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Center’s ‘A-Team’ manages technical orders

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  • By Technical Order Management Support Flight
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE --  They consider themselves the "A-Team" of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. Playing on the "A" of the GBHA office symbol, the 558th Combat Sustainment Squadron's Technical Order Management Support Flight manages more than 29,000 technical orders.
   TOs provide instructions for the safe and effective operation and maintenance of Air Force weapons systems and component assemblies. They are by the order of the Secretary of the Air Force, and as a formal order, must be followed. Unlike the 1980s television sitcom, the 558th CBSS's "A-Team" doesn't fight crime per se. Rather, it aims to support program offices in meeting the Air Force vision of providing accurate and timely TOs at point of use, said Mike Skinner, 558th CBSS Data Logistics Squadron deputy director.
   "A critical aspect of the mission is technical accuracy as well as the timeliness of publication," Mr. Skinner said. "The flight consistently performs as a government and industry benchmark."
   Ray Lozmack, 558th CBSS Data Logistics Squadron director, agreed.
   "If the operations are not followed, it could lead to a catastrophic failure of a piece of equipment and ultimately the weapons system," he said.
   Of the TOs managed or used at Tinker, 12,000 are stored in the paper-based Technical Order Libraries, while the remaining 17,000 are online at the Technical Order Viewing Library. TOs may range from 10 to 10,000 pages. The typical TO supported by the TO Preparation Section is between 50 and 100 pages.
   A staff of 52 civilians and contractors in the TO home office, TO preparation section, and TO library support the cradle-to-grave TO change and revision process for locally managed commodity TOs.
   In a typical day, 15 to 20 revisions and new TO requests are submitted. On average, a routine update depending on size and scope of the revision or change, takes 30 to 60 days to complete, said Vicki Bowen, 558th CBSS Preparation Section chief.
   In addition to completing the day-to-day operations, the "A-Team" consistently works to reduce excess processes and save the government money. Two home-grown initiatives, the TOVL and POD illustrate how serious the team upholds Air Force transformation, an official said.
   In late 2005, the "A-Team" found a way to reduce unnecessary printing and significantly reduce update turn-times by creating the TOVL, an online library, which can be viewed by the ".mil" community via common access card access to the Air Force portal. Other ALCs have an in-house digital library, but what makes Tinker's unique is the global reach via the Air Force portal, an official said.
   In this month alone, the site has been viewed by users in Kadena Air Base, Japan; Aviano Air Base, Italy; and Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England.
Ms. Bowen said an average of 2,200 specific viewers per month log on to the TOVL more than 7,000 times per month.
   "This initiative will eliminate the need for a physical paper TO library," said Laurence Brett, former 948th Combat Sustainment Group director, who retired in August.
And, earlier this year, the TO flight celebrated its one-year anniversary of the "Print on Demand" concept. As TOs were printed, there was always overstock printed and stored in the TO warehouse, "just in case."
   The cost of storage, coupled with the cost of printing, was the catalyst for developing a new strategy of "just in time."
   Under this new approach, only the amount of TOs needed for distribution is printed. Printing is now done "just in time," at the point of request. Document Automation and Production Services digitally store the TOs after printing, which resolves the warehouse and storage issue, an official said.
   "We, along with the local program offices, leaned it out ... (unnecessary printing)," Mr. Skinner said.
   So far, the POD process has resulted in cost avoidances in excess printing of more than $200,000, said Marge Webb, TO Support Flight chief.
   "Every day we look for improvements and we find them," Ms. Bowen said. Mr. Brett agreed.
   "The technical order community is changing," he said. "Our growth is exponential and our people engage these transformation challenges (daily) and remain committed to our mission."
   (Brandice J. Armstrong, staff writer, contributed to this article.)