Ideas pay for two 76th MXW personnel Published March 19, 2009 By Ron Mullan Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., -- Two members of the 76th Maintenance Wing found themselves several thousand dollars richer when James Patterson, 76th MXW vice director, paid a visit to their work centers. March 3. Chaundra Sierra-Carmona, from the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group, and Vicki Johnston, from the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group, were presented checks by Mr. Patterson from the IDEA program for their suggestions to improve. Ms. Sierra-Carmona received $9,800 for her suggestion to use a sealant to reattach strut covers that had become separated from the intermediate case housing on the F100 engine. Prior to the new procedure, cases with loose strut covers were condemned. The cost of an intermediate case is nearly $30,000. The new method saves the I.M. cases by reattaching the strut covers and selling the part, instead of condemning the whole case. Though she had only been working at Tinker for six months, Ms. Sierra-Carmona thought there had to be a more efficient and economical way to fix the parts. "Being so new I didn't know how to go about getting my suggestion considered, so I asked around to see if reattaching the cover would compromise the integrity of the part," Ms. Sierra-Carmona said. "The answer I got back was 'this is a pretty good idea let's go with it and see what happens.'" She submitted her suggestion and evaluators estimated that for 12 intermediate cases, the tangible savings to the government is nearly $348,000. Ms. Sierra-Carmona plans to use her award to pay college tuition, take her family on a vacation and save what's left. Vicki Johnston earned $7,000 for her suggestion to repair housings on the cabin safety pressure control valve instead of replacing them. New housings cost $9,000 and coupled with other parts to make a complete whole assembly brought the cost up to over $18,000. Under the new procedure, the corroded and pitted area is machined and bushing added in the solenoid area. This new repair process saves the Air Force from purchasing new housings and ultimately going into condemn mode because the housings are no longer available. An added benefit is that the process can also be applied to housings repaired previously with bushing. Projected tangible savings based on four housings being repaired annually is more than $46,500. "I've worked on this part for the past five years and know it inside and out," said Ms. Johnston. "I figured there just had to be a way of reducing the cost of repairs. Other bushings were being changed out, why not this one." On being notified her idea was accepted, Ms. Johnston felt "thrilled and privileged," and urges other would-be submitters to "keep after it, it's hard work but worth it." Mr. Patterson noted that the IDEA program underscores support to the warfighter. "Maintenance is the end of the line," he said. "When products come into the maintenance shops, we have to develop solutions to solve problems and ensure the warfighter has all the products and services they need to meet their mission requirements on a daily basis. Our folks do what it takes to get the product out and they do it in a very efficient, timely and quality manner and I appreciate all of the work that they do."