Summer 08 final

The Exceptional Release

L O G I S T I C S O F F I C E R A S S O C I AT I O N Enhancing the military logistics profession since 1982

EXECUTIVE BOARD

S U M M E R 2008 Features

President Col Evan Miller president@loanational.org

Rethinking Maintenance Submitted by George B. LaVezzi, Jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Vice President Lt Col Pat Kumashiro vicepres@loanational.org

SPECIAL SECTION: Transformation… Depot Style Submitted by Mr. Ronald L. Orr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Treasurer Lt Col Stephen Petters treasurer@loanational.org Information Officer Maj Stephanie Halcrow InfoOfficer@loanational.org Membership Development Maj Jeff Martin membership@loanational.org Chapter Support Lt Col Dennis Dabney chaptersupport@loanational.org

Transformation – Ogden Style Submitted by Mr.Robert Migliore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Transformation Submitted by Mr.Kenneth Presse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 76 MXW Transformation: Achieving Innovation Submitted by Lt Col Lee Curtis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Some Thoughts on Logistics Transformation Submitted by Brig Gen (ret) Robert E. Mansfield, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 eLog21:Dynamically Transforming Air Force Logistics Submitted by Lt Col Daniel Wuchenich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Air Force Global Logistics Support Center Submitted by Mr. Dave Reusser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Executive Senior Advisor Lt Gen Kevin Sullivan

Expeditionary Combat Support System Submitted by Col Lee K. Levy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Webmaster/Website Maj JD DuVall webmaster@loanational.org www.loanational.org

High Velocity Regionalized C-5 Aircraft Isochronal (HVRISO) Inspection Process Submitted by Capt Paul E. Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

THE EXCEPTIONAL RELEASE Editor Col Dennis Daley editor@loanational.org Assistant Editor Col (ret) Mary H. Parker assteditior@loanational.org Executive Director, Marketing/PR ER Managing Editor/Publisher Marta Hannon marta@loanational.org ER Worldwide Staff Col Cheryl Allen, ICAF Student Lt Col Eugene K. Carter, 15 AMXS/CC Maj Richard L. Fletcher, 305 AMXS/CC Maj Paul L. Pethel, 100 MXS/CC Graphic Design MMagination, LLC – Atlanta, GA www.mmagination.com LOA National PO Box 2264 – Arlington, VA 22202 Issue No. 108 - Summer 2008

Industrial Retail Submitted by Col Chris Burke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Challenges of Aircraft Structural Maintenance and Low Observable Weapon Systems, Submitted by Lt Col Doug Cato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Logistics in the “First Command” Submitted by Mr. Garry Richey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60 AFSO21 Journey Submitted by Maj Joe Heilhecker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64 Lessons Learned… Key Transformational Tool Submitted by Mr. Bill Kopsch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68 A Look Behind the Scenes Submitted by Col (ret) Mary H. Parker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

In Every Issue President’s LOG(istics) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 Editor’s Debrief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 From the E-Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Commanders’ AFSO CrossTalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 CGO Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Chapter Crosstalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74 Milestones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

President’s LOG(istics) As the old saying goes, education does not come by bumping your head against the schoolhouse. One of the primary goals of LOA embraces the concept of growing future leaders and building a stronger cadre of logistics professionals. Therefore, this quarter, I thought I would include a couple of ideas to encourage this objective. Take the next few paragraphs as a gentile nudge, reminding you to tear one eye away from your e-mail and focus instead on our real resource … the logistician.

ER: PRESIDENT’S LOG(ISTICS)

MENTOR: When did you last spend time performing one on one mentoring? Mentoring can take several forms; it can be performed formally or informally. Mentoring may be accomplished either overtly or as an unintended but beneficial happenstance in our normal workday interactions. When you stop to consider them, you realize that the opportunities to mentor are endless.

Col Evan Miller

The Roman philosopher Seneca once stated, “Even while they teach, men learn.” In a mentoring relationship, learning is a two way street. Currently, I am in a great position to work with some fantastic young officers. One effective technique I employ is to hard schedule 30 minute blocks of time to discuss all manner of topics with any officer who is looking for that opportunity. Although I can’t speak for the individuals I have mentored, I can state with certainty that I personally have benefited from the time I have set aside for discourse with up-and-coming young officers. In a mentoring relationship, both individuals should learn and both should teach.

Whether you are a civilian item manager, a contractor project lead, or a squadron commander, our experiences make us unique.

That experience, when shared, grows exponentially. I strongly believe that as much as you learn from your own mistakes, you can also learn from someone else’s mistakes. “Mistake” is a euphemism for experience. Although our schedules are busy, set aside 30 minutes to talk with the next generation of Air Force logisticians; you will be surprised at how much you both learn. One-on-one discourse is just one mentoring technique. Obviously, there are numerous others, but I would also like to turn the spotlight on the study of logistics issues and professional networking as means of growing the next generation of people who will lead our Air Force.

STUDY LOGISTICS ISSUES: Attention students! Summer is the time of year when many of us find ourselves headed to professional schools around the country. LOA is currently gathering ideas for research papers and short investigatory projects. LOA research may be something that is right up your alley as a student. Research is a great way to learn about an aspect of logistics that you are unfamiliar with or an excellent opportunity to expand you knowledge on a subject with which you already have a high level of expertise. Either way, research can push the envelope in the way logisticians do business. Through research, both the Air Force and Air Force logisticians benefit. We are looking for both visionary concepts and ideas that tackle current tactical problems. We welcome research ideas, so this call out is not only for those who are headed to school, but also for those who are not currently students but who have an idea for a logistics challenge that needs to be researched and solved. Please contact me at president@loanational.org if you have ideas or the opportunity to conduct academic research this summer.

ATTEND THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE: Attendance at the LOA National Conference is fast becoming a professional essential. The Wright Brothers Chapter at WPAFB is doing an incredible job getting ready for this year’s conference. You will find this conference professionally rewarding, and an invaluable opportunity to NETWORK with your fellow logistics professionals. So many changes are facing our Air Force that we need to understand and discuss the implications of those changes in open forum.

The more effectively we communicate and discuss deployments, supply chain initiatives and aging fleet challenges, the better our chances become to improve our operations across the Air Force. The LOA conference is the perfect forum to further the lean principle of standardizing our operations and processes. Sharing our best practices is one giant step toward standardizing to improve our ops. Follow through is key to making changes that stick. That is a professional responsibility for us all, so I urge each of you to take full advantage of the largest single gathering of Air Force logisticians this year. Come to Columbus in October 2008. Registration opens in June! Until I see you in Columbus or elsewhere, stay focused, stay safe, and stay ahead of the pack.

Enjoy this edition of the ER and help us continue our transformation journey.

––EVAN MILLER, COL USAF PRESIDENT, LOGISTICS OFFICER ASSOCIATION 2

SUMMER 2008

Our technology and expertise played a key role in the transformation of Ogden, ALC at Hill Air Force Base.

Enhancing processes and securely locating inventory at point-of-use proved dramatic results.

More time available to turn out warfighter assets 11 More jets in the field Stock outs were eliminated by 100% Travel time was reduced by 330% Non-productive time was reduced by $83,000 a month Vending machines paid for themselves in under 6 months

Call us to see how we can help your logistics operation receive similar results or read a complete case study at: www.cribmaster.com/cs.htm

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The Exceptional Release A Professional Military Journal written by logisticians for logisticians The purpose of the Logistics Officer Association (LOA) is to enhance the military logistics profession. LOA provides an open forum to promote quality logistics support and logistic officer professional development.

Policy on Written Submissions: The editor invites articles and other contributions on issues that support LOA’s purpose. Direct manuscripts, letters and other communications to: marta@loanational.org and editor@loanational.org.

Deadlines: The 15th day of January, April, July, and October.

Story Format: Double-spaced, typed and electronically submitted to marta@loanational.org.

Photos & Graphics: Send individual electronic files (hi-res JPG, TIFF or EPS with type as outlines) along with stories (as separate text files) and include cutlines/captions. All photos should be at least 300 dpi or greater resolution.

Submitter data: Should be typed at the end of the story file. Information included should be: Rank; full name; service; home mailing address; business name and address; business phone (DSN and commercial); email; three to five sentence biographical sketch; and a photo (as a separate file – see photos and graphics above).

Editorial Policy: The editors reserve the right to edit all submissions for length, clarity and libel. All submissions become the property of LOA. Advertisement Formats: Each ad must be sent as a composite hi-res (300 dpi or greater) EPS file with fonts saved as outlines. Full-page ads with bleeds should allow at least 3/8” bleeds. Ad rates visit: www.loanational.org/adrates.html Advertising Contact: Ms Marta Hannon, Managing Editor PO Box 2264 – Arlington, VA 22202 – email: marta@loanational.org – Phone 405-701-5457 Subscriptions: The ER is published quarterly and is available via membership in the Logistics Officer Association at the annual rate of $25. Access membership forms on the website at www.loanational.org.

Editor’s Debrief Transformation: THE topic of day. This summer edition of the ER deals almost exclusively with transformation…at the base level, at the MAJCOM level, at the AF level…transformation at all levels. We’re transforming EVERYWHERE! This time, it’s different. The Air Force often transforms through reorganization. New leaders with new visions and new priorities often result in new organizational structures, such as: Maintenance under an LG, maintenance under the OG, maintenance under the MXG, maintenance back to the OG, on the merry-go-round of organizational structures. But this time the transformation is more than the just moving the org charts around…much more.

Col Dennis Daley

ER: EDITOR’S DEBRIEF

This time the Air Force is REALLY transforming. There’s a revolution in logistics, dare I say, a Revolution in Military Affairs. The Air Force is taking a bold step transforming the very way we provision our logistics mission.

Global Logistics Support Center (GLSC); Repair Network Transformation (RNT), Regionalized C-5 Isochronal Inspection, Centralized Asset Management (CAM), Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS), are just a few of the more radical changes in our logistics support processes. The one common thread in all of these transformations is centralized management. Partially driven by PBD 720 manpower requirements; partially driven by leaps in technology; and partially driven by successes in private industry, centralization of logistics is the raging trend. This ER edition will review these major initiatives.

There’s another transformation occurring. In addition to a major shift to centralized oversight, the Air Force is making inroads on process improvement and waste-cutting lean initiatives. At the unit level our Airmen, NCOs and junior officers are transforming, not in eureka-like transformations but in incremental innovative process improvements, that are slowly but surely improving our mission effectiveness. Point-of-use trailers, visual management, 6-S boards and many more bottom-up changes at the unit level indicating our Airmen are literally transforming the way we do our mission. Formally, under the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO 21), the Air Force is emphasizing bottom-up communication for using teams, project workouts and Rapid Improvement Events (RIE). In reality, the really good leaders are providing a climate that stimulates bottom-up innovation. Several articles in this edition review the progress of our AFSO 21 program and more importantly unit leaders who are stimulating innovation. To further promote this successful innovation, the ER Journal will display an AFSO 21 Crosstalk, where individual units will submit successful AFSO 21 events.

Our Air Force is in a state of dynamic flux. This ER edition reveals major shifts in the way our Air Force will do its business. The current transformations are more than just reorganization alphabet soup. Most, not all, of the changes will truly transform our processes. Rather than resist the process change, we must embrace the process change and advance it as part of our journey of Good to Great.

––COL DENNIS DALEY AND YOUR ER WORLDWIDE TEAM

LOA is Pleased to Announce its First Exceptional Writer Annual Award.

Starting this year, LOA will select the best ER articles for 2008 and recognize the authors at the 2008 LOA Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

LOA will select winners in three author categories: Company Grade Officer, Field Grade Officer and Civilian. Each winner will be awarded $250. Submissions must be between 1500-2500 words. Send submissions to: Col. Dennis Daley at editor@loanational.org.

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From the E-Ring L O G I S T I C S T R A N S F O R M AT I O N THE BEST TIME

TO

GET BETTER

IS

WHILE YOU’RE

THE

BEST

As I stated last quarter, we did not become the world’s greatest Air Force by stiff arming change.

Lt Gen Kevin Sullivan

Embracing change has always led to improved responsiveness in our processes and organizations and maximized our ability to generate combat air power. The change associated with the upcoming wing reorganization is the first step in our current campaign to improve the Air Force logistics enterprise. Why? Because great organizations thrive by embracing change while they’re on top and not by resting on their laurels and patting themselves on the back…and

E R : L O G I S T I C S T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

the United States Air Force is a great organization.

During the 2007 LOA National Conference I told you that Air Force logisticians are the best in the world. I outlined how: since 2001, aircraft availability rates are up 5%, mission capability rates are up 4%, and supply and customer wait times are all trending significantly downward. All of this significant improvement was attained during periods of high operations tempo and increased maintenance requirements due to a rapidly aging fleet. In spite of these accomplishments, we need to be willing to lead change.

Toyota is a great example of an organization that continually improves its processes despite being a powerhouse among automobile manufacturers. Toyota’s concept of perfection associated with lean manufacturing propelled it past GM as the #1 auto maker in the world, a title GM had held since 1930. General Electric provides another example of how great organizations change and adapt.

Through continuous change, GE, the 4th largest company in the world, operates with the speed, informality and open communications of a local corner store. They utilize continuous improvement to organize 15 major business units producing everything from gas turbine engines to credit cards. So if corporate giants like Toyota and GE are comfortable with change, the world’s best Air Force can be, too.

In today’s fast paced, information age world, the force of change is so great that you can go from first to worst overnight if you fail to take a proactive approach to transformation. In our business, loss of market share because we failed to adapt has a whole different meaning. The natural human response to change is resistance. Instead of being wary of change we, as Air Force logistics leaders, must embrace it as an exciting and rewarding experience. We can’t afford to fear change, but rather we need to embrace change as an asymmetric advantage over our enemies. “The best time to get better is while you’re the best” must be our mantra if we plan to remain the world’s best logisticians.

As we seek to recapitalize our aging fleets, we can either be part of the solution or part of the problem. As it stands, logistics costs too much. The logistics portion of the A4/7 portfolio represents 18 1/2% of all Air Force funded positions and 19% of the budget. As such a large part of our Air Force, it is our duty and our responsibility to transform and improve the logistics enterprise.

You, as logistics leaders, must either help lead this effort, follow, or move out of the way – the decision is yours.

––LT GEN KEVIN J. SULLIVAN, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, LOGISTICS, INSTALLATIONS AND MISSION SUPPORT

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Don’t Miss the Year’s Largest Gathering of Influential Air & Space Logistics Professionals

2008 LOA National Conference Leading the Materiel Enterprise October 12-15 – Columbus Convention Center Columbus, OH The 2007 LOA Conference in DC drew nearly 1500 logisticians from across the Air Force as well as senior executives from many top defense manufacturing companies. The 2008 LOA Conference will be another great opportunity to share ideas, proven practices, and new technology. Our Columbus venue will draw many senior leaders not only from Wright Patterson AFB - AFMC HQ but across the AF and Department of Defense.

Exhibit and Sponsorship Sales Now Open!

Registration opens soon! www.LOANATIONAL.org/conference Need more info? Call Marta Hannon: (405) 701-5457

Rethinking Maintenance Submitted by Mr. George B. LaVezzi, Jr As all of you know, we’ve been spending a great amount of time lately evaluating our logistics enterprise and making some organizational adjustments based upon those evaluations. Many of you are asking yourselves, “why, if our system is the best in the world for projecting and sustaining airpower, do we need to change?’ Put simply, championship teams do not stay on top by running the same plays year-after-year and top companies don’t stay that way by ignoring changes in their industry. We are the best, but we can be better. We must adapt logistics to match tomorrow’s environment while we are still on top of our “game,” and we need to start today because history has not been kind to the nation with the second best air force.

What follows is a white paper on maintenance organization which I believe does an excellent job of capturing where I see that part of our enterprise heading.

As well, I think it does a great job of answering the question, “why.” I hope you enjoy reading it.

Regards, Kevin J Sullivan, Lt Gen Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Support

A

lthough the Air Force has grudgingly become adroit at adapting to change since the fall of the Berlin Wall, many long for a time when things will be stable and they can catch their breath. Unfortunately for those folks, change is unavoidable—luckily, change carries with it the opportunity for great advances. Take a case from business…IBM started out producing time card punches and cheese slicers. Almost a century later IBM is still around and one of the 50 largest corporations in the world, having developed and exploited advances in business machines, semiconductor manufacture, software development and systems integration—all a far cry from the making of cheese slicers. From our own history, we know that the Air Force responded to the success of Soviet-produced integrated air defenses over North Vietnam, Egypt and Syria with a series of ideas which became stealth, precision and integrated electronic warfare. After marrying those new technologies with innovative and realistic training, the Air Force overwhelming destroyed one of the world’s most complex air defense networks in the opening days of DESERT STORM. This battlefield success was made possible because, decades earlier, Air Force leaders recognized the environment had changed and that the service needed to adapt

IBM punch cards

warfare in our last conflict, our adversary chose to bury its aircraft rather than risk their loss in aerial battle.

our approach for gaining air superiority.

Change is inevitable, and a hundred years from now the United States Air Force must still be at the top of its “industry”—somewhere along the way we may need to stop making “cheese slicers.”

THE IMPETUS

T H E PA S T Our Air Force maintenance system was designed for a time when transportation was expensive, manpower was cheap, and the ability to transport supplies to Europe or the Pacific was not assured.

Combat wings planned to operate independently, isolated from sources of supply and support. Most non-nuclear forces and their supplies and support were pre-positioned overseas. Forces which deployed from the CONUS planned to pick up everything they could transport by air and move to a pre-identified location that was stocked with the items they left behind. The logistics system’s focus was on increasing the autonomy of wings by expanding their organic supply and repair capabilities—increased supply foot print and base repair capability became the watch words and the hallmarks of system success.

FOR

CHANGE

Despite the system’s demonstrated and enduring success, the paradigm which underpinned its inception and nurtured its development is no longer valid.

Transportation has become cheap and available; in many cases, commercial carriers can deliver parts from the CONUS to a unit engaged in combat operations faster than Air Force assets can reposition and allocate them using intra-theater lift. Conversely, manpower, which was once plentiful and cheap, has become limited and expensive.

