HomeNewsArticle Display

Staying relevant a must: ALC looks to the futre

  • Published
  • By Brandice Armstrong
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla., --  Maj. Gen. Loren Reno once said, "Excellence for today, relevance for tomorrow."
In an age of budget cuts, base realignment and closures, 76th Maintenance Wing personnel are working to ensure Tinker remains a viable installation, now and in the distant future. They are trying to uphold the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center commander's vision. By doing this, they are supporting the Air Force mission the best way they know how. 

"[The future] is always a concern because you never know what's going to happen," said Elizabeth Dutton of the 76th Software Maintenance Group. "However, we believe we have that by keeping process improvement initiatives on the front burner. We have the right processes and the right people in place to continue our level of excellence while better posturing ourselves to obtain new workloads." 

To prepare for the future, many officials are using the OC-ALC Strategic Plan's five goals as a foundation. The strategic plan, which was introduced this past spring, is designed to map the center's future ambitions for success and the means to achieve it. The goals are: secure the right workload, lean/transform the center, lead aircraft availability improvement program achievement, improve OC-ALC operations through the Defense Logistics Agency and the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center, and develop people better. 

Stephen Walker of the 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group said, "Ten or 15 years ago it was expected that a decision was made and when Tinker got the workload, it was always assumed we'd be given what we needed." 

He said that's not the case anymore. If private industry can do the same job for a lower cost, it makes sense that customers would turn to private industry. The key is making Tinker competitive with private industry, while still providing for the warfighter.
One way to achieve that is more partnerships. 

"Everybody wants to do [their job] better and more efficiently, so if we work together as a team, we can take advantage of our expertise, our abilities and theirs," Mr. Walker said. "Builders and original equipment manufacturers have a lot of the background and expertise on how to do that, and we can help with the repair." 

Charlotte Corcoran, of the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group, agreed. 

"Partnering is definitely the wave of the future," she said. "Especially to obtain technical data and blueprints for the aircraft, which were not procured when we originally went out on contract for the manufacturer of that aircraft." 

Other initiatives include leaning processes to avoid duplicated work, which will ultimately save time and money. Two such ideas in the works are the Repair Network Transformation, which is about better utilizing personnel in the field, and cellular design work areas, in which all work on a single item is completed at one station. 

Ms. Dutton said Tinker leadership should continually examine their resources and encourage a sense of ownership among employees and their work. 

"This isn't the same Air Force as previous generations," she said. "If we look at resources now, it will give us a better foothold to position ourselves for the future."
Most importantly, Tinker needs to continue absorbing workload. 

Bob Kusbel, of the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group, said he is optimistic that the workloads his office is actively pursuing may lead to as much as a 40 percent increase in the engine workload performed at the center by 2018. 

"We are constantly adjusting our plan according to what's happening with our current workloads and always looking at future workloads that we can bring into the center," Mr. Kusbel said. "It's important to me that the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center keeps a strong maintenance capability that is responsive to the warfighter's needs."