VSA aims to eliminate confusion for projects Published Oct. 15, 2010 76th Maintenance Wing TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- There are many "working parts" at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. One of those parts involves the maintenance, repair and construction of the property and infrastructure within the facilities that make up the OC-ALC. But making repairs and requesting construction isn't as easy as picking up the phone and calling the local handyman. Depending on what needs work, where it is, and what's involved, the OC-ALC uses different processes to get things accomplished. To help clear up some of the confusion, the 76th Maintenance Support Group conducted a value stream analysis on one of those processes, the installation of Industrial Plant Equipment, otherwise known as the Form 304 process. This VSA focused on mapping specific processes conducted by the Industrial Services Installation Flight such as demolition, carpentry, electrical, pipe fitting, sheet metal, painting, mechanical and welding. The goal of the VSA was to map these processes in order to identify shortfalls in communication, backlogs or other obstacles that must be overcome in order to complete projects throughout the ALC. "This process is vital to the ALC's overall production mission," said Joseph Cecrle, 576th Maintenance Support Squadron director. "It's important that we streamline the industrial installation process, so that our maintenance personnel can meet their aircraft availability requirements and we can quickly respond to changes in production demands." Currently, the process involves engineering, the ordering of materials, the installation and/or repair of the facilities and project close-out. Approximately 62 action items were generated as a result of the VSA. The goal of the action items is to reduce project time from approximately 46 weeks to 16 weeks per project, which would decrease man-hours that don't add value to a project and increase the responsiveness to the customer's needs. Since the VSA, several of the action items have been accomplished improving the overall process. Projects requested by the customers are being completed and closed 58% faster than they were prior to the VSA and accompanying action items. The team has basically doubled their efficiency rate in completing projects. To ensure all areas were covered, the VSA team consisted of management, engineers, welders, planners, electricians, carpenters, painters, mechanics, pipe fitters and back-shop sheet metal workers. The involvement by the process subject matter experts not only increases the knowledge brought to the VSA, but it exposes ALC personnel to process improvement initiatives. "This project was a great idea and it was good to involve upper management all the way down to the workers on the floor," said Larry Stiles, Industrial Equipment Work Leader. "It allowed for great discussion of challenges and problems we had with the (Form) 304 process. Some of the issues can be fixed in a short period of time, while others will take longer." He went on to explain that conducting a project like this is great for getting issues out on the table and finding solutions for them.