Great IDEA$: Tinker men awarded for money-saving suggestions

Published Feb. 3, 2012
By Mike W. Ray
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Two employees in the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group at Tinker received $10,000 cash each recently for their suggestions which resulted in significant savings of money and time.

Robert Gilsbach, a pneudraulic system mechanic, and Dwayne Harrell, electronic mechanic supervisor over the Flight Instrument Shop, received their awards from Col. Cedric George, 76th Maintenance Wing commander.

The cash awards were made via the Innovative Development through Employee Awareness Program, said Linda Anderson, management analyst in the 76 CMXG. IDEA is an incentive program that promotes process improvement and/or resource savings from ideas submitted by military and civilian employees, she explained.

Mr. Harrell has submitted 24 IDEA award-winning suggestions while working at Tinker. This is the third time he has received the maximum $10,000 prize.

The ideas proposed by Mr. Harrell and Mr. Gilsbach were "implemented and validated as having resulted in substantial savings to the Air Force," Ms. Anderson related. Repairs proposed by the two honorees resulted in tangible, demonstrable savings of nearly $300,000 per year, records reflect.

Mr. Gilsbach discovered a way to repair the assembly (the "black body") for the air turbine motor shutoff valve on a C-5 cargo plane. Previously, damaged assemblies were replaced because there was no way to repair them.

Pollutants, sand and air entering the air inlet channel ultimately corrode the magnesium inside the black body, Mr. Gilsbach said. He developed a way to repair the assembly, at a cost of about $350, rather than replace it, at a cost of $4,063.

It was estimated that an average of 28 units have to be repaired every year. At that rate, replacing damaged assemblies would cost $113,764, but repairing the units costs $9,800, for a tangible, realized savings of $103,964 annually.

Moreover, the repairs can be accomplished in a day. "The physical labor takes only an hour or less," Mr. Gilsbach said, "but the epoxy and primer have to cure overnight." Another benefit from repairing the damaged assemblies at Tinker is that aircraft are returned to service much quicker. At one time, Mr. Gilsbach said, 75 damaged air turbine motors were awaiting repairs -- some for as long as two years.

Mr. Gilsbach spent 14 years in the Air Force, and has been employed at Tinker AFB since 1994. Formerly he worked on jet engines before he was reassigned to commodities maintenance.

Mr. Harrell found a way to repair two circuit cards used in aircraft avionics units.

Previously, when a circuit card failed, "We'd just throw it away," said Greg Zais, section chief over Common Avionics in the 550th Commodities Maintenance Squadron. "But Mr. Harrell "took it upon himself to research and find a better and cheaper way of producing this item, and figured out a way to repair the cards instead of replacing them."

Projected savings from Mr. Harrell's proposal have been estimated at almost $200,000 per year. For example, one step involves "replacing something such as a resistor for 20 cents instead of the whole circuit card for $4,126," the award selection group reported.

Mr. Harrell has worked at Tinker for 28 years. In fact, he is a third generation Tinker employee; his father and grandfather both worked at the base for more than 30 years.