Through our Air Expeditionary Force concept, we now plan to deploy forces from garrisons for nearly all air power applications.

Gone are the days when a Wing knew what base it would deploy to and which enemy it would fight. The capabilities that will coalesce at an expeditionary location will come from all over the service, to include the Reserves and National Guard.

We organized logistics Most importantaround its interactions ly, the capabiliwith the materiel of war; ties at that expemaintainers who fixed it, ditionary locasuppliers who ensured we F-16A Fighting Falcons and F-15C and F-15E Eagles fly over burning oil fields during Desert Storm. (USAF tion will not be had enough, and transphoto/TSgt. Fernando Serna) trained, supplied porters, who moved it to and equipped for where it was required. As a service we allowed each function to pursue excellence in isolation. autonomous, independent operations but will be dependent on a Base maintenance would be perfect when it could fix everything network of reach back support for sustained employment. that could break; supply when it always had everything for which it was asked; transportation when it could effortlessly and instantly T H E W A Y A H E A D move anything, anywhere. We developed systems and modes of To continue to dominate the battle field in the first half of the thinking to divide responsibility between these functions; and when twenty-first century, we must re-think our maintenance processes to they had to interact, we established detailed procedures and spe- support this new reality. Our priorities are clear—Win the Global cially tracked compliance.

War on Terror, Recapitalize and Modernize our equipment to meet This system served the nation well for over 50 years. At countless locations throughout the Cold War, the United States Air Force’s ability to produce prompt and decisive combat effects was a key element of strategic deterrence, and ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. In hot war flare-ups and contingency support across Asia, Africa and Europe, this system supported the flow of combat and combat support sorties that so dominated air

emerging threats, and Care for our people. We must employ highly lethal forces with small forward footprints which are supported through reach back to a responsive and rapidly adaptable combat support network—and we must re-think our maintenance system to support this new reality.

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AF CORE PROCESSES

AIR FORCE KEY PROCESSES

ER: RETHINKING MAINTENANCE

To better project, employ and sustain power in the coming decades, the Air Force is refocusing around ten core processes. These processes capture the vital activities of our service both to fight and win America’s wars and to sustain and re-invent itself for future conflicts. They communicate our new imperatives around which we must streamline organizations and activities.

Our challenge is to design a maintenance system that will better support two core processes: “Conduct Air, Space and Cyberspace Operations” and “Develop and Sustain Warfighting Systems.”

Our way ahead is to form two separate but dependent networks for the Air Force maintenance enterprise. The Mission Generation network consists of our combat and mobility flying squadrons; and the tasks and processes assigned to this network will be optimized for squadron support. This network will perform those tasks which must be organic to a unit engaged in aerial operations; such as aircraft configuration, servicing, combat turning and flight-line level repair and inspection.

FUTURE MAINTENANCE NETWORKS

The most important difference is the shift in responsibility for fleet health and the elimination of cross functional accountability. We learned during the Objective Wing structure that the responsibilities for Mission Generation and fleet health are so intertwined at the wing level, trying to parse them between groups did not work. So, in addition to their role in leading and managing mission generation functions, the Operations Group also gains the responsibility to care for fleet health. Future operations leaders will be versed in managing scheduled maintenance, delayed discrepancies and over-fly to ensure that their fleet is capable of surging to and sustaining wartime sortie rates without elaborate prep time or the need for additional maintenance resources. This skill set cannot simply be transplanted

Mission generation becomes the focus of flying units and the core competency of flying groups. To this end, the Air C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S O F F U T U R E M A I N T E N A N C E S TAT E Force will transfer mission generation functions from maintenance-centric groups to operations groups and their flying squadrons. Whether this will result in maintenance integrated into operations squadrons, traditional maintenance squadrons organized in an operations group, or a mix of both, will require some study. But in any event, there are key differences in responsibilities between this new effort and the Objective Wing structure of the past.

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from one officer to another, so there will be a period of time when rated commanders will lean heavily on advisors from the maintenance career field to learn these skills.

R E PA I R N E T W O R K T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

At the same time Operations is expanding their core competencies portfolio with Mission Generation and fleet health, Maintenance will be leading and managing portions of the developing and sustaining war-fighting systems processes; integrating and growing these from the somewhat parochial base and commoditylevel focus of today to the truly comprehensive enterprise scope of the future.

The Air Force has learned many lessons from the past 17 years of logistics change and expeditionary contingency operations. The Two-Level Maintenance efforts in the mid-nineties; sustaining combat operations without deploying the “required” intermediate level maintenance packages; and the MAJCOM initiatives establishing internal and inter-command Centralized Intermediate Repair Facilities (or Queen Bee operations) have all hinted that an enterprise level repair network could be fully effective while offering the chance for more efficient operations.

In 2005, the Air Force embarked on a centralization initiative called Repair Enterprise for the 21st Century (RE21). RE21 addressed a sub-set of avionics, pods and engines and maintenance activities in an effort to offset the impact of manpower reductions taken to facilitate recapitalization. From it we realized there were substantial opportunities for efficiencies in providing parts, commodities and services to operational wings while sustaining the operational effectiveness we’ve enjoyed and required at home or deployed. As a result, Air Force maintenance is making a break with our past practice of self sufficient wings and creating in its place an enterprise level repair network.

Through the Repair Network Transformation (RNT) initiative, we are creating a network composed of distributed repair activities to perform repairs and maintenance tied to AF-level or enterprise needs. The Repair Network’s capability and capacity will be centrally planned and executed to meet enterprise requirements,

instead of the location-centric approach to planning used today.

The centerpiece of RNT is providing wings the necessary supply and support through a resilient network of parts and service providers; with the goal of reducing overall system costs.

R E PA I R N E T W O R K T R A N S F O R M AT I O N The most visible aspect of this transformation will be the creation of a globally distributed set of repair nodes. Much of the off-equipment maintenance currently done at operational wings, harnessed and controlled to meet wing requirements, will be transferred to Consolidated Repair Facilities (CRFs). Wings will no longer be responsible for routine maintenance actions such as avionics/engine repair, and phase/isochronal inspections. Instead, a series of CRFs will produce components and perform inspections based on enterprise schedules and priorities. But in addition to the CRFs, the Repair Network will also integrate the depot elements of maintenance and repair to provide the Air Force the ability to balance capability, capacity and workload across a larger and more diverse maintenance base.

With that said, it does no good to create a repair network without a way to manage and control it; so Repair Network Management, a sub-initiative under RNT, will develop a set of processes to allow better forecasting of enterprise repair

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ER: RETHINKING MAINTENANCE

capability and capacity requirements. This will improve the Air Force’s effectiveness when investing in new tooling, equipment and infrastructure. It will permit a more robust implementation of Condition-Based Maintenance-Plus, by having CRFs which can cross today’s lines between depot and non-depot work. Equally important, it will allow the service to identify where it has an overage in capacity so those personnel and resources can be used on higher priority work.

At the end of this effort, we will have completely transformed maintenance from the autonomous bases and three-levels of maintenance of our legacy system. In its place we will have placed two complementary and mutually supporting networks— Mission Generation and Repair—which will focus maintenance on core Air Force processes. The Mission Generation Network will be made light and lean, led by operators and a key evolutionary step in our conduct of expeditionary operations. The Repair Network will sustain our warfighting systems by providing wings the required parts and services at a lower total cost of ownership.

no longer exists. We now have a window of opportunity to rethink both our organizations and processes and transform them to better support our service priorities. By establishing Mission Generation and Repair Networks we will ensure the operational effectiveness and combat relevance of our warfighting systems into the future. We will project airpower with smaller forward footprints. We will eliminate wasteful overages spent producing unnecessary maintenance capacity by leveraging advances in logistics and technology and we will invest those savings in new systems, modifications and process changes to improve our combat capability. In re-thinking maintenance, we may move it from a “Functional” with a capital “F”, to just part of the process of conducting Air/Space/Cyber Operations and Sustaining Warfighting Systems; but both those are the core processes by which the Air Force defends the nation. If we get this right, maybe the Airmen who inherit the new maintenance system will be able to take another 50-year “breather.”

About the Author: Mr. George B. LaVezzi, Jr is the Chief of Maintenance Transformation Policy. He develops and modifies maintenance and logistics policies. Integrates and synchronizes pol-

RETHINKING MAINTENANCE This article began by addressing the inevitability of change, and how the world we designed our maintenance system to support

icy, force structure and organizational changes to improve maintenance delivery. EMAIL: george.lavezzi@pentagon.af.mil

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2008 LOA Scholarship Call for Nominations The LOA scholarship program is intended to assist the most deserving Air Force, Army, Navy, Marine, Coast Guard, National Guard, or Reserve enlisted or DoD civilian (Through GS-8, WG-9 or Standard Career Group- YA PB 1, YB PB 1, YP PB 1 or Scientific and Engineering Career Group- YD PB 1, YE PB 1) in a logistics specialty, with college expenses towards an associate or bachelor degree.

Each active chapter may submit one individual for a scholarship.

Chapters that do not have their key leadership positions filled with active National LOA members WILL NOT be eligible to submit scholarship nominations.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 1 AUGUST, 2008 Winners are presented their scholarship award at the annual conference banquet.

For submission criteria please visit: https://www.loanational.org/g-3.htm

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Perspectives IN STEP WITH MAJ GEN ROBERT H. MCMAHON Maj Gen McMahon is Director of Maintenance, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. ER: This summer ER edition addresses transformation. What do you believe are major initiatives that will transform Air Force logistics?

Maj Gen Robert H. McMahon

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: Air Force Logistics transformation is being driven first, by a reorientation around the core processes of the

ER: PERSPECTIVES

Air Force; and second, by the need to simultaneously reduce weapon system total ownership cost while improving operational readiness and combat effectiveness. For logistics, there are major initiatives covering Life Cycle Management; the creation of enterprise Materiel Distribution (Global Logistics Support Center, Global Ammunition Control Point) and Repair Networks (Repair Network Transformation); centralized resource forecasting and execution (Centralized Asset Management); the establishment of objective support levels (Aircraft Availability Improvement Program), and finally wing-level reorganization including the new process-aligned LRS. At the wing level we also have a myriad of AFSO21 initiatives being conducted to increase the efficiency of existing processes.

As part of this transformation, Air Force aircraft maintenance embarked on its first true transformation in 50+ years. We will step away from the concept of self-sufficient wing maintenance organizations and instead organize around two of the ten Air Force core processes: Conduct Air, Space, and Cyber Space Operations, which we support through Mission Generation; and Develop and Sustain Warfighting Systems, which we will support through our Repair Network. As we move down this transformational path, the aircraft maintenance done at wings will reduce to those key activities required for mission generation. We have begun the first steps on this journey through our Repair Enterprise for the 21st Century (RE21) initiatives and by transferring the responsibility for wing fleet health and mission generation in fighter, bomber and rescue groups to the Operations Group Commander. Other maintenance and repair services will ultimately be provided by the Repair Network.

Under our Repair Network Transformation (RNT) initiative, the rest of maintenance, from depot-level PDM lines to wing-level avionics shops, will transfer to a centrally planned network. This network will be comprised of existing Air Logistics Centers (ALCs) and emerging Centralized Repair Facilities (CRFs). Our vision is for CRFs to lose their unit/region/MAJCOM affiliations and instead, all network elements will support AF enterprise requirements. Finally, the capabilities and capacity of the network will be centrally planned and managed to reduce unneeded redundancy and improve effectiveness.

ER: There are inherent risks of not only falling short of objectives but also of creating unforeseen and unintended consequences when transforming large organization. What can we do to ensure that the current transformational initiatives will be successful?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: All endeavors have the twin risks of failure and unintended consequences, but we have a process in place to periodically evaluate the maintenance landscape and ensure that we are achieving the right effects as we drive towards our vision.

In 2006, Air Force maintenance developed a strategic planning process, Air Force Maintenance for the 21st Century (AFMxc21), to identify and update the maintenance vision of the future. In 2007 we published a strategic plan which details nearly 200 task and sub-tasks we feel are necessary to bring about our vision by 2016.

Today, we aggressively track our progress and update our goals. Twice a year, Air Force Senior Maintenance Leaders meet to review progress on, consider and approve changes to, and prioritize the upcoming work for AFMx21. Between sessions, I hold 60-day VTCs with the MAJCOMs to discuss progress and resolve issues on our annual priorities.

There will be set-backs and surprises on this journey. But we put in place a process to identify problems and correct both our current actions, and if necessary modify the route we are taking to achieve the vision. The detailed involvement of maintenance leaders at all levels, and their commitment to creating a system that meets our needs to provide combat power will help ensure that the set 14

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backs will be minor, and the surprises, hopefully few.

ER: Several years ago you led the Depot Maintenance Review Team that reviewed the depot policy and processes. What initiatives spun off from the review which have been successfully implemented?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: A similar question might be, “What drove the dramatic improvements in the performance of our Air Logistics Centers, especially in the area of depot maintenance?”

I think there were two factors. The first was the ALCs’ recognition that if they didn’t become more competitive—improved cost, quality, and schedule performance—they would become irrelevant. This required a cultural change in the work force, but more importantly, in ALC management. The change was based upon creating a culture of continuous process improvement with particular emphasis on LEAN principles. The revolution began at Warner-Robins ALC and spread through all three ALCs. LEAN evolved from a “four letter word” to a way of life for the ALCs. The results were astounding. In a matter of less than five years, our three ALCs went from near irrelevancy to being benchmarks within the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul business sector. Whether in terms of internationally recognized awards such as the Shingo Award, or in terms of internationally recognized commercial certifications such as ISO, ASI, or CMMI, our ALCs all achieved a new level of excellence.

The second factor was the Air Force’s recognition that it had to properly invest in the ALCs to create “world class” operations. To that end, the Air Force committed to revitalizing the infrastructure and building capabilities through investment of $150M per year for fiscal years FY04-09. This investment enabled major process reengineering efforts that have resulted in repair flow-day reductions of aircraft and commodities, and drastically increased on-time delivery rates, further contributing to the new levels of excellence.

Further, Congress recognized the Air Force initiative by codifyinig a “6% of sales” investment requirement into Title 10 statute.”

ER: In the 1990s, General Merrill McPeak, then Air Force Chief of Staff, attempted to reorganize the Air Force into the Objective Wing structure, transferring flightline maintenance responsibility to a flying squadron with a rated squadron commander. Within 10 years General Jumper decided to reorganize maintenance back to the Maintenance Group with maintenance commanders. Did the Objective Wing concept fail, and if so, why?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: The Objective Wing concept did not fail and many of its hallmarks remain in the Combat Wing Organization (CWO). But with 20/20 hindsight, we can see where we made mistakes in how we assigned responsibilities for maintenance. In the Objective Wing structure, we assigned the Logistics Group the responsibility for fleet health, but assigned most of the resources and authority to accomplish it to the Operations Group commander. This created a cross-functional accountability resulting in friction and ambiguity at the tactical level—precisely where we need clean and lean lines of command in our current reorganization effort.

ER: After achieving record-high mission capability (MC) rates of 85.2 percent in 1991 following the “Reagan Build-Up” years, MC rates plummeted in the 1990s to an all time low with an average of 74.4 percent in 2000. What do you think were the driving factors that caused such a rapid decline in fleet wide MC rates in the 1990s?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: There were many factors that drove the decline. One of the primary drivers was the Air Force’s resourcing decisions. Chronic under funding of spares budgets drove Total Nonmission Capable for Supply (TNMCS) rates up over the decade of the 90’s. Concurrently, reduction in end-strength in the early 1990’s hit maintenance particularly hard and resulted in manpower and experience drains.

Further, the way we executed the Objective Wing organizational structure contributed to the decline. First, we created cross-functional accountability for the fleet. We moved the resources for maintaining fleet health to the Operations Group, but held the Logistics Group Commander accountable for the fleet’s condition. Second, we created a DOGM position but didn’t clearly define their authorities or responsibilities. Third, we did not always properly resource the DOGM and SMO positions. Too often, we substituted a major for a lieutenant colonel DOGM, and a captain for a major SMO.

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EXCEPTIONAL RELEASE

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ER: Today those MC rates have steadily improved to 78.5 percent. Do you think the shift back to maintenance leaders in 2002 contributed to the improved MC rates?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: As was the case in the decline, I believe there were a variety of factors that led to improved aircraft readiness. The recovery began in 1999 principally due to an Air Force decision to resource spares and depot operations at a higher level.

Additionally, phenomenal process improvements in the field and depots contributed to more aircraft available to the warfighter and higher MC rates. Furthermore, the CWO organization realigned accountability for fleet health with those responsible for sustaining fleet health. In doing so, a single organization—the Maintenance Group—had the responsibility and the resources to properly care for long-term fleet health, maintenance training, and adherence to standards…all of which contributed to the overall health of the maintenance complex.

ER: Many field Maintenance Group Commanders cite the erosion of experienced 5-level and 7-level Airmen as a major concern from both safety and efficiency perspectives. Do you foresee any specific initiatives tailored to improving the manning and experience levels of this critical segment of our force?

ER: PERSPECTIVES

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: We are implementing AFSO21 initiatives to mitigate manpower reductions and exploring intuitive performance support systems to enhance experience levels. This initiative develops a troubleshooting database based on input by experienced technicians and manipulates the data to provide technical help to inexperienced technicians. We are initiating Repair Network Transformation to optimize our existing repair chain, while freeing up critical maintenance authorizations to support direct mission generation activities. Finally, we are assessing the entire maintenance training enterprise, identifying where there is redundant activity, and streamlining the training process to ensure every minute a maintainer is in training is value-added.

ER: You are universally recognized as a tireless advocate for AFSO21 and a process improvement culture in general. Total Quality Management (TQM), another innovative management initiative implemented in the early 1990s to again address budget and personnel savings, failed to meet planned objectives and was discarded. Why did TQM fail, and how does TQM differ from AFSO 21?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: In the early to mid-1990s the Air Force tried to implement TQM or Quality Air Force (QAF). To many of us, this effort fell short of expectations and some people are concerned that AFSO21 will become TQM. I don’t think this will happen. While the two efforts may be similar in intent, they will differ in implementation and impact. Very simply, AFSO21 is focused on results while QAF was focused on process. The best analogy I can use deals with ending a drought by utilizing a rain dance…AFSO21 is focused on creating rain while QAF would have been focused on perfecting the rain dance.

