benefits the technicians from the owning unit by familiarizing them with the depot process and how it works," said Charles Alley, acting deputy director for the 564th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, which performs KC-135 PDM. "The 564th squadron also performs customer service visits to the owning units to familiarize their leadership with the depot process and discuss areas we can improve to benefit the partnership."

Tech. Sgt. Christopher Kastler, a crew chief for the KC-135 from the 22nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., said he knows a lot goes into the maintenance and, as a customer, sees the benefits of Team Spirit. He was part of the McConnell team at OC-ALC from Jan. 23 through Jan. 25 inspecting a KC-135 assigned to Air Mobility Command.

"There's a lot of the behind-the-scenes people who make this happen," he said. "A lot of people think it's a guy putting gas in it and a couple of people behind the stick, but there's a lot more to making a plane fly every day."

Team Spirit has also recently caught the attention of leadership at Air Force Materiel Command and the OC-ALC Aerospace Directorate's B-52 Aircraft Sustainment Division.
Chief Berens said a representative from AFMC Headquarters at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, visited Tinker last fall to learn more about the operation and to determine how to better export it across the other weapon systems managed at Robins Air Force Base, Ga.; and Hill Air Force Base, Utah.

"We look forward to watching the evolution of Team Spirit in the other weapon systems and stand ready to assist in any way," the chief said.