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KC-135 process improvement success

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. Armstrong
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  In early May, a team of Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center personnel spent a week researching the KC-135 Stratotanker enterprise depot maintenance process here.

The ultimate goal, while producing a comprehensive current-state value-stream map, was to reduce the number of KC-135 programmed depot maintenance flow days from 222 to 130 days, and they would achieve it by developing a future-state value-stream map and a "go-forward" plan for all involved organizations across the enterprise.

On May 8, the team briefed Maj. Gen. David Gillett, OC-ALC commander, and Brig. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, 76th Maintenance Wing commander, on their findings. The out-brief occurred at the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group's Transfor-mation Event Team Room in Bldg. 3001. Through the value-stream mapping process, the team identified the sequence and movement of information, materials and actions across the ALC enterprise that supports KC-135 programmed depot maintenance. This enterprise includes the Center's major suppliers; DLA and Air Force Global Logistics Support Center. The KC-135 enterprise process effects a customer's delivery, cost and quality requirements. Once determined, they studied performance gaps and constraints in the current process. They developed "Kazien Events" and standardized the process.

"This is groundbreaking work," said General Gillett. "This is what I had in mind. We have to make depot maintenance a team sport with everyone focused on the mechanic and you made it happen."

"We're going to do this and then we're going to export it to the next weapons system, the next engine and the next commodity," General Gillett said. "We're going to do this and get structured for success."

The week began with training on how to develop a value stream map for the KC-135 PDM process from "wheels down to wheels up," which includes the two years before an aircraft arrives at Tinker to its delivery back to the warfighter. By the end of the team's first day, they had linked the map to the 327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing, Air Force Global Logistics Support Center, Defense Logistics Agency, 72nd Air Base Wing, PDM lines and functional support organizations such as Personnel, Engineering, Financial Management, and IT. After linking various agencies to the wall-length map, the team began studying the impact each agency has to the process.

"When working together as one team toward a specific goal and communicating back and forth about the obstacles faced, achieving the goal is easier for all concerned," said Lynne Wilson of the 72nd Force Support Squadron and KC-135 Enterprise-Level value-stream mapping team member.

By midweek, the team learned about developing a value-stream map for a future process and created a "go-forward" action plan. The new map, created on the opposite wall of the room, showed 25 "Kazien Events" or process improvements that will impact the shop floor.

"This project is important because it's a huge workload on Tinker and General Gillett made it his No. 1 priority," said Bob Wright, of the OC-ALC Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center Engineering and Technical Management Directorate, and team member. In the end, the group made strides to improve processes.

"This year already, we've had four late aircraft and seven that will probably be late by the end of the year. All of us in this room contributed to that," General Litchfield said. "And, next year, all of us will reap the success of having zero late aircraft, because of the work you've done and the work we're going to do in the next few years."

To recognize the efforts of the group, General Gillett passed out bolts from a KC-135 that recently arrived for PDM work.

General Gillett said "It is hard to overestimate the impact of this effort. We have truly turned a new page in the Tinker transformation journey."