When we adopted TQM, we tended to focus solely on processes in isolation, without regard for the ultimate output. In other words, we failed to build an architecture that flowed directly from process to product to combat capability. Combat power is our ultimate product - we can’t forget that. In TQM, we spent much of our effort tracking metrics for sub-processes and lost sight of the overall mission. We needed an architecture that tied process to product, and we never developed it. In addition, instead of incorporating TQM into our already highly effective governance and compliance structure, we created a separate one for TQM. We had a successful inspection system within the Air Force that we nearly abandoned in favor of TQM assessments. Operational Readiness Inspections took a back seat to assessments of our TQM maturity and implementation. We lost our focus on the mission and failed to effectively engage the chain of command. As we move toward continuous process improvement, we have to retain our reliance on our chain of command and our existing inspection system to provide the governance and compliance needed.

ER: There is a major shift from the decentralized organizations proposed by General Creech in the 1990s to today’s centralized enterprise initiatives such as Global Logistics Support Center, regionalized C-5 inspections and the Repair Network. What is creating the shift towards centralized enterprise organizations?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: First, I believe that the actions we are taking directly align with what General Creech espoused. We execute our Conduct Air, Space, and Cyber Space Operations core process through the flying squadron commander. The current wing reorganization ensures each flying squadron commander has all the resources and authorities necessary to effectively execute his or her mission.

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Our focus is to create a much more integrated network to support those flying squadron commanders than we have today. Having large stocks of supplies at every base, along with an extensive organic repair capability does not make sense in today’s world of limited resources.

More importantly, it does not match the way we sustain combat operations. Rather, we need to ensure that the resources we dedicate to sustaining our forces are sized to support the entire enterprise, not just a small segment. That means we need to measure repair capability and capacity not at the base level, but at the enterprise level. In doing so, we can assure the same level of supply chain effectiveness (likely an even higher level) in a much more efficient way.

ER: You were instrumental with the highly successful C-5 regionalized isochronical inspection concept at Dover AFB with future locations at Westover ARB and Martinsburg ANG. Do you foresee similar aircraft regional inspection programs?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: Over the next five years, many wing-level maintenance activities will transfer to CRFs, and that includes phase and isochronal inspection activities. For example, AFSOC has also centralized its global C-130 iso-inspection docks at Hurlburt Field. In the near term, the Air Force is considering each MDS to determine if inspections should be consolidated, and if so, the number and locations of where those inspections should take place. At the same time, we are looking at our policies and data systems to determine where changes are necessary to better support enterprise-managed inspection activities.

ER: Any final thoughts for our ER readers?

MAJ GEN MCMAHON: Many are asking, “If we’re the world’s greatest air, space, and cyber space force, why the need for so much change in logistics?” I think it’s a fair question because, quite frankly, change is not easy. Simply put, we need to continue to transform to ensure we remain the world’s greatest air, space, and cyber space force. As our operating environment continues to evolve, we need to constantly adapt to those changes or we’ll find ourselves outdated and ultimately irrelevant. The good news is we’re blessed with the world’s greatest Airmen—officer, enlisted, civilian, and contractor—who understand the need for change and more importantly, can make it happen.

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SPECIAL SECTION:

Transformation…

Depot Style

Submitted by Mr. Ronald L. Orr The following three articles review a major Air Force investment in depot transformation. As we progressed into the first decade of this century, there was a general perception in the Air Force that our depot maintenance processes needed to be reenergized to meet current challenges. While many folks had different ideas of why the organic DM structure was not performing as well as it should, everyone agreed it needed to be “fixed.” Aircraft on time delivery was stuck in the low 80% and the DM organizations had “lost” over $300M a year during the last several years. While there were many islands of excellence, they were lost in a murky sea of mediocrity. Some advocated fixing the structure by closing more organic depots during the next BRAC. Others believed in the ability of the depot maintenance organization to reinvent themselves.

Secretary Roche believed it was a prudent strategy to have a stable, world class organic capability. When he asked Mr. Gibbs in 2001 to serve as the first ASAF for Installation, Environment and Logistics, the Secretary’s number one priority for the office was to make organic depot maintenance world class.

The SECAF and ASAF first emphasized benchmarking our depots against world class depots and directed each DM organization go out to the commercial sector and compare its processes to the best in industry. Meanwhile, starting in the summer of 2001, I led a re-examination and redirection of DM under the title of Depot Maintenance Reengineering and Transformation (DMRT). Some of the current logistics leaders were among the key drivers in this effort; then Colonels Bob McMahon and Gary McCoy, then BG Terry Gabreski, Ms. Debra Walker, Mr. Grover Dunn, Ms. Ellen Griffith, and others now retired such as Mr. George Falldine. During the next five months we took a deep look at the causes, evaluated existing processes,

selected focused solutions, developed an action plan and briefed the SECAF and CSAF by early December.

They approved DMRT as an Air Force initiative and we launched the implementation by the end of 2001.

Mr. Gibbs had wholeheartedly approved of the DMRT effort, supported it in the corporate structure and added momentum by taking an overall strategy through the AF and to Congress in a DM strategy document.

Since the DM organizations showed they were ready, willing and able to improve performance, Mr. Gibbs committed to supporting an increased AF investment in DM transformational efforts. As the depots were expected to be world class, he pushed to increase capital investment to the same level as private industry. This meant increasing investment from 3% to 6% of revenue, which took investment from about $150M to $300M a year for 5 years. Mr. Gibbs was the champion for this increased investment and he led it through the POM and budget approval process. He also was instrumental in ensuring the investments did not simply fund old backlogs of facility and equipment requirements.

He worked with AFMC and the DM organizations to ensure these funds were invested in sound transformational initiatives that included a superior vision, a solid plan and a balanced investment in facilities, equipment, reengineered processes and training for the workforce.

I grew up in the depot maintenance environment and I knew the workforce had the knowledge and dedication to be world class. What it took was leadership by the good men and women of AFMC and the support of AF leadership. This is why we made DMRT, Depot Investment and other initiatives Air Force programs vs. restricting them to an AFMC focus only.

In 2005 the DM performance had improved on time aircraft delivery to over 92% and the annual financial P&L performance had improved from a $300M loss to a $400M profit. At that time the DM was looking at how to give back money to its customers rather than asking for higher sales rates.

Transformational investments cannot be looked at in a vacuum. Adding dollars does not solve most problems unless it is tied to a transformational plan, great leadership, staff support and the desire of the workforce to be the best they can in supporting the warfighter. The DM team proved its mettle and continues to meet the challenge.

About the Author: Mr. Ronald L. Orr, a member of the Senior Executive Service, was Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Environment and Logistics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. He retired in 2005. Today he is CEO of RLO Associates providing consulting support to several large system integration and IT firms. He is on the Board of Directors of Robbins Gioia, a program management support firm.

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Transformation – Ogden Style

Submitted by Mr. Robert Migliore Row after row of aircraft were scattered throughout a dimly lit hangar in what appeared to be random order.

Hundreds of maintenance technicians scurried around like ants from nose to tail performing complex repairs, often stopping work to reposition equipment and planes.

This was the scene in Bldg. 225 as Hill Field (now Hill AFB, Utah) repaired the nation’s B-24 fleet in 1943.

Over time, F-16s and C-130s replaced the now-ancient bombers from World War II but surprisingly, the appearance and functionality of this hangar and the methods by which maintenance was performed had not changed much until recently. For decades, technicians checked out toolboxes and reported to their assigned workstations. If they needed a part or a different set of drawings, the technician physically went to a central location.

Workload priorities were assigned based on aircraft schedule status.

(AMXG) had three major segments: developing new C130 work cells, improving F-16 cellular “pulse” lines and consolidating fuel servicing into one facility.

Before the new work cells were developed, C-130 mechanics accessed the aircraft by portable work stands or wore harnesses while suspended from the ceiling.

Wings, horizontal stabilizers and other components were removed for maintenance by a large crane and placed on trailers that consumed valuable floor space. The design team built platforms that provide unimpeded full airframe access to the C-130s.

“Prior to Lean Transformation, we worked by moving crews and equipment from aircraft to aircraft based on what the next hot issue was,” Tom Whitney, 309th AMXG industrial engineer, said. “What we’ve done … is convert our work flow to cellular operations where the aircraft are worked in specific processes and time frames in both the C-130 and F-16 work cells.”

In 2002 the 309th Maintenance Wing began a journey of Lean Transformation that has led to production efficiencies, upgraded facilities and freed-up capacity, and created a culture of continuous process improvement. An infusion of $55 million in transformation funds during 2004 began the start of major modifications that improved maintenance processes across the wing and in particular the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group and the 309th Commodities Maintenance Group.

The platforms improve the mechanics’ access to needed work locations, which significantly reduces travel time, and effectively doubles the floor space around the aircraft. Indeed, the work stand is so large that one mechanic joked “it’s big enough to have its own ZIP code.”

Transformation by the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group

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The stands have also improved efficiency. Before, two mechanics needed four to six hours to remove the inner fuel tank off the wing and place it onto the ground, Mr.

Whitney said. Now, one mechanic can remove the tank, position it onto a dolly, and do it more safely in less than 90 minutes. The improvements in workflow efficiency and the cost reduction success of the new C-130 cells have motivated 309 AMXG engineering and management teams to design and fund additional work stands and cells.

The 309 AMXG has expanded capabilities by co-locating F-16 service docks in one building and created the first ever cellular pulse lines at Hill AFB. In the past, aircraft modifications were accomplished in three separate buildings.

As each modification process was completed, operators would wait, sometimes many hours, for a fuel service tow. (fig 3) C-130 Work area before transformation. Mechanics accessed the aircraft by portable workstands or wore a The 309 AMXG Fuel Barn was redesigned harness while suspended from the ceiling. as a 6-bay, full-aircraft service facility that eliminated unnecessary towing. These To simplify the process, the 309 CMXG added a C-5 changes increase aircraft turn-time, reduce manpower Disassembly Stand, capable of lifting, turning and rotating and equipment costs, and simplify scheduling. (fig 4) the part mechanically. Mechanics can now disassemble At the same time all the great things were happening in the the gear with each part at a comfortable level while the 309 AMXG, other Wing groups were embarking on their part is securely held by the stand. own significant transformation projects. The 309th “Dollar-wise the disassembly stand was not one of the big Commodities Main-tenance Group (CMXG) transformed spender items, but it has made it a lot better for the the landing gear facility into a state-of-the-art maintemechanic and there is less chance of damaging parts,” Mr. nance facility. This project used Lean principles to develop Olmstead said. process flow families, established selected work cells and purchased new equipment to reduce cycle time and Additional CMXG transformation projects included improvimprove quality. The cumulative effect of these initiatives ing work flow by grouping the machines in the Machine resulted in reduced facility requirements by 10 percent and Shop; and developing new spray booths that spray metal reduced material costs by $28 million. The average flow — created from metal powders mixed with carbides and days improved from 108 to 66 for strut components, and other compounds — on parts instead of chrome, resulting from 29 to 18 for wheels and brakes. in coatings that wear better than chrome.

For years, aircraft wheels, brakes, and struts were painted and then hung to dry on an overhead conveyor system, thus further increasing processing time.

“We’ve added curing ovens that will dry the parts after they are primed and top coated,” said Hal Olmstead, Landing Gear director of operations. (fig 5 & 6) “Hang time will be greatly reduced because we’re not waiting for the part to dry. The parts are then routed to their next area by a smart monorail system.”

The C-5 Galaxy is the largest aircraft in the Air Force, and proportionately has the largest landing gear. CMXG mechanics working on the massive part had to twist and turn to reach components as it sat on a stand.

130 Work area after transformation. Platforms improve access to work locations significantly reducing travel time and effectively double the floor space.

“When this was first talked about — ideas like onepiece flow, faster flow or working toward the plan, were viewed at first by the workforce with a skeptical eye,” Mr. Olmstead said. “Most workers now appreciate it, understand it and actually make decisions based on transformation goals.”

In both groups, a team approach to these transformation projects ensured a truly successful outcome.

Mechanics, engineers, Lean specialists, management, and the union all played a key role and were equal stakeholders.

The 309th Maintenance Wing is now using “strategy linkage” to review proposed projects to determine if they support overall wing goals. Don Jessen, a cost analyst assigned to the 309 MXW Business Office says, “the projects are given a linkage score based on how Curing ovens are implemented to expedite cure time. Hang time is greatly reduced because they fit into the wing, group and squadron annual there is no waiting on parts to dry. improvement projects, and criteria includes business outlook; if they are part of new and emerging workAircraft, repair procedures, terminology and people have loads; and how they affect cost, quality and schedule. changed greatly since Bldg. 225 opened in 1943. The “We give the project a weight of one, three, or nine, 309th Maintenance Wing remains focused on responding based on costs and savings-to-investment ratio,” Mr. to customers’ needs and supporting the warfighter, with Jessen said. “We’ve scored 20 or 30 of these projects added emphasis on efficiency, accuracy, modernization across the wing. The projects with a score of one or two and safety. are considered low impact, three to five have a medium impact, and anything with a six or above is a high impact. About the Author: Mr. Robert K. Migliore is the Chief This process fits well with the wing strategy and helps bring of Transformation and Director of Process Improvement in workloads to areas we want to grow and ensure those for the 309th Maintenance Wing at Hill Air Force funds are used to help achieve the wing strategy.”

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Finished C-5 landing gear components after expedited cure. The parts are then routed by a smart monorail system to their final destination.

Transformation Robins Style

Large Aircraft Corrosion Control Hangar Robins Air Force Base is the home to depot repair for the C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster, two of the largest aircraft in the U.S. Air Force inventory.

To de-paint and paint these giant aircraft required Robins to build a new facility, which was officially opened in May 2007.

Robins’ new paint and de-paint facility measures approximately 225,000 square feet and has two 65,000 square foot hangar bays. (Photo by Tommie Horton, WRAFB)

Submitted by Mr. Kenneth Presse The 402d Maintenance Wing located at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, received approximately $261 million designated for transformation projects beginning in FY 04.

Since that time the base has spent almost $170 million of those funds to transform several operations to better serve the warfighter. Three of the projects are the large aircraft corrosion control hangar, Versatile Depot Automatic Test Stations, and the cargo aircraft functional test area reconfiguration. To be considered transformational, a project must provide innovative concepts, methods, and technologies which result in significant operational improvements. The three projects highlighted below fit the definition of transformational since each has provided significant operational improvements.

The facility measures approximately 225,000 square feet and has two 65,000 square foot hangar bays, one for painting and the other for depainting, along with a common central facility for systems and process equipment plant. The project cost approximately $80 million and is the largest construction project to take place at Robins. Transformation money was received in FY04 for this project and amounted to $25.73 million in MILCON funds and $15 million for initial outfitting equipment. The new facility optimizes the paint removal and application process and increases the level of safety for the painters.

The facility was designed based on the needs of the users and makes it easier to bring aircraft in and out of the maintenance area, improves the process for mixing paint and makes it easier for workers to reach the upper areas of the aircraft for painting and de-painting. Some of the innovative features that will help mission capability soar at the facility are smooth walls and ceilings eliminating exposed structural elements that can disturb airflow and collect paint overspray, dust and other undesirable elements. The facility also features halide lighting which provides the best color rendition to assist the painters, since painting “is a very visual job and we wanted to make sure they could do a good job,” said Steve Hensley, facility engineer.

Another asset in the structure’s design is having a central location for chemical distribution with piping to the workers in an effort to avoid spillage and material handling around the aircraft. Having all the tanks in one area allows for more accurate mixture and control, and reduces clutter on the floor.

Versatile Depot Automatic Test Stations (VDATS). The test stations will enable technicians to test multiple avionics components using a common configuration that spans all workloads. (Photo by Tom Mettendorf, WRAFB)

Two innovations in the facility include the telescoping manlift platforms (TMP), which workers affectionately call the “flying carpet,” and the aerial mobility or multi-access platform. The TMP is an extremely worker friendly system that allows the worker to travel around to reach all parts of the aircraft in a safe manner. The TMP incorporates a safety feature that won’t allow it to run into an aircraft.

The aerial mobility platform (AMP) is operated by someone sitting in the cab who can utilize four blast nozzles simply by pulling the trigger. This four nozzle arrangement allows the controller to do the strip work of 10 workers using the old system.

Besides the innovations already mentioned, the air circulation system in the facility has earned special recognition for its environmental and safety benefits. The air circulation system takes 2.5 million cubic feet per minute of air that is required to be processed through the hangar’s bays and returns 90% of it as clean air. This air, which has been heated or cooled and humidity controlled, represents a lot of energy that is being returned into the system instead of being exhausted out of the stacks. The recirculation effort reduces natural gas consumption from more than 200,000 cubic feet per hour to less than 50,000.

The air circulation system saves the government about $2 million in heating and cooling costs each year. In addition to the monetary savings, the health and safety of the workers is just as important. The air circulation process is constant when the paint process is ongoing, completely washing all the air in the dock Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, received the 2006 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in every two to three minutes. The air circulation Operations Research on Monday, May 1, 2006, for its use of operations research to streamline mainsystem employs a three stage filtering mecha- tenance procedures for the C-5 Galaxy. Using innovative management processes, the time required to nism where air goes through and is monitored repair and overhaul the C-5 was reduced 33 percent. (USAF photo James Morrow) for organic chemicals. If the monitor detects high levels of chemicals it will shut down the The Common Core Tester concept was briefed in 2002 paint guns and automatically bring in 100 percent fresh and submitted as a transformation project in 2003. Air air so the workers are never endangered. In addition, Force Materiel Command liked the transformation project audible and visual alarms indicate to workers if chemical so much it promised $52 million to implement it. The translevels are too high to provide another level of safety. formation dollars amounted to $2.25 million in FY 05, $13 million in FY 06, $11 million in FY 07 and $25.75 planned for Versatile Depot Automatic Test Stations (VDATS) FY 09. All work on the project is being done in-house, Robins Air Force Base is making avionics equipment which saves the Air Force thousands of dollars, along with testers universal to all aircraft components with the deliv- savings in training costs since employees will have to be ery of the first Versatile Depot Automatic Test Stations trained on only one tester.

