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448th, Team Tinker winning war on lack of parts

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  In May 2010, the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center declared a War on the Lack of Parts. Former commander Maj. Gen. Gary McCoy challenged personnel to think outside the box in an effort to place parts on the shelf and eliminate road blocks to depot maintenance production.

And, they did. With the help of several Team Tinker partners, the AFGLSC drastically reduced the number of hours accumulating on requisitions where the lack of the part kept aircraft from flying their mission or impeded depot maintenance production, also known as MICAP hours, for 16 flying weapon systems.

"The recent success in MICAP-hour reduction can be attributed to collaboration between the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center, Defense Logistics Agency, various air logistics center's maintenance wings, and weapon system program offices; it is truly a team effort," said Col. Tim Henke, 448th Supply Chain Management Wing vice director. "The progress has been significant as the enterprise has reduced the number of MICAP hours to levels not seen since prior to fiscal 2008. In June 2011, 13 of 16 aircraft met their MICAP hour target compared to one year ago when only 4 of 16 weapon systems met the target."

To reduce the MICAP hours, the 429th Supply Chain Management Squadron focused on several categories and explored initiatives that would help the AFGLSC meet its goal. They reported their progress each month to AFGLSC senior leadership and investigated new sub-topics.

The center established a Virtual Supply Chain Integration/Prioritization team comprised of members located at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Tinker; Hill Air Force Base, Utah; and Robins Air Force Base, Ga.; to focus priorities and target strategic limitations to significantly and swiftly improve support to the Air Forces' depot operations. The team researched the root causes for a lack of parts on red weapon systems - weapon systems that do not meet the established MICAP goal - and had established bi-weekly, and eventually monthly, meetings and a new reporting cadence, to inform stakeholders of the activities and results.

The team also examined policy, procedures, and training. By exploring how the team functions, they looked for ways to improve processes with a goal of providing enhanced supportability. The team looked at red weapon systems and concentrated on the future - the next workload, the next need and getting ahead of the parts' problems, said Sherri McWater, 429th SCMS logistics management specialist and WOLP Integration point of contact.

They also looked at the inventory availability, contracting processes and improving overall sourcing as well as the impacts of contract deliveries, and partnership collaboration.

Additionally, there were initiatives being worked outside of AFGLSC.

"Here at Tinker, DLA Aviation has undertaken several initiatives to reduce MICAP hours, including a greater focus on MICAP hour validation and stepping through all the tools that we have to expedite materiel to the production floor," said Col. Richard Schwing, DLA Oklahoma City commander. "At DLA Aviation Richmond, they have focused buyers on supporting industrial sites like Tinker and have seen a reduction in purchase requests late to need."

Because the team worked several initiatives at once, Marcus Haberichter, 429th SCMS metrics analyst, said there is no way to identify which one effort lowered MICAP hours.

"There's no instant feedback on anything. There's lead time and lag time," Mr. Haberichter said. "But, we knew it was going to work."

Ms. McWater agreed.

"The effects took longer than we expected," she said. "I think we had originally hoped when we started the War on the Lack of Parts, it would be short term and the approaches would immediately make some difference. Unfortunately, we did not see immediately results; it did help us recognize some long-term fixes that will improve the overall supply chain as we go forward."

Bob Valdez, 429th SCMS director, said much of the challenge came from trying to keep personnel from getting discouraged and frustrated, particularly after the War on the Lack of Parts was introduced and the MICAP hours increased.

When the War on the Lack of Parts began in May 2010, the 448th SCMW flying weapon systems had approximately 640,000 MICAP hours. By August, the number rose to 775,000 MICAP hours. In January of this past year, the number increased to 895,000 MICAP hours.

Yet, by June of this year, the number was reduced to 500,000 MICAP hours.

"The collaborative effort to reduce MICAP hours has paid great dividends to the war fighter by providing assets both in the field and to our depot. The B-52 Enterprise, for example, has seen a decrease of approximately 24,000 monthly MICAP hours during fiscal 2011," said Col. Mark Beierle, director of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Aerospace Sustainment Directorate. "It takes teamwork to realize this level of improvement."

Despite the great accomplishment, Mr. Valdez said the job is not done.

"This is a great achievement, but there is a lot more work to do and we have to sustain this and keep it going," he said.

Looking ahead, the team will focus on reducing MICAP hours and improving support to both the weapon systems' field users as well as depot maintenance.