Logistics Standardization Evaluation Team visits Tinker

Published Oct. 25, 2007
By Daniel E. McCabe
76th Maintenance Wing

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- A team of 50 personnel from Air Force Materiel Command will visit Tinker Air Force Base to assess compliance with maintenance, logistics and supply chain management policy on Jan. 24.
   The AFMC Logistics Standarization Evaluation team will visit four wings -- the 76th Maintenance Wing, 72nd Air Base Wing, 327th Aircraft Sustainment Wing and 448th Combat Sustainment Wing.
   This is a graded assessment using a five tier rating scale of outstanding, excellent, satisfactory, marginal and unsatisfactory.
   In 2005, the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center attained an overall "satisfactory" rating. This rating could have been an overall "excellent" if it was not for 21 isolated violations. Each IV, detected safety violation, unsatisfactory condition report and tech data violation equaled a .5 percent point deduction on the LSET rating.
   In 2005, more than 10 points were lost for the IV's. The intent of LSET is to evaluate compliance to Air Force and AFMC policy and guidance. The inspection will last 10 working days and focus on checklist compliance, quality verification inspections and personnel evaluations.
   Assessments are conducted on all shifts and weekends when maintenance personnel is working. Assessments are rated as pass or fail and include over-the-shoulder evaluations of unit quality assurance. For each isolated violation, 0.5 percentage points are deducted from the grade.
   What can you do to help attain an "outstanding" rating?
   First and foremost, perform a thorough self-inspection of your shop or office using applicable AFMC compliance checklists. The compliance checklists can be found on the AFMC homepage under the Inspector General organization. Know your job responsibilities and what AMFC checklists apply to you. Print the checklists out that apply, answer them and put them in a book.
   LSET is an open book test, so do the test before evaluators arrive. For any items that are not compliant develop an action plan and document what you are doing to correct the problem.
   The LSET evaluators are looking for obvious safety violations, so wear all personnel protective equipment required in your specific work center and follow safe work practices at all times. Housekeeping is also very important and is the first thing the evaluator sees when they walk in to a work center.
   Are the Foreign Object Damage containers empty? Are the FOD containers in the vehicles empty? Is there FOD on the floor or workbench?
   The LSET inspectors are looking for technical data usage. If a work control document has a task that is "in accordance with" have the technical data out and open to the specific page and task you are working on. If the WCD has a task that references a technical order, is the technical order open or close by filled in? Look at documentation in your work center, is the vehicle inspection documented?
   How about the daily inspection on your equipment? If you have stands or use aerospace ground equipment are they chocked and locked? If there is a fluid leak on the floor, clean it up immediately and properly dispose of your hazardous waste. Do not leave vehicles unattended and running anywhere. Do not leave any tools unattended. Put them back in the individual tool kit or consolidated tool kit until you need to use them.
   If you are receiving a personnel evaluation, ensure you have the proper tools and technical data for the task. You should do a pre-task safety briefing to ensure you know the risks of the task and follow technical data line-by-line.
   When dealing with an LSET evaluator, be enthusiastic. If an evaluator enters your area, approach and greet them. Ensure your supervisor knows there is an LSET evaluator in the work center. Answer their questions promptly and respectfully. If you do not know the answer to the question, don't make something up, tell them you will find out and get back with them immediately. After they leave, report to your supervisor what was discussed and if they found anything wrong.
   You can help attain our goal of "outstanding" and prove to AFMC that our maintenance, logistics and supply chain management practices are the best they have ever seen.