(VDATS) to avionics shops on base. The test stations will The development of VDATS relied not only on the 402d enable technicians to test multiple avionics components Electronics Maintenance Group, the 402d Software using a common configuration that spans all workloads.

Maintenance Group and the 742d Combat Sustainment The VDATS project began as a plan for a common tester Group, but included component vendors to avoid potenin early 2000 to replace testers with an average age of 24 tial obsolescence issues and to make sure the compoyears. Adding to the need for a new tester is the fact that nents that were picked were supportable by the manumany of the current tester manufacturers had retained facturer into the future. Additionally, the manufacturers proprietary control and it was difficult to obtain specifica- agreed to notify the government in advance of any plans tions, drawings or parts. Most of the old testers were built to stop supporting the components. to test one piece of equipment since they were designed The project team expects to deliver 40 VDATS units by the and built around a “new” technology and would not end of FY09. The tester was never designed to be the work with other avionics equipment.

100% solution to the avionics problems, but rather The development began with a Common Core Tester addresses 80% of the immediate workload, while retaining concept which started with just a digital analog tester for the flexibility to add increased capacity in the future getting radio frequency (RF) and radar, which is a large through commercial-off-the-shelf components. Having portion of what is repaired at Robins’ avionics depot, and more than one VDATS unit will also allow workload to can be expanded to include a common core set of move from one tester to another if a tester fails, something instruments in the tester. The initial design was completed not possible today with unique testers. In addition, the by personnel from the 402d Electronics Maintenance testers are being looked at by the other two Air Logistics Group and the 402d Software Maintenance Group who Centers and the U. S. Army. developed the self-test software, the calibration software, The organic development of the VDATS allows the Air tech orders, drawings, and the support documentation Force to have the advantage of developing government and software that goes with the tester. experts on the system, reduces reliance on contractor Continued on following page...

knowledge, and eliminates problems with proprietary data by using commercial-off-the-shelf components and open system architecture. Cost savings were projected for construction of the test stations, although each will cost approximately $850 thousand. The government expects to save over $20 million on the construction of the first 31 stations versus a projected cost of a GSA buy for a similar tester. Besides the costs involved the team created a tester that will be easier to support by avoiding some of the pitfalls associated with contract efforts, such as, proprietary data issues, opportunity to develop in-house expertise and elimination of dependence on time consuming and costly contracts for support of equipment after it is fielded.

Cargo Aircraft Functional Test In 1997, a Robins Air Force Base team of key personnel from plans and programs, production processes, safety, and management was formed specifically to identify aircraft capacity shortages, safety issues, and potential future constraints. One of the most obvious constraints was the grossly inadequate facilities to support cargo aircraft functional test. The team proposed a two-fold solution.

Step one was to demolish the substandard, insufficient facilities, and replace them with one centrally located Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Facility (CAMF) to consolidate all the activities related to cargo functional test. Step two was to mitigate inadequate ramp space and blast fencing for the growing cargo aircraft workload.

A congressional insert allocated $8 million in FY04 for the construction of the CAMF. It provided 41,000 square feet of administrative, shop, and storage space to centralize all the storage, tools, material, equipment, tech data, and support staff to efficiently conduct and manage every process related to cargo aircraft functional test.

In FY05, transformation dollars awarded step two, the $15 million Add/Alter Aircraft Ramp, conveniently sited behind the CAMF. This military construction (MILCON) project provided more than 1.6 million square feet of ramp space and one 1300 linear feet of continuous blast fence, sized to accommodate the largest aircraft in the

James Releford repairs the insulation on hot air ducts for C-5 Galaxy pylons. (USAF photo James Morrow)

USAF inventoryand ensuring maximum flexibility. The project provided sufficient ramp space for larger (C-5 and C17) cargo aircraft, as well as the increasing workload requirements to support the C-130 fleet. In addition, the placement and angel of the new blast fence was designed to limit the noise from engine runs for the benefit of those working in the adjacent control tower, thus alleviating a potential bio-environmental (noise) hazard.

A single ribbon-cutting ceremony was held 11 December 2006 to officially celebrate the opening of the sister projects, CAMF and Add/Alter Aircraft Ramp. Together, the two MILCON projects successfully transformed cargo aircraft functional test operations at WR-ALC. Ramp congestion was eliminated; safety and environmental vulnerabilities were resolved; employee quality-of-life issues were met and exceeded; and all functional test requirements and operations were consolidated to maximize quality and efficiencies. With the projected reduction in aircraft flow days, these projects will increase aircraft availability to the C-5, C-17, and C-130 fleets, and improve overall mission capability for the United States Air Force.

Although this article only highlights three of the transformation projects, there have been numerous others which are expected to result in improvements to operations and efficiency at Robins Air Force Base. The improvements from the transformation projects are expected to result in significant savings to the Air Force and increased ability to support the warfighter by reducing flowdays and keeping more airplanes in the hands of operational Air Force units to accomplish their designed capabilities.

About the Author: Mr. Kenneth R. Presse is a Program Analyst for Strategic Alignment and Deployment (SA&D), responsible for advising the wing commander on SA&D issues and progress. Analyzes group and staff office monthly performance metric trends against goals established in their SA&D. EMAIL: kenneth.presse@robins.af.mil

Monroe Allen (left) and Jessie Walker tear down a C-5 Galaxy main landing gear at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. (USAF photo James Morrow)

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Transformation Tinker Style Submitted by Lt Col Lee Curtis Unique among the three AFMC maintenance wings, the 76th Maintenance Wing (76 MXW) is tackling Depot Maintenance Transformation (DMT) by focusing its efforts on strategic-level, large scale projects organized by business units. The projects are undertaken through a combination of contract and organic teams that incorporate lean manufacturing principles into shops and processes associated with a specific product area.

Over the course of its 10-year transformation plan, 76 MXW will transform seven business units: F100 Engine, Tanker Aircraft, Surveillance Aircraft, Bomber Aircraft, Pratt & Whitney Engines, GE Engines, and Commodities, enhancing the impact of over 8000 people and 6 million square feet of industrial facilities.

76 MXW’s landmark transformation program incorporates a holistic/systems engineering approach, using lean manufacturing principles combined with eLog21 initiatives.

These include tailored supply chain management, total component management and information technology necessary for complete visibility and control of production processes. The “future state” goal is to exceed all force provider and other stakeholder expectations—with a 20 percent increase in aircraft and related aerospace equipment availability and a 10 percent cost reduction.

“The task of transforming an operation of this size and scale is predicated on innovation,” said Brigadier General Judy Fedder, 76 MXW Commander. She said, “We have to find and implement new ways to streamline our maintenance processes so we can provide improved support to the warfighter. That means reducing flow days, work in progress, and costs while improving work place safety, depot capability, and system and equipment availability.”

Prior to the transformation program’s launch, 76 MXW executed an intensive two-phase source selection process. During Phase I, the team meticulously examined potential contractors and narrowed the selection to two contractors to compete in Phase II – the “Fly-Off,” which cost 76 MXW $500,000.

“The six-month ‘Fly-Off’, much like the head-to-head competitions used during past aircraft and engine pro-

curement processes, gave the final two teams a unique opportunity to work with our team of subject matter experts, learn about our business and then develop and submit an Overarching Transformation Plan and an F100 Business Unit Plan,” said Gary Krebsbach, 76 MXW Process Improvement and Quality Assurance Office Director. “So once the winner was announced and the contract awarded in April 2005, we were able to hit the ground running because we had a significant part of F100 Business Unit transformation plan already developed.”

Three product-focused clusters comprise the F100 Business Unit. In all, 28 lean cells, including 21 production cells, three support cells, and four supply cells, will be transformed. To date, 11 cells have been completed, and 17 cells are under construction. The entire business unit is projected to reach completion in December 2008.

As the first of three clusters comprising the F100 Business Unit, the F100 Engine Inlet Fan/Fan Drive Turbine Cluster reached completion in March 2007. The cluster is made up of nine cells, including: assembly, disassembly, material supply, support and five repair cells. Design and construction began in June 2005, and completion marked the culmination of thousands of hours of outstanding effort from both Team Tinker employees and Team Battelle, the group of contractors assisting the Air Logistics Center with the transformation effort.

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Maintainers ease the 30-foot-diameter rotodome onto an E-3 at Tinker AFB. (USAF photo Margo Wright)

The lean redesign of all processes and industrial areas enables the depot to co-locate people, equipment and products to best utilize space and time. In the first F100 cluster, the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group (76 PMXG) reaped great improvements in the processes contained within each cell. Distance traveled by Inlet Fan and Fan Drive Turbine parts was reduced from 3.7 miles to less than one mile. Ownership changes decreased from 74 to 24, and flow days dramatically declined from 46 to 16 days.

“When an F-15 or F-16 takes off,” said Col Brian Tri, 76 PMXG Commander, “there should never be a doubt in the pilot’s mind about the quality of the work we do. As a matter of fact, they will have the added knowledge that we have designed our processes to ensure an even higher level of quality.”

Because Commodities plays such a vital role in the production process across all business units, the Commodities Business Unit transformation is an ongoing effort expected to last the duration of the transformation. The B-1 Avionics Production and Support Cells are currently being redesigned as part of the Commodities Business Unit transformation effort.

To enable full integration of the F100 Business Unit, several Commodities shops had to be relocated to create swing space. To optimize the effectiveness of these moves, 76 MXW completed lean redesigns on the new cells as they were relocated, using both contractor and organic efforts. The

swing space moves involved the Boom Shop, B-1 Stab Shop, Tube and Cable Shop, and Numerical Control Machine Shop. To make these redesigns possible, various facility and utility upgrades and equipment purchases were required to support the new cells.

The Consolidated Fuel Overhaul, Repair, and Test Facility is a Commodities transformation project in its early stages, a $35.0M FY08 DMT MILCON investment. The project entails construction of a modern facility to replace the fuel accessory shops in two antiquated facilities and allow colocation of all shops supporting 15 different weapon systems. The project will result in a significant decrease in flow days and increased throughput. Completion of the Consolidated Fuel Overhaul, Repair & Test Facility is expected to result in a savings to investment ratio of 7.3 to 1, with payback achieved in 3.9 years after construction is complete.

Another significant transformation effort involved the rotodome removal process for the E-3 surveillance aircraft. Previously, this workload had to be accomplished in a separate building on the other side of the base, resulting in extended flow days and increased costs. As part of its lean efforts, 76 MXW transformed the E3 PDM facility into a rotodome removal and repair facility as well.

Acquisition of new work stands and cranes achieved this feat, John Kelly operates the controls of a Campbell Grinder mac cutting 5,000 miles of distance hine, while monitoring the repair of a part from an F100 engi traveled by personnel and equipne. (USAF photo Ron Mullan)

ment and 350 man-hours per aircraft out of the current production process. This helped reduce E-3 PDM flow days from 268 to 185.

The Tanker Business Unit for the KC-135 aircraft is also underway. Design plans for the Production, Supply, and Support cells have been approved. An innovative design for new work stands that will surround the plane providing mechanics with easier access to the entire aircraft has also been completed. A prototype of the work stand has been ordered with delivery expected in July 2008.

“Historically, tracking parts has been one of our biggest obstacles,” said Mr. Krebsbach.

“We cannot be a lean organization unless we ensure the right part is at the right place at the right time. By being able to track our parts, we can better forecast our needs and get the mechanics what they need when they need it to get their jobs done.

The Item Unique Identifier program is a major accomplishment for the depot and we will see significant dividends once the program in fully integrated.”

While transformation activities are underway throughout 76 MXW, the Benefit/Cost Analysis and Return on Investment (BCA/ROI) can be deceiving, especially when the wing’s unique approach to its transformation effort is taken into account.

76 MXW’s approach integrates all changes required to implement lean manufacturing “While launching the 76 processes into seven business units instead MXW’s transformation effort,” of performing separate and isolated projsaid Gen Fedder, “we were Mike Kraus makes adjustments on a five-axis milling mac ects across the enterprise. As a result, the navigating uncharted waters hine prior to working on an F119 intermediate comp scope of the effort drove the BCA/ROI paybecause our methodology ressor. (USAF photo Ron Mullan) back analysis to calculate ROI based on for change is new to the Air investment plus six years. The primary differForce. We learned many lesence between the holistic approach 76 MXW has taken sons from the F100 Business Unit and are applying them to versus the more common approach of using individual other business units as we go forward.” process improvement and rapid improvement events is The age of the buildings and equipment has driven a num- that the latter approach leads to a ROI in the first or secber of unanticipated, but necessary, upgrades and pur- ond year. Meanwhile, 76 MXW’s approach is intended to chases to correct deficiencies in electrical, structural, and achieve more substantial benefits that are realized over a other infrastructure and driven up costs correspondingly. longer term. The program is on schedule to become selfThese upgrades have improved facilities and made them financing (financed by annual transformation savings) in more viable and versatile for decades to come. As work FY13 with a break-even point in FY16. continues, the wing is applying lessons learned to help reduce the risk and cost of transforming future business units using a variety of both contract and organic efforts.

As part of the effort to eliminate waste and improve the rate and quality of production, the transformation team also purchased and deployed an innovative Item Unique Identifier (IUID) program that will dramatically improve the tracking of parts across the entire enterprise. Each individual part will have a built-in 2D Data Matrix placard that can store one hundred times the data of a barcode while having a higher damage threshold. This 2D Data Matrix placard can be read with an optical reader to provide complete visibility throughout the maintenance process.

One of the many advantages to the wing’s approach to transformation is the culture change. The workforce gains ownership of the processes within their cells and they are both empowered and expected to continue the process improvement efforts after their cells have been transformed. By making the mechanic the “center of gravity” and deploying the IUID program, the days of the mechanic experiencing work stoppages because he is waiting for a part or searching for a part throughout the maintenance complex will soon be over.

When fully implemented, the IUID program will lead to a decrease in flow days and an increase in productivity.

“Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center is fully committed to achieving and sustaining successful transformation efforts,” said Gen Fedder. “That’s why we are pursuing this holistic approach and why we have not only committed our Depot Maintenance Transformation dollars to the effort, but also additional funding from our wing budget.

Considering the magnitude of our transformation and the number of buildings and cells it encompasses, we acknowledge the program has a long way to go. Still, we are making great strides in how we perform our work as well as in the quality and quantity of product we produce for the warfighter. As transformation advances, I expect to see continued improvements that will drive 76 MXW’s efficiency and cost effectiveness as we deliver the right workload to the warfighter.”

About the Author: Lt Col Lee Curtis is the Deputy Director, 76 MXW Quality Assurance and Process Improvement Office. He leads maintenance transformation, quality assurance, and environmental for the USAF’s largest air logistics center. Additionally he guides quality assurance for repair of 844 AF/Navy aircraft, over 22,000 engines, and 32,000 different components. Focusing 76 MXW’s continuous process improvement efforts formore than 8,000 military/civilian personnel. EMAIL: Robert.curtis@tinker.af.mil

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Some Thoughts on Logistics Transformation

Submitted by Brig Gen (ret) Robert E. Mansfield, Jr.

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ince the end of the Cold War there has been a continued effort to transform United States military logistics.

Transformation activities over the past 15 years or so have consumed billions of dollars for information systems and technology (IS/IT) modernization; reorganization of logistics functions; efforts by some of the nations’ best consultants, large and small; and engaged thousands of high performing DoD military and civilian personnel, as well as talented political appointees. This treasure in money and human talent does not seem to have made the impact that those pursuing the transformation had hoped—logistics costs aren’t falling as had been envisioned, money had not been freed for modernization, and readiness levels remain flat or fall. An effort that is intended to reduce the cost of military logistics, reduce its size in proportion to combat forces and employ the best in proven commercial technology and management success is not meeting expectations. A question that begs an answer is “Why?” There are a number of popular reasons. Those commonly mentioned are: the short tours of senior uniformed officers; the learning curve for civilian political appointees; incentives not aligned with transformational goals; the lack of agility/flexibility in the Planning, Programming and Budgeting System (PPBS), as well as acquisition policies and procedures (logistics transformation is a big opportunity

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for contractors so they fight furiously for the enterprise contracts driving caution in acquisition); under funding of initiatives; inability to fully define requirements; and military services parochialism among themselves and among their internal functional organizations.

One can add that there has also been impatience by the most senior civilian leadership and military warfighters that tend to either desire or believe that the transformation can or should be able to get ensconced quickly. There has also been a belief that logistics transformation should fit as another program competing in the PPBS as just another initiative. Patience wanes and thus new directions are taken; likely prematurely. These are all contributors and arguing with them is hard, because each has truth and can be easily observed. The harsh reality is that these all are factors, but there are others that have not been addressed which are not so readily apparent. The purpose of this article is to offer a look at some others.

The logistics transformation journey has missed addressing some other things that may have slowed it down. Those are: a definition of the meaning of transformation that all involved can understand; a sense of the foundations of military logistics as related to transformation; and an understanding of the theory and context in which the transformation takes place. The business sage, Peter F. Drucker, is quoted as saying, “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”

This quote has relevance for logistics transformation, as a fair

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amount of effort has been put on identifying and focusing on the turbulence (identifying the problems) rather than looking deeply at the logic needed to overcome the turbulence. First, a common, accepted definition of this thing called “transformation” may help.

Transformation means changing—possibly in radical, fundamental and dramatic ways—the methods, process and techniques by which an end is met. It is not redefining the end; it is not changing the business one is in; it is not entering a different market; it is not necessarily adapting others’ best practices. It is finding new ways of achieving an outcome. For the military it is to deter enemies of the United States, enabling an effective means of projecting national power, and if called upon, defeat an enemy in war—not to be too flippant, but as one commercial logistics company once boasted, “all the time, every time.” What this view of transformation means is starting with the end in mind, not the problem—today’s logistics must cost less and provide the desired level of readiness (or availability) for assuring the military force national interests require.

These are the end measures.

Another point to make is— that which transforms one organization may not work well in others. Most of the major transformation efforts have been made in the commercial sector. There has been a proclivity by military logisticians to look for transformational answers in the commercial world. There clearly are analogies and parallels, but functions and the end measures are different.

Military logistics is not commercial logistics. Indeed there are many similarities. But the major difference is huge. The purpose of military logistics is to support military power. It is not to make sales, gain market share, or to grow. In fact, the outcomes that US military logistics supports are not to make sales or attract customers at all. Actually, the US military system is designed for an ultimate purpose this is not commercial in its orientation; that is—destroy the enemy. If one puts military logistics in a commercial context, one would say its purpose is not to deliver products, but to destroy the customer (the enemy is the ultimate customer of the military system). The military wants no customers, and surely no repeat ones.

Deterrence and non-use of military power is a desired result. The purpose of military logistics is clearly different.

Of course logistics capability is expected to be used. Logistics is crucial to military operations of all types; it’s used day-to-day to support ingarrison activities, repair and maintenance, global movements, and deployed and engaged combat forces. It is truly the life blood of military operations, as much as it is the key to commercial success. But it is detrimental to effective transformation to carry the parallel too far.

How we define logistics is important in making logistics transformation a success. Logistics is derived from the Greeks and given significance by Napoleon. One of the Western World’s great military leaders, Bonaparte, established the modern organization of armies, and attracted some of the greatest generals, strategists and logisti-

cians of his age. Logistics, from its Greek roots, is about counting— inventory; inventory status, distribution, movement—all relationships to inventory management and utilization. Yes, this is important. And in the development of modern military power very important. But, for the current reform of US military logistics, one should look to the Roman view of logistics for a little different perspective and contextual thinking.

The Romans call logistics, “Impeditenum.” An impediment to the operation of the legion and army—a very different mind-set comes from using this word. Something that is not new to the military person familiar with the concept of friction in war. The Romans had it right; logistics is friction. A major focus of lean and the Toyota Production System is about reducing the friction in processes; not putting counting and inventory management first. The system and the processes that operate the system are critical to reducing friction. Ways to reduce friction of the logistics processes is important to effective transformation. In a number of ways—less may be more.

A third point to be considered is an articulated “theory of military logistics.” In the commercial business world “the theory of the firm” has been built over several centuries by business scholars and practioners. The theory of the firm describes the behavior of companies; how they operate in markets; and the varying forms they take to meet objectives, like profit maximization, market share, sale maximization, etc. The theory needs to be relevant to the environment and designed to meet the environment. Some are beginning to question the validity of the current theory of the firm in the world today. Logistics needs a theory to describe itself in a transformed state. This can guide the transformation. But, this theory needs to be rigorously tested against today’s environment. While considerable effort has been and is being made to bring the best in communications and information technology to logistics, the context and theory for the current environment needs to be included. From this will come new logistics doctrine (another area that needs attention.)

The environment is itself transforming. Logistics cannot be looked at in the same context and with the same theoretical basis as it once was for its transformation to be effective overtime.

Military logistics transformation is more than a programmatic activity. It is as dramatic a move as from propeller driven aircraft to jet powered. It should be treated so and looked at a bit more holistically than it has. How we think about logistics and transformation could likely help move it forward more quickly and provide endurance over time.

About the Author: Brig Gen (ret) Robert E. Mansfield Jr. was Special Assistant for Supply Chain Integration and Logistics Transformation, Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. He retired from active duty in June 2003.

Currently he is Director of the National Center for Aerospace Leadership at the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, Inc.

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eLog21: Dynamically Transforming Air Force Logistics Submitted by Lt Col Daniel Wuchenich

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he Air Force has a long and proud history of improving the way it conducts its logistics operations. Over time the Air Force logistics system has evolved from the original Army Air Corps to where we are today. In 2001 we embarked on the spares campaign and Depot Maintenance Review Team efforts to improve the way we managed our supply chain and depot operations after it became apparent to our senior leadership that we were missing an integrated picture of where we really needed to go. As had been our past tradition, we were continuing to pursue evolution in various functional stovepipes without a clear picture of how these efforts fit

together without unifying common goals. So in 2003, the Air Force leadership merged a number of stand-alone functional and/or MAJCOM efforts into a broad- based campaign designed to fundamentally transform all logistics processes across the Air Force. This 10year campaign, called Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century (eLog21), is now at the halfway point, and as a result, the Air Force is already realizing benefits. eLog21 actually pre-dates, but does in fact follow, the same flight path of continuous improvement espoused by Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO21). AFSO21 is an enterprise-wide effort focused on continuous process improvement. Like AFSO21, eLog21 focuses on process improvement to transform and improve how the Air Force executes its mission. eLog21 specifically focuses on integrating and synchronizing all logistics processes from the flight line to the factory enabling improved logistics support. AFSO21 and eLog21 are designed to help us meet Air Force needs today and tomorrow. They are directly contributing to winning today’s fight, developing and caring for Airmen, and preparing for tomorrow’s challenges. eLog21 is built around a plan for the future called the Logistics Enterprise Architecture or LogEA for short. This plan establishes the

Members of a Strategic Air Command combat crew race for their always ready-and-waiting B-52 Stratofortress. Fifty percent of the SAC bomber and tanker force was on continuous ground alert, ready to be en route to target within the warning time provided by the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. (USAF file photo)

vision and provides the high level processes that will better integrate and synchronize Air Force logistics activity transforming us from a tactically dominated approach to logistics to one that is optimized at the total enterprise level to ensure that we leverage our capabilities to achieve the intended effect. A comprehensive, evolving campaign plan has been developed with a massive scope due to the very nature of Air Force logistics—a complex global enterprise constantly operating in a dynamic environment. eLog21 is perhaps the most ambitious logistics transformation efforts ever attempted in either industry or the military, covering every single process in the Air Force supply chain. The scope and complexity of eLog21 often makes it difficult to describe and consequently, difficult to fully understand. It is first and foremost a campaign to improve processes. It does involve new technology and organization designs, but as enablers to improve our logistics processes. Process improvement is the heart of this transformation campaign.

Master Sgt. Steven Grimes places a tool marker on a floor plan for the new A-10 phase dock at Moody AFB. Members of the 23rd Wing and outside consultants gathered to perform a process improvement evaluation on the phase section. (USAF photo TSgt Parker Gyokeres)

Why the change? What was broken? These are natural questions and the answers are clear and compelling. Air Force logistics processes and systems served us very well in the past, but were designed to support the Cold War strategy which is not consistent with how we actually plan and conduct operations today and into the future. Warfighting today and into the future demands a logistics system that is significantly more agile, flexible, and dynamic than the one we have today. In the future we must improve our effectiveness while reducing the cost and footprint of logistics if the Air Force is to remain relevant to our national security needs. As eLog21 continues to unfold, revamped processes—enabled by technology, solutions, and organizational changes—will give the Air Force a more effective and affordable capability to deliver full-spectrum effects now and in the future.

The size and complexity of Air Force logistics make it impossible to undertake this all at once, and to implement these changes while our forces are engaged across the globe. The Air Force is executing eLog21 through a series of initiatives – “bitesized pieces” of the logistics enterprise that can be effectively tackled without disrupting warfighter support. These initiatives are incorporated into a master plan based on achieving the overall plan or architecture design for the future. They are carefully sequenced and designed to increase aircraft and equipment availability, reduce operation and support costs, and improve the working life of our Airmen.

The current campaign to transform logistics will take a decade to complete. Over the past five years we have made significant progress towards improving logistics processes using tools based on Lean concepts and the principles of Continuous Process Improvement. Initiatives begun in 2001 are now fully ingrained into our everyday business processes – they have become the way we do business. These initiatives include:

Depot Maintenance Transformation (DMT), which took a Lean approach to integrate process improvements on the depot shop floors and production support processes

Purchase & Supply Chain Management (PSCM) which introduced strategic sourcing, commodity councils, and improved supplier and customer relationship management to our Air Logistics Centers and has set the stage for the full up integration of our total AF supply chain from flightline to factory

Weapons System Supply Chain (WSSC) management which established a manager responsible for linking supply chain processes and inputs (money) in order to maintain balance alignment between supply chain processes and customer objectives (obtaining weapon systems or parts) to achieve both weapon system availability and cost reduction goals

As we approach the mid point in the eLog21 transformation, we are focusing on 12 initiatives designed to improve key supply

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ER:

ELOG21:

D Y N A M I C A L LY T R A N S F O R M I N G A I R F O R C E L O G I S T I C S

supporting air and space power across all military operations.

Tech. Sgt. Roy Wiggen takes a look at an E-3 Sentry as it has its annual isochronal inspection. Inspections were done every 180 days, but through AFSO21 processes the inspections were changed to once a year. (USAF photo SSgt Stacy Fowler)

chain operations. As we continue to develop, design, implement, and execute these initiatives, they too will become the way we do business. As we continue through this 10 year transformation, it is important that everyone involved understand this is not only about change, but it is also about learning As we learn more, we must adapt the initiatives and changes we are making to take advantage of the new information and knowledge. With that in mind, listed below are the current initiatives driving the eLog21 transformation.

Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) Creates an enterprise-wide logistics solution.

Uses commercially proven technology to create an integrated logistics environment across the Air Force and integrates hundreds of disparate legacy IT systems.

Benefits to the Warfighter include: Increased combat support capability; Merged base-level and wholesale logistics systems in an enterprise-level approach; Real-time visibility of assets worldwide; and Improved availability of mission-critical weapon systems.

Systems Lifecycle Integrity Management (SLIM) Standardize engineering processes associated with improving weapon system performance monitoring and assessment leading to increased proactive weapon system management and product improvement throughout the system lifecycle.

Integrate weapon system performance monitoring and assessment efforts such as: Weapon System Integrity Programs (WSIP), Individual Aircraft Tracking Program (IATP), Condition Based Maintenance Plus (CBM+),

I N I T I AT I V E DESCRIPTIONS Air Force Global Logistics Support Center (AFGLSC) Provides global logistics Command and Control (C2) for the Air Force.

Responsible for Air Force Supply Chain Management, it will be the focal point for Air Force Supply Chain planning and execution, taking advantage of total asset visibility and a common operating picture

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Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), Maintenance Steering Group 3 (MSG-3); Reliability, Availability, & Maintainability (RAM), Enterprise View Aircraft Inspection (EAVI), Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA), and Aircraft Information Program (AIP) efforts.

Aircraft Availability Improvement Plan (AAIP) Improves weapons systems availability and puts the right amount of mission capable aircraft in warfighter hands.

Supports Systems Program Managers and the Lead Commands in development and execution of actionable plans.

Repair Network Transformation (RepairNet -including RE21) Establishes an enterprise-wide single repair network supporting the entire Air Force supply chain.

Provides optimum support to the warfighter through the AFGLSC. The RE21 (Repair Enterprise for the 21st Century) initiative will be subsumed by RepairNet.

Provides a single, standardized data exploitation capability for historical and analytical information.

Supports ECSS with legacy system archival and data mining and will be part of the larger enterprise picture available in ECSS.

Asset Marking and Tracking (AMT) Implements automatic identification technologies including radio frequency identification and item unique identifiers to support asset tracking and total asset visibility.

Supports asset marking efforts within the Air Force.

Product Support Business Process Model (PSBPM) Improves production support for depot maintenance through standardization and uses Lean techniques throughout the production support process.

Provides the mechanic with everything needed to perform maintenance operations at the point of use.

Increases workforce flexibility and facilitates future process improvements.

In 2008 many of these efforts will begin to produce results, and their impact will become more and more visible across the Air Force. A significant milestone was recently reached on 28 March 2008 with the standup of the Air Force Global Logistics Support Center (AFGLSC), which operationalizes the key logistics command and control of eLog21. Initially the AFGLSC will manage the supply chain for selected items. When fully operational and Air Force Fuel Vehicles Equipment Support Agency combined with other initiatives, the AFGLSC will provide the (AFFVESA) Air Force an enterprise view of the supply chain. This new capa Focuses Air Force support to meet Combatant bility will enable the Air Force to optimize resources across the Commander (COCOM) needs. entire enterprise, not just at localized facilities, and is critical to Establishes a single materiel control whether at home or maximize the value of every logistics dollar spent. During 2008 deployed. we will also continue blueprinting logistics processes for ECSS Includes centralized buys, fleet management, and global bringing us closer to integrating the enabling technology with execution in accordance with the enterprise support plan. our improved processes. As Repair Network Transformation matures, it will combine numerous maintenance initiatives under Centralized Asset Management (CAM) Centralizes and integrates management of Air Force sus- one umbrella, and will provide, for the first time, an enterprise view of the entire repair network. Finally, PLM will focus on tainment resources.

Optimizes warfighting capability through effective and scrubbing and refining product data which is absolutely essential for the successful launch of ECSS. efficient allocation of resources across the enterprise.

Global Ammunition Control Point (GACP) Manages the munitions supply chain as the sole Air Force agency responsible for it.

Provides enterprise planning, global command and control, and a single focal point to support the warfighter.

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) Manages the configuration of a product and product data with a disciplined approach to ensure operational safety, suitability, and effectiveness.

Product Data Vault to contain all product data and processes to maintain the data.

In the end, however, eLog21 depends on AF logisticians improving the way they do business to keep the Air Force flying and fighting every day. Everyone is critical to the success of eLog21 and it is vital for them to understand why and what the eLog21 campaign is and is not. To ensure they understand what is happening, Headquarters Air Force A4 is sequencing and prioritizing

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D Y N A M I C A L LY T R A N S F O R M I N G A I R F O R C E L O G I S T I C S ELOG21:

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key information logisticians need in order to prepare for this transformation. Initiative owners are working together to develop the necessary education and training logisticians will need to implement new processes. However, the responsibility for understanding eLog21 and ensuring its success does not lie solely with the headquarters’ staffs or initiative owners.

By transforming logistics while constantly engaged in wartime operations, the Air Force is challenged in new and different ways.

It can be tempting to ignore the eLog21 campaign, especially when it has not yet fully hit and daily demands are pressing. However, ignoring eLog21 and the changes it A1C Keith Billings verifies the ballistic fitting elbows on a CKU-5B/A rocket catapult are in their proper place during the e brings will put the Air Force’s abil- gress portion of an aircraft transfer inspection The rocket catapult ejects the seat in the F-15E Strike Eagle at 43 feet per second. This is part of the aircraft transfer inspection is one of the steps changed under Elmendorf AFB’s AFSO21 airity to meet future warfighter needs craft transfer program. Instead of taking 10 days, the inspection is now complete in three. (USAF photo SSgt Matthew at risk. The eLog21 changes are Rosine) not “tinkering” with current or legacy logistics practices – they are plicated, evolving campaign that will continue to be implefundamentally and profoundly transforming how we conduct mented over the next five years at an increasing pace. Change logistics. Situational awareness doesn’t just apply to the pilot in is a constant in our operations. Understanding and getting ahead the cockpit – it applies to the logisticians as well. eLog21 is sigof the change is key to making the change successful. They will nificantly changing what logisticians are accustomed to doing, enable the logistics enterprise to provide the right support, at the and if logisticians don’t stay aware of the changes, they will be right time, in the right place, at the right price – each and every overtaken by them like a tidal wave. time the warfighter requires it. Leaders at every level in the The wave is coming, and our challenge is to ride that wave to chain-of-command will shape and implement the changes as ensure we realize its benefits. eLog21 is an evolving campaign. It they unfold and must do so in a way that ensures our organizais the responsibility of every Air Force logistician to be aware tion remains focused on the mission no matter what challenges and knowledgeable of the changes that are coming and to stay we face today and tomorrow. updated. Regardless of duty title or occupation, every logistician must be a leader in this effort by taking advantage of the oppor- About the Author: Lt Col Daniel Wuchenich is the Deputy Chief, tunities to learn about the changes, by communicating them to Transformation Management Division, Directorate of others within your organization, and by understanding and Transformation A4ID. Wuchenich’s overarching responsibilities embracing the change. It is important to regularly visit the are to assist the Director of Transformation, Mr. Grover Dunn, in eLog21 site on the Air Force portal (look under Transformation), guiding the Air Force logistics transformation - to improve the to take the Web Based Training courses available through AFIT, availability and affordability of sustaining air expeditionary forces. and to sign up for the eLog21 quarterly newsletter, “The Transformation Express” (https://www.my.af.mil/gcss-af/afp40/ Specifically, he harmonizes 14 CSAF-sponsored, cutting-edge, USAF/ep/browse.do?programId=1473917&pageId=681743&chann eLog21 logistics transformation initiatives with each other as well elPageId=-738606). as with the OSD, Joint Staff, and other Services. He also authors In five years eLog21 has come a long way, but with every logistics process under examination and with the entire supply chain under the microscope, there is a long way to go. This is a com-

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and directs change, knowledge management, and risk mitigation strategies for 23 logistics transformation initiatives. EMAIL: daniel.wuchenich@pentagon.af.mil

SUMMER 2008

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Air Force Global Logistics Support Center Single Source for Air Force Supply Chain Management Submitted by Mr. Dave Reusser

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he Air Force mission is straightforward: To deliver sovereign options for the defense of the United States of America and its global interests - to fly, fight, and win in Air, Space, and Cyberspace. However, changing national security priorities and global realities have forced a change in the way the AF approaches its mission. The Expeditionary Air Force (EAF) model demands that the supply chain community support “constant� deployments with frequently changing mission objectives across an increased number of physical locations employing smaller deployment footprints, using fewer resources. To address these challenges, over the last decade the AF consolidated functions from over 300 base-level Supply Squadrons, moved duties to five Regional Supply Squadrons, and established two Logistics Support Centers (LSCs): The Combat Air Forces (CAF) and Mobility Air Forces (MAF). In conjunction with the Air Logistics Centers (ALCs) at Hill AFB, Tinker AFB, and Warner-Robins AFB, the AF was able to achieve significant positive results.

The AF supply chain is one of the largest in the world. Its processes have many characteristics that are much different from typical supply chains in that the AF is not profit driven, and have a return

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and repair versus a manufacture and consume design. The most unique characteristic of the AF supply chain is its requirement to provide weapon system spares support to a diverse set of customers performing dynamic warfighting and humanitarian missions around the world. These differences present a constant challenge to AF supply chain managers.

Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century (eLog21) is the logistics transformation campaign that captures both the future vision and the transformation path for AF logistics, enabling it to better meet the needs of future air operations in a more cost effective manner. To drive and measure this transformation, eLog21 set forth two overarching goals:

Increase equipment availability by 20% by FY11 Reduce annual operating and support (O&S) costs by 10% no later than FY11 All other logistics goals tie directly to these two primary goals, ensuring the enterprise goals drive performance at all levels.

In order to meet the objectives of eLog21, the AF initiated the Logistics Enterprise Architecture (LogEA) to provide a single authoritative strategic map of future logistics practices, systems, and organizations. LogEA, as applied to the Air Force Global Logistics

SUMMER 2008

Support Center (AFGLSC), details the process, applications, and information needed to improve and evolve the supply chain.

It integrates rules about the process relationships between business entities and ensures alignment between process and supply chain infrastructure (information technology and physical assets, such as warehouses, factories, inventory control points, etc.).

LogEA clearly defines future state supply chain operations in the AF to include “to be” operational and system architectures. It bases its architecture on the industry standard model, the Supply Chain Operations Reference Model (SCOR®). The SCOR® model was developed by the Supply-Chain Council to describe business activities associated with all phases of satisfying customer demand. The model contains several sections and is organized around the five primary management processes of Plan, Source, Make, Deliver, and Return.

It is only through the tight integration and implementation of new supply chain processes, information technology and organization that the true benefits of this transformation will be realized. Quite simply, Purchasing and Supply Chain Management (PSCM), Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS—information technology) and the AFGLSC (organization), must succeed together in order to meet eLog21’s stringent objectives for AF sustainment.

The PSCM transformation is an “enterprise-wide” collaborative effort among the three ALCs and Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). The objective of PSCM is to adopt best commercial practices in streamlining and integrating how the AF forecasts requirements, collaborates those requirements with its customers and suppliers, and manages customer inquiries. These future integrated processes are intended to improve the availability and cost of providing serviceable spare parts to warfighting customers.

The ECSS initiative is also an enterprise-wide effort. The purpose of this effort is to improve warfighter capability by transforming AF Logistics business processes and leveraging ongoing initiatives & capabilities that information technology can deliver today. The objectives of ECSS are to establish a real-time modernized information system, apply best commercial practices, utilize a commercial-off-the-shelf based solution, and plan and execute the retirement of over 400+ legacy systems.

The AFGLSC is the next evolution of AF Supply Chain Management (SCM). The AFGLSC will be the single supply chain process owner for the AF and will ensure standardized processes provide the most effective and efficient support to the warfighter. AFGLSC will utilize proven processes from PSCM as well as new processes with the addition of the MAF and CAF

LSCs, while providing the infrastructure to enable critical eLog21 concepts, best practices, and years of EAF lessons learned to improve and optimize planning and execution of critical AF supply chain processes. The AFGLSC is vital to the fulfillment of the LogEA vision. It embodies the plan-supply-chain process category of LogEA, while enabling the other process categories.

It also develops and establishes courses of actions over specified time periods that encompass a projected appropriation of supply chain resources to meet customer requirements.

The AFGLSC will be the AF SCM owner. The AFGLSC will not be aligned by function, such as maintenance, distribution, or materiel. Instead, the AFGLSC will organize into three groups of SCM functions: Supply Chain Planning and Execution (SCPE), Supply Chain Operations (SCO), and Supply Chain Strategy & Integration (SCS&I). To achieve enterprise planning, initially the SCPE activity will merge SCM planning duties from the three ALCs, HQ AFMC, and the other planning functions throughout the AF into one organization. The SCO activity will merge the two existing LSCs and three Customer Service Centers (CSCs) into a networked virtual organization to function as the command and control (C2) hub for the AF supply chain. To link supply chain enabling duties to the SCPE and SCO activities, the AFGLSC will combine those enterprise functions such as metrics, analysis, funds, procedures, and business rules, and IT systems, and focus them on measuring the health of the supply chain and ensuring the supply plan is meeting the customers’ needs.

The SCPE activity’s mission is to develop enterprise demand plans, develop/implement sourcing strategies and execute the supply plan to meet customer requirements—e.g., the processes necessary to bring serviceable spare parts into the AF inventory.

SCPE must have authority over, or input into, all processes that are essential to the accomplishment of the SCPE mission. These processes must be effectively migrated into or integrated to support the AFGLSC in a manner that provides the greatest support to the warfighter and minimizes impact on the mission, while maintaining the best possible efficiency for the AF. The SCO activity will be the single point of contact for customers to resolve warfighter supply issues at the point of execution. This activity will have visibility of the entire supply chain and be able to make changes, as needed, in order to benefit the overall AF in the best way possible. Within the framework of the enterprise plan, the SCO activity will have the authority to direct materiel and distribution support to where it is needed most. The SCO activity will also be the single operational face

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action authority. The CAF and MAF LSCs along with ALC CSCs will transfer to the AFGLSC as well.

Furthermore, in Block 20, the AFGLSC will combine planning and execution functions currently done at HQ AFMC and the ALC Combat Support Wings. The AF will then incrementally update its supply chain processes and improve IT system capabilities while adding additional classes of supply. In Blocks 30 and 40 the AFGLSC will, at a minimum, integrate Air National SCS&I will ensure integration of Guard units and absorb more supply chain-wide processes and duties from the MAJCOMs, functions with all eLog21 initiaand then begin integrating tives, be responsible for AF SCM contract weapon system supbusiness rules (processport. Finally, in Block 50 es/procedures), provide enter(FY13) the AFGLSC will prise actionable metrics/analysis, reach full capability, with supenterprise budgeting, financial ply support for all commodioperations and management, and Aircrew members and rigging specialists load airdrop bundles off a K-loader ties, locations, and systems. It functional control of supply onto a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft on the flightline at Bagram Air Base, will begin using components chain-related data systems. The Afghanistan. (USAF photo SMSgt. Kim Allain) of ECSS and establish links to SCS&I activity ensures stanother classes of supply. Both dardization of processes and conduring and after implementation, all AF SCM processes will sistent application of business rules and resources to best support continuously be improved and leaned to reflect best-practices. the AF mission. Where possible, these capabilities will be centralized in the SCS&I organization. These efforts will be focused The AFGLSC will be the premier SCM agency for the Air on measuring the health of the supply chain and ensuring the Force, adopting and employing proven commercial processes AF enterprise supply chain plan is meeting the customer’s needs. which exploit real-time collaboration with customers and suppliers and global C2 while taking advantage of total asset visiDeployment of the AFGLSC capability began in May 2007 bility and a common operating picture to support the application when the AF activated the initial AFGLSC Provisional (P) of air and space power across the full range of operations. The organization with a senior AF leader assigned as provisional comAFGLSC will merge what is currently wholesale (depots) and mander and a small team of permanently assigned personnel. retail (base level) supply chain entities, as well as integrate and The AFGLSC(P) is a Direct Reporting Unit to HQ AFMC oversee all supply chain processes, technology, and resources to located at Wright-Patterson AFB. Initial capability of the deliver end-to-end warfighter support.

AFGLSC is planned to stand up in FY08 (Block 20). This action will recognize the AFGLSC as an official organization. Once ini- About the Author: Mr. Dave Reusser is responsible for developing tial capability is achieved, the AFGLSC(P) will transition under and deploying a change management strategy for the Air Force the SCS&I activity to monitor the progress of future blocks.

Global Logistics Support Center. Email: david.reusser@ Additionally, the AFGLSC will assume responsibility for managing Class IX (repair parts) and some class VII (major end items) wpafb.af.mil K such as engines and pods, and will have AF SCM visibility and to the supplier. Many of the supply chain personnel currently assigned to geographically dispersed locations will continue to do operational activities from those locations under the leadership of the SCO activity. The SCO activity will interface with Component Numbered Air Force, lead MAJCOM weapon system support teams, supply chain managers, and weapon system SCMs to prioritize distribution and repair for constrained resources and best meet total force mission needs.

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SUMMER 2008

Expeditionary Combat Support System‌ The Cornerstone of Transformation

Submitted by Col Lee K. Levy II

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y now we’ve all heard a lot about reduced budgets, aging aircraft, and manpower reductions, along with a myriad of other things. What does all of this mean to us as logisticians? What can we do to continue to improve the quality of support we provide to the Warfighter every day? As it turns out, there is quite a bit we can do with the aid of several Air Force-wide initiatives.

Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century (eLog21) is the Air Force-wide transformation campaign designed to increase the combat capability of the Air Force through logistics business process improvements. The Logistics Enterprise Architecture (LogEA) contains the guiding principles for accomplishing eLog21 goals, and the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) is the cornerstone enabler for future Air Force Logistics operations. ECSS will embrace LogEA principles, and will result in redesigned Air Force Logistics business processes. eLog21, LogEA, and ECSS will revolutionize Air Force Logistics for the 21st century.

ECSS will fundamentally change the business processes, personnel roles, and organizational structures across the spectrum of the Air Force Logistics community. It will implement these changes using a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software solution termed an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) product. When it is fully configured and implemented, ECSS will provide an integrated enterprise view of Air Force Logistics.

At its core, ECSS is about transforming the way members of the Air Force Logistics community get the job done. We must integrate processes horizontally; eliminate vertical, functional stovepipe practices; and assist in the adoption of an enterprise mindset by engaging in commercially proven best practices across the logistics community.

ECSS is the largest ERP implementation the Department of Defense (DoD) has ever undertaken. It will replace hundreds of disparate legacy Information Technology (IT) systems and processes that Air Force logistics professionals have been using their entire careers with an 40

SUMMER 2008

enterprise-wide set of business processes. ECSS benefits include increased weapon system availability, reduced operations and support costs, and radically improved logistics readiness and maintenance support to the Warfighter. It will help achieve the eLog21 goal of a 20% increase in equipment availability and a 10% reduction in operations and support costs.

Since the spring of 2007, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the Air Force have been involved in blueprinting Air Force end-to-end processes, drilling down into the detailed process areas, identifying role changes, and anticipating policy revisions that will be necessary at every phase of the ECSS implementation. They are responsible for making sure that your needs —and mine—are accurately represented in the new system’s design and reflected throughout the ECSS implementation. This critical blueprinting phase concluded by August 2008. After formal Air Force approval of the blueprinted design, the phased configuration, testing, evaluation, and implementation of the system begins in October 2008. At that point, release planning will continue and the core solution development will have begun.

The term “release” refers to the way ECSS is going to be packaged or bundled for implementation. It defines the “what” in terms of the processes and capabilities that are contained in the new ECSS solution. The release strategy calls for ECSS to occur in three releases, using a “bases first” approach beginning in 2010 and ending in 2013. That means logistics missions supporting Air Force operations and training at bases will be implemented first, followed by the logistics missions conducted at the Air Logistics Centers.

Once the ECSS solution has been packaged in the first of these three releases, it will be time to actually deliver it to end-users at installations around the world. The ECSS program is depending on technical and functional experts as well as Air Force SMEs to build and implement an optimal ECSS fielding strategy. The term “fielding” is

being used to describe the activities generally known as “deployment” or “cutover” in an IT environment. The unique terminology reflects an attempt to lessen confusion between the military definition of deployment and the IT definition of the word. “Fielding” defines the “who, where and how” for implementing ECSS. The sequencing of the implementation to installations for the first release will be determined in October 2008. That will give the order, phase, grouping and schedule for all bases. Said another way, it will define the “when” for implementing ECSS at each base. The first ECSS “go live” will occur at Maxwell AFB, AL in April 2010. That may seem a long way off, but it is not.

By that time, the Air Force Logistics Transformation Office (LTO), Program Management Office (PMO) and SMEs will have spent many months working with ECSS industry partners to integrate business process redesign with the ERP software suite packages. The result will be a massive, multi-year transformation that will ultimately affect every person in the Air Force Logistics community.

Preparing the ERP technical solution takes a long time and lots of effort, but that is only part of what will be required. ECSS will also drive new roles, skill requirements and organizational design affecting our people. Most of us will require training to acquire the new skills needed to operate ECSS. These “people issues” ultimately lie at the heart of every successful ERP implementation. Working these human factors also takes time.

Clearly, the Air Force doesn’t expect the way its people perform logistics to change successfully overnight, and in keeping with best practices from government and commercial ERP implementations, an extensive organizational change management (OCM) program is also being implemented. Any transformation of this magnitude requires a comprehensive effort to manage change and help people transition to the new environment. Effective organizational change management is essential, and an exceptional amount of effort and activity will be directed toward communicating, educating, training and engaging with the people who comprise the Air Force Logistics community. The ultimate goals of these change management activities are to prepare each affected person to accept the changes ECSS will bring and show that the transformation will result in superior business processes that will benefit everyone involved in Air Force Logistics.

These OCM activities are well underway and will continue over the life of the ECSS program. You may have already begun hearing and reading about ECSS at your installation.

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about ECSS over the coming months, and if you don’t hear anything, you should start asking about it.

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Lt Gen Kevin Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, Headquarters USAF, underscored the importance he places on ECSS and on your role as leaders at the Logistics Officer Association Conference, November 2007, when he said, “ECSS is the single biggest change in the history of Air Force Logistics. Help me lead our people through it.”

That is where you and I must step up and play a vital role in ensuring success I encourage you to get involved, ask questions, be informed, get out front, lead your people, and do what you can to help with this massive effort. ECSS is a tremendously exciting program for the logistics community and provides an unparalleled opportunity for all of us to contribute to this revolutionary new way of doing business in the Air Force in the 21st century.

For more information about the ECSS program, see https://www.ecss.wpafb.af.mil.

About the Author: Col Lee K. Levy II is the Deputy Director of Logistics, HQ AFMC/A4. He is responsible for all depot maintenance, supply management and sustainment transformation activities within the command. He develops and directs policy and procedures for major overhaul, repair, and modification of weapon systems and spare parts. EMAIL:

lee.levy@wpafb.af.mil

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Airman 1st Class Joseph Miller wipes down the inside of an F-16 Fighting Falcon at Balad Air Base, Iraq, April 19. Aircraft maintainers work around the clock performing scheduled maintenance and inspections on aircraft and making necessary repairs to keep the jets in top flying condition. Airman Miller is a 332nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron F-16 Fighting Falcon crew chief. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Mareshah Haynes)

A C-130 Hercules taxis at Balad Air Base, Iraq, after an Operation Iraqi Freedom mission. The C-130 provides intra-theater heavy airlift throughout Southwest Asia.

(USAF photo SSgt Tony R. Tolley)

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SUMMER 2008

High Velocity Regionalized C-5 Aircraft Isochronal (HVRISO) Inspection Process Submitted by Capt Paul E. Smith A significant increase in required C-5 flying hours was necessary in order to meet the nation’s demand for airlift. In fact, the C-5 fleet flew 209% of the planned C-5 flying hour program in 2006. Since aircraft availability was paramount to accomplishing the additional flying hours, Air Mobility Command (AMC) examined methods to yield more aircraft availability. One area discovered for improvement was the Isochronal (ISO) inspection process. There were seven bases conducting C-5 ISO inspections on the 111 aircraft fleet every 420 days throughout three MAJCOMS [AMC, Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), and the Air National Guard (ANG)].

One problem with the ISO inspections was that although the actual inspection requirements were the same, there was no standardization of the actual process or time taken to complete the inspection. To achieve standardization, a decision was made to regionalize ISO inspections. The new regional concept would create three centers of excellence to accomplish all C-5 ISO inspections. All C5 operating bases would fly their aircraft into a regional center where it would undergo a thorough and standardized inspection, and then the owning unit would fly it home or out on a mission once the ISO inspection was complete. In order to select the right regional locations, the three MAJCOMs conducted a study of the seven candidate bases using the criteria of facilities, maintenance group support, base support, and manpower, then graded each location accordingly. The three locations selected as regionalized C-5 ISO inspection sites were: Dover AFB, DE, Martinsburg ANG Base, WV, and Westover Air Reserve Base, MA. Major General Robert H. McMahon stated that C-5 availability will increase due to centrally scheduling the inspection from a fleet-wide perspective and reducing flow-days to a consistent number across the fleet. With

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that in mind, AMC decided to make Dover AFB the first regionalized site due to their LEAN initiatives. With the implementation of: 1.) point of use tools; 2.) reduction of non-value-added ISO process steps; and 3.)creation of a smooth ISO process flow the joint 436th/512th Maintenance Group ISO team reduced the average flow-time from 38 days down to 14 days. The other two sites would use the ISO process developed at Dover AFB to establish their processes in an effort to standardize and produce the 14-day flow time. This plan was set into motion on 1 Jun 07 at Dover AFB. Since the start of regional ISO process, other platforms have considered the movement toward regionalization. As the Air Force digs deep to attain efficiency within the processes that have been in place for many years, problems may be uncovered that could cause negative impacts on the newly developed schedule flow-time. On the other hand, new ways of doing business, especially utilizing LEAN methodology, can transform inefficient processes to streamlined workflows providing a superior product with very little wasted effort throughout the operation. Either way, execution of a plan of such magnitude as regionalization, where complete maintenance areas will close down and personnel will transfer to other locations, requires scrutiny at high levels of command therefore centralized scheduling for the regional ISO became an AMC responsibility.

Regionalization would prove quite the waste of money if the ISO inspection schedule does not provide the 14-day, wash-to-fly, return of an aircraft to the flightline as advertised. Each regionalized ISO location will be required to complete 33 ISO inspections in a 365day period. To achieve this14 day flow, the AMC-created schedule requires a 3 to 5-day overlap where the ISO team is required to manage two aircraft at the same time, which is a task they had not faced before the start of regionalized ISOs. In order to avoid an ISO aircraft overlap situation, each ISO inspection needs to complete

SUMMER 2008

the process in 11.06 days, so the teams require the use of LEAN techniques and smart management to reduce process times as much as possible.

Since the start of regionalization in Jun 07, the ISO team has only completed 5 of 27 regionalized ISO inspections in the advertised 14-day timeframe (Figure 1). On an average basis, it takes 18.3 days to complete the entire process. The 3- to 5-day overlap created by the new AMC-built ISO schedule caused ISO process problems. For the first time, a division of manpower between two aircraft became necessary in order to complete all processes. This division consisted of several team members, that previously would have worked on the current ISO aircraft, to be reallocated to work a second input aircraft in an attempt to keep the ISO schedule flowing.

The team found this to be a significant problem because at certain choke points of the process, ISO team personnel needed to complete the inspection phase were not available due to backline requirements on the previous aircraft.

In an attempt to keep the ISO schedule on track, ISO leadership implemented a new 24-hour a day, seven days a week work schedule as well as implementing overtime on a limited basis for civilian and/or military personnel. The shrinking budget does not always allow for

civilian overtime, so the team struggled to complete the process with the manpower and resources available. Moreover, in all cases when overtime was utilized, it did not garner enough momentum to achieve the 14-day ISO inspection goal.

According to the current 436th Maintenance Flight Commander, both military and civilian technicians worked overtime at different points throughout various stages of the ISO process whenever the use of overtime was authorized. However, although utilization of overtime is seen as the quick solution to fix maintenance problems, overtime alone does not achieve the goal of completing an ISO in 14 days. The Dover ISO team tried to meet the 14-day schedule, but only achieved it once during the first 13 inspections, and 4 additional times since then.

But, why can’t they achieve the 14-day goal?

Three areas were examined to answer the question: aircraft discrepancy per aircraft type (C-5A vs. C-5B) that are found during ISO; the actual ISO flow time trend; and the difference between C-5A and C-5 B-Model aircraft ISO flow times.

During Jan 06 through Nov 07, the average number of discrepancies discovered during the ISO inspections of C-5A model aircraft averaged 2,059 and C-5B model aircraft averaged 2,069. To test for statistical variance, a t-Test of the C-5A vs. C-5B discrepancy data revealed a 91% probability that no significant variation exists between the amounts of discrepancies found on either MDS during ISO. However, although no significant difference for discrepancies exists, it takes an average of 20.31 days to complete the C5A ISO inspection and 17.38 days to complete a C-5B ISO inspection. A t-Test of C-5A vs. C-5B ISO inspection flow time data revealed a 96% probability that significant variation exists between C-5A and C-5B ISO flow times.

C-5 Galaxy workers at Dover AFB were instrumental in Dover AFB winning the 2008 Installation Excellence Award which recognized the best Wing in the Air Force. The Regionalized Isochronal Inspection team applied key LEAN principles to increase efficiencies and meet the AMC requirement of inspecting 33 C-5 aircraft a year. (USAF Photo)

The second area examined was the regionalized C-5 ISO inspection flow time. In Nov 06, the Dover ISO team produced a 13.2-day regional ISO inspection.

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a C-5B model aircraft, one involved. Examination recommendation addressed of the discrepancy data not scheduling back-torevealed this particular back C-5A model aircraft. aircraft generated the Although only 8 of the 24 least number of aircraft inspections (33%) condiscrepancies of any ducted have been on C-5A regional C-5 aircraft to model aircraft, scheduling date. However, aircraft conflicts forced four condiscrepancy count alone secutive C-5A ISO inspecis not the sole reason for tions at the onset of timely accomplishment HVRISO. Based on trend of a C-5 regional ISO analysis of ISO flow time aircraft. Generally, the and discrepancy vs. timenumber of discrepancies line data reviewed, focusfound does dictate the ing on the type of aircraft timeliness of the regional Sheet Metal Specialist SrA Justin Tardif works on installing a sloping longeron panel.

(USAF when scheduling future ISO inspection, but there Photo) inspections could pay diviare a few circumstances dends to the overall ISO that do not allow for inspection effort. direct a correlation between discrepancy count and flow time.

Certain types of discrepancies caused the team to fall short of the Another recommendation regarding the scheduling process was 14-day ISO inspection goal. Aircraft discrepancies such as an to increase the time between regional aircraft inductions to elimengine pylon change, consumed 10-days of repair time, disruptinate aircraft overlap. With the current overlap, routine divered the ISO process and had a major impact on the inspection sion of manpower from key processes occurred in order to accomflow time. The pylon change must be accomplished before critplish the final operational check portion of the ISO (backline ical engine functional checks begin, therefore the ISO inspecactivities). Diversion of manpower from one aircraft to accomtion critical path suffered and certain tasks were consequently plish tasks on another aircraft caused interruptions to the inspecshuffled. Thus the ISO completion occurred in a non-standard tion critical path resulting in output delays. To combat this sequence, and disrupted the overall process flow. problem a dedicated backline team was created that focused on The final area of investigation scrutinized the difference between the operational checks. The inspection team can focus on folC-5A and C-5B inspections and their impact on ISO flow time. lowing the critical path and avoid interruptions due to routine Eight C-5A model aircraft received a regional ISO inspection at manpower diversions. Creation of the backline team has already Dover. Those aircraft averaged 2,059 discrepancies, vs. the started to pay dividends. Since the team’s implementation, 3 of 2,069 discovered on C-5B aircraft, yet the C-5A took an aver- 8 ISOs have been completed within the 14-day standard. Also, age of more than two days longer to complete the ISO inspec- the team is a standalone entity, and has focused their efforts tion process. The type of discrepancies discovered, such as the toward completing certain ISO work cards on aircraft before the pylon change, and the associated repairs to correct them, not just aircraft wash is completed, thereby setting the next aircraft furthe actual number of discrepancies [averaging over 2,500 dis- ther ahead in the process. This caused a downward trend in the crepancies per aircraft (Figure 2)], is one of the factors that hold overall ISO process flow time. However, since availability of these aircraft in the ISO inspection process longer. Lengthy manpower to accomplish these tasks stems from lull points in the repairs in structural areas are very common on C-5A model air- previous aircraft inspection, and/or at least a one day gap craft, and have caused the regional ISO process to miss the 14- between aircraft roll out and aircraft wash, this cannot be considered standard procedure for each ISO inspection. day completion target.

Many other factors require examination to determine the routine ability to produce 14-day ISO inspections given the current schedule. Since the data revealed that the C-5A model aircraft could take longer for ISO process completion in comparison to

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Additionally, further research of the types and severity of the C5A model discrepancies uncovered during the ISO inspection process to look for particular trend areas is warranted. Focusing on the structural items that routinely consume numerous man-

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hours for repair could uncover significant Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO21) event possibilities that could enhance the overall effectiveness of the regional ISO inspection process. The goal is to consistently refine the critical path until all unnecessary waste is removed will take one more step toward reality as the Dover team plans to conduct another complete Value Stream Mapping event to incorporate all specialty areas within the process.

Lastly, accurate manpower Figure 1. Regional Isochronal Inspection Flow Days and ISO process flow time reporting is imperative to ensure correct manning levels are maintained at regional ISO locations.

AMC leadership decided to integrate AFR, ANG, and Active Duty Air Force personnel at each of the three regionalized ISO locations.

To achieve this end, experienced personnel will transfer from one location to another. Leadership will need to place extra emphasis on training of personnel to ensure the work force is robust enough to allow for personnel movements without creating a negative Figure 2. Regional Isochronal Inspection Discrepancies impact on the regional ISO flow at any one location.

The success of the overall C-5 regionalization effort and the responsible for C-5 Regionalized Isochronal Inspections on 33 airquest to consistently produce an ISO inspection in 14-days will craft per year as well as the maintenance and aircraft component fall on the shoulders of the competent, capable airmen and Non- repair performed by 422 personnel from 13 different AFSCs on Commissioned Officers that maintain the mighty C-5!

Dover’s 18 assigned C-5 and 6 assigned C-17 aircraft. Email:

About the Author: Captain Paul E. Smith is the Maintenance

paul.smith3@dover.af.mil

Operations Officer for the 436th MXS at Dover AFB, DE. He is

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Industrial Retail Another Link in the Defense Logistics Agency’s Supply Chain Submitted by Col Chris Burke As DoD’s combat support agency, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) has been providing Gene Manns, Air Force sheet metal mechanic, DLA-Warner Robins, programs the robotic machinery to remove worldwide logistics support for over 40 years to screws from the top panel of an F-15 Eagle wing. (DLA photo by Amy Clement) the military Services through 21,000 military and civilian personnel in 26 countries. DLA throughout these changes. For those of us in the Air Force logiscontinues to extend its enterprise forward by delivering supply chain tics community, this transfer of SS&D means DLA employees are excellence to meet the needs of the warfighter. This trend is not just stocking warehouses at the ALCs; they’re also down on increasingly evident at the Air Force’s Air Logistics Centers industrial floors supporting areas as aircraft flight, electronics prod(ALCs). The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) law is uct support, commodities product support, and depot product supthe catalyst and enabler for DLA to embrace end-to-end industrial port with retail inventory managers, supportability specialists, experetail activities at the ALCs, thereby adding another link in the ditors, and materiel and receipts movement specialists.

DLA supply chain.

Three distinct phases are being used to implement the Air Force The BRAC 2005 Supply, Storage, and Distribution (SS&D) deciSS&D transition: Day One, Day Two, and To-Be. Day One focused sion merges distinct wholesale and consumer level supply processes on the transfer of function from the Air Force to DLA and includes and inventory under an enterprise supply chain management the transfer of full-time equivalent (FTE) personnel. These “new” approach to meeting industrial maintenance requirements, with DLA employees remained, in most cases, at their ALC duty locaDLA as the integrated supply provider. Inventories that exist at tion. At Warner Robins in October 2007, the 702nd Maintenance Military Service maintenance depots, ALCs, and shipyards supportSupport Squadron was inactivated with 265 of their personnel transing industrial activities transfer from the Military Services to DLA ferring to DLA; in February 2008 the 776th Maintenance Support

by September 15, 2011. This initiative establishes for DoD a single Squadron at Oklahoma City ALC also stood down and transferred integrated supply, storage, and distribution provider supporting all 365 employees. Day One transfers are a key component of DLA Services’ maintenance depot and shipyard requirements to the point extending its presence closer to the warfighter. Employees who of materiel hand-off to the artisan. BRAC SS&D is about transtransfer to DLA bring a wealth of knowledge and experience with forming to optimize warfighter support by the most efficient means. the industrial customer, thus enabling DLA to more closely link To effectively plan across the BRAC program lifecycle, the three supply with warfighter demand. For Day One, employees are transAir Force ALCs have begun to sequentially transition their SS&D ferred to DLA “as is…where is”…the goal is to transition the peofunctions and personnel, allowing lessons learned and experience ple seamlessly while continuing to use the same Air Force processgained to be used as each subsequent site transitions. The action es and systems. Key Day One preparation activities include complan defines specific tasks to be completed that support a successful mon access card issuance, payroll and personnel actions, and forgtransfer of functions and personnel. Support to readiness and the ing local agreements for special supply support, financial arrangewarfighter remains paramount and will continue uninterrupted ments, and base operating support.

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Day Two for the Air Force is the bridge to the future, where DLA continues to build understanding of the industrial support environment by focusing on near-term improvements made without major policy, process, or system changes. Processes are reviewed with the intent to enhance stock positioning business rules and give greater visibility to maintenance production line demands. Additionally, a new distribution management construct will be utilized to identify the minimum and essential stock necessary to meet readiness requirements based on production-driven demand plans. The new DLA employees are trained, empowered, and fully integrated in blending the best parts of both cultures to create a single organization with a shared vision.

The last phase of BRAC SS&D implementation for the Air Force is called To-Be. To-Be is the future state of how DLA will perform its mission and functions and is what delivers the single supply, storage, and distribution provider called-for in the BRAC legislation.

The future process model calls for integrated SS&D processes, integrated technologies, optimized resources and inventory, and an Enterprise view of production support. To-Be implementation efforts include full deployment of the new distribution management construct, capitalization of inventory, robust business rules establishment, major information systems and software changes (such as Enterprise Business System interfacing with Expeditionary Combat Support Systems), and two-way cultural exchange between existing DLA employees and those that recently transitioned.

Each SS&D site is commanded by an AF O-6 whose focus is not only on the retail supply support, but who also serves as DLA’s single face to the ALC and represents all business areas of the DLA Enterprise, to include the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, the Defense Logistics Information Service, and the Document Automation and Production Service.

Furthermore, the commanders are responsible for shaping, by controlling but not owning, the level of support the Air Force receives from the Defense Distribution Center.

These commanders report directly to the Commander, Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR).

DSCR pursues its core mission of supplying products with a mix of military-unique items supporting over 1,300 major weapons sys-

tems with a direct application to aviation. With a workforce of around 2,000 employees, DSCR is the aviation supply and demand chain manager for DLA and serves within the DoD as the primary source of supply for more than 1.2 million repair parts and operating supplies. After the three Air Force SS&D sites are established, DSCR’s prominence in aviation supply will grow with the establishment of SS&D sites at three Navy Fleet Readiness Centers and the Army Aviation Depot.

The collective BRAC SS&D Day One, Day Two, and To-Be implementation phases are how DLA and the Air Force together will transform the DoD logistics enterprise by creating a seamless endto-end supply chain operation delivering the right support, at the right price, at the right place, and at the right time – every time.

This phased implementation strategy ensures the efficiency and effectiveness of the BRAC SS&D transfer while reducing the risk of disrupting depot maintenance production. Follow-on implementation with Navy, Marine Corps, and Army industrial aviation sites will use lessons learned from the Air Force Day One/Day Two/To Be phased approach, tailored to meet the unique needs of each Service.

This sequential schedule enables lessons learned to be applied as each ALC transitions in a building block approach while embracing a combination of cultures that continue to forge the strong partnership among DLA and the Air Force that is essential for success.

The advantages of BRAC’s transformation are: mission consolidation, enhanced leveraging of DoD’s buying power, eliminate excess storage capacity, enhanced effectiveness, and new efficiencies to create an integrated, end-to-end supply chain while striking a targeted balance between effectiveness, agility, reliability, speed, visibility, and cost. In addition, the ALCs will see improved customer service through customer-tailored inventory investment strategies, with a decrease in customer wait time for parts. The positive impacts from DLA implementing BRAC and extending the enterprise forward are optimizing and strengthening the newest link in its supply chain— industrial retail— while continuing uninterrupted support to the warfighter.

About the Author: Col Christopher Burke is the Director, Supply Chain Integration, Defense Supply Center -

Marcel Baril, DLA supportability specialist, looks over the print stuffer list that was sent from Air Force employees in the F-15 wing shop. (DLA photo Amy Clement)

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Richmond, Defense Logistics Agency.

Email: christopher.burke@dla.mil

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Challenges of Aircraft Structural Maintenance and Low Observable Weapon Systems Submitted by Lt Col Doug Cato Over the last 60 years, Air Force aircraft have been manufactured primarily with various types of aluminum, and in the last three decades, we have seen an increase in major composite structures and the use of Radar Absorbent Material and Radar Absorbent Structures (RAM/RAS). Prior to the early 1980s, the Air Force maintained fighter/bomber weapon systems such as the F-16 and B1 with varying degrees of first generation stealth technology integrated into the weapon system (i.e. F-16 canopy and intake plus components of the B-1 airframe). It wasn’t until the F-117A, second generation stealth technology; the low observable system became a high percentage of aircraft maintenance. A total of 59 F117s were delivered between 1982 and 1990, creating a “silver bullet” or small fleet. In the late-1980s the B-2, third generation stealth, entered service with a total of 21 bombers, again a small fleet. In the last ten years the F-22, fourth generation stealth, became operational on Air Force flightlines. Today, there are over 110 F-22s in service, at four operating locations, with a total planned build of 183 aircraft, considerably more than any previous stealth weapon system. If you look on the horizon, you find the F35 with a fifth generation stealth system, and the Air Force planning to purchase 1,763 aircraft.

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The Aircraft Structural Maintenance (ASM) career field has evolved and continues to adapt to meet these new demands and technologies. From the humble beginnings of stamping, hammering, and drilling out a replacement aluminum panel, the ASM career field has increased in fleet maintenance importance and technological savvy. Rivet Workforce (RW) of the mid-1980s pulled together the airframe repair (427x5) and corrosion control (427x1) career fields and blended them into ASM (458x2). As composite repairs became more the norm than the exception, aircraft structural maintainers had to adapt to the newer technologies. As RW was being implemented in the “white world” maintenance arena during the late-80s to early-90s, the F-117A “black world” ASM troops, affectionately known as “Martians” (from the acronym MARS, or Material Application Repair Specialist), were scraping and replacing RAM/RAS. These Martians came to realize it was less about traditional sheet metal repair and more about composite disbond, composite layup, and RAM/RAS repair and restoration.

In the early 1990s, senior experienced Low Observable (LO) F-117 maintainers advocated for the creation of an LO Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC), recognizing the craftsmanship and art involved in maintaining the LO coated weapon system. As the LO maintenance challenges for today’s fighter/bomber force continue to grow

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and the numbers of operationally fielded LO weapon systems becomes greater, the workforce must be adapted to meet the ever growing LO maintenance demands. Air Force leaders have realized this necessity, and Air Combat Command (ACC) plans the standup of the LO AFSC (2A7x5) by January 2009. New schoolhouse courses are planned to train the new entrants in this career field and to transition those ASM troops assigned to LO weapon systems.

Why is all this important and what happens if you get the LO repair wrong? Inherent in fielding new LO weapon systems is a component Reliability and Maintainability (R&M) maturation curve which drives Facilitate Other Maintenance (FOM) under these LO coated panels. Today’s LO maintainers must then strip these LO coatings prior to other technicians performing the failing system’s maintenance and then restore the LO coating upon completion and testing of the driving maintenance failure. It is crucial this LO maintenance be properly performed both from a removal and restoration stand point, as the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of any vehicle depends upon the correct material being reapplied in a given sequence and properly cured. Additionally, these aircraft sustain LO coating damage on the ground and in the air for a variety of reasons and this damage must be documented and assessed for RCS impact. The F-22 does not have a field level testing capability for LO maintenance repair. This means the F-22 LO technicians follow the maintenance technical data and do the best they can, not necessarily something a pilot going to face a “near peer’ foe would be comfortable hearing. The F-117 used the Diagnostic Imaging Repair (DIR) to check for defects, and the F-35 plans to use the Repair Verification Radar (RVR) test set to assess the condition of the LO coatings.

This paper examines how the maintenance workforce is evolving to meet the needs of operational and future planned LO weapon systems. It also examines the creation of an LO AFSC to deal specifically with this specialized system and the challenges that these maintainers face.

HISTORY

OF

A I R F R A M E R E PA I R

Prior to RW, which began implementation in the late-80s, aircraft structural repair was performed by the Airframe Repair career field.

Airframe Repair maintainers focused on traditional sheet metal repairs and manufacturing of aluminum replacement panels. As early as the 1960s, composites slowly began creeping into the F-4.

Field level composite repair was essentially non-existent until the 1980s, but the few repairs required were handled by the Airframe Repair technicians.

In the late-80s, the Air Force pursued RW as a means to reduce the number of AFSCs and the desire to improve combat capability. The career field specialist opted to combine Airframe Repair (427x5) and Corrosion Control (427x1), seeing these career fields as the most closely related to meet the RW objectives. The combined career fields became known as ASM – 458x2. These maintenance technicians were charged with not only maintaining the corrosion, sheet metal and composites of traditional aircraft, but on LO weapon systems they were also charged with LO system maintenance and health. In the early-90s the AFSCs were renumbered and ASM went from 458x2 to 2A7x3, but all else remained the same.

Concurrently with RW, the F-117 program, operating in the “black world”, assigned LO maintenance repair to the ASM career field.

The F-117 maintenance leaders, having the benefit of LO experience in Operations Desert Shield and Storm, became advocates for a separate LO maintenance AFSC. These leaders knew the inherent operational and maintenance challenges of an LO weapon system and they were keenly aware of the training required to develop this maintenance art. The Major Command declined to support the efforts at creating a separate LO maintainer AFSC and instead opted to create Special Experience Identifiers (SEIs) for each LO

Continued on Next Page...

Maintainers do an early morning check on an F-117 Nighthawk at Edwards AFB. (USAF photo by T Sgt Eric Grill)

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ER: CHALLENGES

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AIRCRAFT STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE

weapon system. The primary purpose was to tag those ASM technicians with a background in LO repair and improve management of these personnel. Ultimately, creation of the SEIs didn’t work because supervisors did not always properly submit people for the SEI, feeling that these technicians would be locked into a particular LO weapon system for their career.

F O U R T H A N D F I F T H G E N E R AT I O N S T E A LT H M A I N TA I N E R S With the operational fielding of the F-22 in 2003 at Tyndall AFB, the Air Force had embarked on adding 183 new LO platforms to the inventory, a 225% increase in the LO platforms needing ASM LO expertise. F-22 deliveries are gradual from 2003, until the last planned aircraft arrives at Hickam AFB at the end of 2011. Also, on the horizon are deliveries of the first F-35s, with the first operational test aircraft planned for 2010, with multi-year delivery up to a planned 1,763 aircraft. The amount of LO work performed by Air Force maintainers will increase well into the future and the Air Force needs to reevaluate the requirement for an LO AFSC. Realizing the increasing needs for LO maintenance in the future fighter/bomber force, ACC reopened the history files to examine the need for the LO AFSC. After review of the current LO weapon systems (F-117, B-2, and F-22), ACC concluded there was a requirement for an LO AFSC. ACC analyzed the drivers behind LO maintenance repair and restoration actions and they studied the associated manpower being expended to maintain the LO system on these aircraft. Using FY05 data, ACC determined through historical analysis that 36% of the F-117 Maintenance Man-Hours per Flying hour (MMH/FH) were related to LO maintenance. Likewise, the B-2 data showed 56% of the MMH/FH was related to LO system repairs. Because of the low numbers of operational F-22s in FY05, ACC could only estimate the F-22 LO maintenance at 16% of the total F-22 MMH/FH, using developmental forecast. For the F-35, the contractor is forecasting a 0.75 LO MMH/FH. After visiting F-22 operations at Langley AFB, Elmendorf AFB, and Nellis AFB, it is obvious LO MMH/FH are heavily driven

by LO coating removal and restoration related to FOM, just as it had been on the F-117 and B-2. Analysis of current F-22 Integrated Maintenance Information System (IMIS) data, F-22 LO MMH/FH ranges between 26-38% of the total maintenance man-hours. This falls within the past performance range of legacy LO weapon systems MMH/FH. In all fairness, it is widely acknowledged that weapon systems go through a maturation process and the F-22 is no different. According to CY05-07 IMIS data, roughly 75% of the F-22 MMH/FH is related to

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“facilitate other maintenance” work in this maturing weapon system. As the system matures, hopefully component reliability behind LO panels will improve, and results in a decrease in the LO MMH/FH. With the ACC plans to implement the LO AFSC (2A7x5) in January 2009, proper training has to be developed to support initial entry into the field and appropriate Field Training Detachment (FTD) courses are being developed to support follow-on initial and continuation training. The initial 12-week training for the LO career field is planned to be conducted at a joint training facility in NAS Pensacola, FL. Once individuals arrive at their respective bases, weapon system specific FTD courses are provided. For example, the FTD at Langley AFB for the F-22 will provide a standardized F-22 Structural Maintenance Basic Coatings and Hardware course consisting of 120-hours of instruction and a second F-22 Structural Maintenance Coatings Assessment course with 40-hours of instruction will be provided to certify technicians as able to perform LO system assessment and document damage in the F-22 Signature Assessment System (SAS).

L O W O B S E R VA B L E M A I N T E N A N C E CHALLENGES Given current procurement plans for the F-22 and F-35, the Air Force will be dealing with the challenges of LO maintenance for many more decades as more LO aircraft enter the inventory.

There are several key maintenance challenges crucial to LO weapon system success. First, becomes addressing the R&M of components under LO panels and the ease with which you can open, close, and ensure LO continuity for a panel. Second, is growing and maintaining a core of LO maintainers for current and future LO weapon systems. Finally, how do you gain confidence the LO repair meets the RCS specification for a weapon system and what is the potential issue if it does not?

R&M throughout maintenance history has been a tough challenge, without the consideration of breaking into an LO coating system and restoring it upon component repair or replacement.

Today, the challenge is exacerbated by the LO system pre- and post-component replacement maintenance. Take a given component failure, it might take two hours to remove, replace and test an Integrated Servo Actuator (ISA). To access the ISA, it might take an LO technician an hour to strip the coatings surrounding the ISA access panel. To restore the ISA panel to full LO capability might take 20-hours of direct maintenance manhours plus associated material layering cure times. As you can see, the bulk of the hours in this example are driven by LO removal and restoration, 21 man-hours in addition to the clock

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cure times between layers. Other than quick access panels, of which there are few on earlier LO weapon systems, this is the process you must go through every time you attempt a repair.

This example is a best-case scenario, where the ISA was a known failure. In the preponderance of bit-failures or fault reporting codes, these codes do not lead you to one component, but rather a list of potential failed components. Then it becomes the job of the technician to sort through these fault reporting codes and determine which component(s) need replacement. Although some weapon systems have or will have diagnostic tools to point you to a potential list of failed components, it sometimes comes down to is the potential failed component under an LO panel or not. This is not a recommended course of action, performing “shotgun” maintenance, just because it is easier to eliminate components under non-LO panels first. R&M needs to be high to start with and when a component does fail, you need to have a high success of hitting the right replacement part the first time.

Ultimately, the diagnostic maintenance tool has to have a high reliability of determining, via the fault reporting codes, what component actually failed.

Maintenance leaders have some definite personnel challenges today and for the foreseeable future on LO weapon systems. As mentioned previously, the Air Force is creating an LO AFSC and specific training for these technicians, but the real problem is the current LO workload. When roughly a third of all your MMH/FH

are associated with LO, you need a large and properly trained workforce to support the demand. In FY99, Nellis AFB F-22 LO maintenance manning was established based upon an engineering estimate of 0.43 authorizations per aircraft. These engineering estimates were based upon “optimistic R&M predictions”, according to an ACC briefing. After the FY02 manpower study was conducted at Nellis AFB, the authorizations per aircraft rose to 1.67.

In September 2007, as the F-22 matured, ACC updated the number again after completing a Capabilities-based Manpower Standard (CMS) and found the need existed for 4.33 authorizations per aircraft (26 positions for 6 aircraft). You can see the vast difference from a 0.43 LO manning authorizations prediction and the actual need of 4.33 LO manning authorizations at Nellis AFB. This similar issue is happening at each of the F-22 operational bases and it is easily understood why 24/7 operations in LO maintenance are putting a considerable strain on the LO workforce.

These highly trained professionals are playing “catch-up” on a daily basis. During multiple interviews with LO technicians, it was obvious why LO technicians sought out less stressful job conditions, using their same skill set in a time clock operation, either with a contractor or Air Force depot, ultimately retainability comes into question for further analysis.

Finally in the list of LO maintenance challenges, comes two of the toughest questions, Does an LO repair meet the RCS specification and what is the potential issue if it does not? Up until the early 90s, the F-117 program had assumed if the LO technicians followed the technical data, then the RCS would be good.

For F-117s, RCS was validated on a recurring basis via dynamic testing, but not near as frequently as either maintainers or operators would have preferred.

Given the small fleet size and the delivery schedule, with the last plane being delivered in 1990, this was a “doable” verification option for a number of years. During the lead up to the deployment of aircraft for Operation Desert Shield, the F-117 program

Crewmembers perform pre-flight maintenance on an F-4 Phantom II at Davis-Monthan AFB (USAF photo SrA Christina Kinsey)

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AIRCRAFT STRUCTURAL MAINTENANCE OF

ER: CHALLENGES

daily basis. During multiple interviews with LO technicians, it was obvious why LO technicians sought out less stressful job conditions, using their same skill set in a time clock operation, either with a contractor or Air Force depot, ultimately retainability comes into question for further analysis.

ing if their maintenance meets original LO specifications. If it does not meet specification, ultimately in a conflict, it could mean the difference in pilot survival. Much like the ejection system, the LO system is in-fact a life critical component of today’s weapon systems.

A low observable system has become standard on the Air Force fighter/bomber fleet, consumes large segments of maintenance man-hours and presents challenges for the aircraft maintenance community. The Air Force has transitioned from all aluminum aircraft to ones with considerable composite structures, and RAM/RAS, causing an expansion in the aircraft structural maintenance workload. Because of the maintenance workload associated with the LO system and the growing quantity of LO weapon systems, the Air Force recognized the need to stand-up the LO AFSC and associated specialized training.

Additionally, specific LO verification tools and signature assessments systems require specialized training.

Two crew chiefs watch as an F-22 Raptor taxis to its parking spot at Hickam AFB (USAF photo TSgt Shane Cuomo)

Finally in the list of LO maintenance challenges, comes two of the toughest questions, Does an LO repair meet the RCS specification and what is the potential issue if it does not? Up until the early 90s, the F-117 program had assumed if the LO technicians followed the technical data, then the RCS would be good. For F-117s, RCS was validated on a recurring basis via dynamic testing, but not near as frequently as either maintainers or operators would have preferred. Given the small fleet size and the delivery schedule, with the last plane being delivered in 1990, this was a “doable” verification option for a number of years. During the lead up to the deployment of aircraft for Operation Desert Shield, the F-117 program realized the need to validate RCS pre-deployment and embarked on a long-term effort to provide LO technicians a portable system to assess RCS via diagnostic imaging radar. As development of more LO weapon systems was apparent, this effort turned into Common Low Observable Verification System (CLOVerS), in the late 1990s. CLOVerS was intended to be operated by LO maintainers, something totally foreign to ASM technicians. In the FY08 and FY09 budgets, the Air Force pulled all production funding for CLOVerS for other priorities, leaving individual LO weapon systems to develop their own maintenance systems for RCS confidence.

Arguably, the F-22 program suffers the most from the CLOVerS funding cut; with F-117s retired, there remain less than 20 operational B-2s, and initial F-35s in testing, the F-22 program is left with no viable LO maintenance or signature verification tool, although the program uses the Signature Assessment System (SAS) to daily document LO degradation. Via an “effects of defects” based model, SAS attempts to provide the field level units with each aircraft’s suitability for wartime deployment. To compliment SAS, the F-22 program management team is examining the possibility of adapting F-35 developmental LO verification equipment. These issues all combine to further challenge the LO maintenance technicians in the field today in determin-

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To reduce invasion into the LO system, it is crucial component R&M under these LO panels be as high as affordable, as the real cost comes in the maintenance man-hours expended to remove and restore the associated LO system. Likewise, it is important the Air Force properly man the LO career field to meet the maintainability demands of LO weapon systems. The example at Nellis AFB, shows disparity between original planning factors and today’s manpower expenditure reality. All this goes directly to taking care of LO technicians and providing a quality work environment, ultimately impacting career field retainability.

Finally, the Air Force should provide these highly specialized technicians the proper LO verification tools essential to a life critical part of today’s weapon systems. These actions taken in total, provide the Air Force an initial road map to maintaining the LO weapon systems for several decades.

About the Author: Lt Col Doug Cato is a Secretary of the Air Force RAND Corporation Research Fellow performing studies and analysis on determining the construct of the new AF Logistics Enterprise and centralized off-equipment maintenance activities.

Additionally, researching F-22 & F-35 low observables maintenance. EMAIL: dougcato@hotmail.com

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Give Them the Recognition They Deser ve!

Do you know someone who always goes above and beyond?

Nominate those deserving individuals for a National Award!

NOMINATIONS ARE DUE 1 AUGUST. M I C H A E L E . Z E T T L E R L I F E T I M E A C H I E V E M E N T A W A R D - This award recognizes members of the Logistics Officer Association who have demonstrated sustained superior leadership in service to this organization.

The nominees for this award will have at least 20 years of service in a logistics related career and also at least 10 years of membership in the LOA. G E O R G E T. B A B B I T T A W A R D - This award recognizes the two LOA National members who made the greatest contributions to the furthering of LOA National’s goals and objectives.

M A RY L . S A U N D E R S C H A P T E R D I S T I N G U I S H E D S E R V I C E A W A R D - This award recognizes the three LOA National members who made the greatest contributions in support of their local LOA Chapter activities.

D O N A L D J . W E T E K A M C H A P T E R O F T H E Y E A R A W A R D - This award recognizes the chapter (large category) which displayed outstanding support of LOA National objectives, innovation of programs for their local membership, and community involvement.

J A M E S L . H A S S C H A P T E R O F T H E Y E A R A W A R D - This award recognizes the chapter (small category) which displayed outstanding support of LOA National objectives, innovation of programs for their local membership, and community involvement.

All nominations are due by 1 August 2008 and should be sent via e-mail to InfoOfficer@loanational.org.

Chapter leadership should refer to http://www.loanational.org/g-5.htm for specific guidance on award nominations.

Commanders’ AFSO CrossTalk A-10 CELLULAR PRODUCTION. POC: Mr. Greg Hoffman, 571 AMXS OO-ALC, Hill AFB The A-10 Precision Engagement (PE) program incorporates a variety of lean tools to address work quality, training issues, and scheduling needs.

The PE program

required the squadron to hire over 150 new technicians,

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most with no prior aircraft experience. To help speed the training process and reduce defects, a cellular production concept was implemented. The project was divided into six cells, sequenced task, leveled work content, and rightsized the work force. The continuous process improvement effort reduced overtime by 60% and production time by 20 days.

MCCORD AFB POINT-OF-USE CTK TRAILER. POC: Maj Alesia A. Quiton, Commander 62 MXS, MCCORD AFB Maintainers at McCord AFB intend to change the concept of tool accountability by implementing a prototype point-of-use system.

Long-wave identification technology enables self-inventory and self-identification of missing/broken tools, while networking to a computer in the CTK enables the tool trailer to remain on the flightline. Those long wait lines at CTK will be gone forever!

Gone too, will be the days of spending countless man-hours searching for lost tools. LWID technology enables maintainers to locate lost tools with the swipe of a wand. The concept recapitalizes in the first year of implementation by returning 38 manpower equivalents back to the flightline, with greater dividends

if

implemented

Command or Air Force wide.

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LEANING DLA SHIPPING POC: Col Chris Burke, Defense Supply Center Richmond The Defense Supply Center Richmond (DSCR) recently conducted its third, joint Lean Event with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. The first two events focused on improving shipping operations in support of DLA and the military customers.

Through two continuous process improvement cycles, shipping times were reduced from 15 days to 3 days, and finally to 1.5 days. The success of these projects led to a third event focused on pricing for long, lead-time materiel.

The

ability to efficiently

and

fairly negotiate prices between DSCR

and

original equipment manufacturers such as Sikorsky is critical. The current state of this process lasts over 150 days and involves 44 steps. After the Lean Event, the future state indicated a capability of 34 days with only 14 steps.

The last of

those improvements is now being implemented.

DEICER SAFETY FIRST POC: Maj Matt Wynn, 436th AMXS Dover AFB, matthew.wynn@dover.af.mil At Dover AFB, refilling deicers with deicing fluid was an accident waiting to happen. Deicers were refueled through the top of the tank requiring the mechanic to climb up and down the side of the truck eight times – in slippery, icy conditions. ground-level suggestion identified this hazard and suggested refilling the deicers from the ground through an existing “side port”. The refueling station and deicer required

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a small modification, but this completely eliminated the potential for injury.

Right: A1C Benjamin Nelson from the 436th AMXS fills the deicing truck up from the safety of ground level versus past method of standing on top of the deicer truck in icing conditions.

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(Photo 436th AMXS, Dover AFB)

KC-135 AIRCRAFT TRANSFER RAPID IMPROVEMENT EVENT (RIE) POC: Capt John Creighton, 6 MOS MacDill AFB On 30 Apr 07, MacDill AFB, Florida was the Mobility Air Forces (MAF) lead for the Transfer AFSO21 Initiative reducing man-hours and increasing aircraft availability. In the past, the KC-135 fleet took 72 hours per aircraft to complete a transfer and utilized non-standard checklists. Currently they are down to 24 hours per aircraft transfer and implemented a standardized 18 step checklist which saves 60.8 man-hours. All MAJCOMs concurred with the standardized checklist and the KC-135 Weapons System Manager is working with Depot to incorporate these steps into the technical order.

POINT-OF-USE TRAILERS POC: 2d Lt Dane Martin, 436th AMXS Dover AFB Are your Airmen making too many trips from the flightline to support section to get tools and parts?

Consider Point-of-Use (POU) trailers. Under this concept, tools are located on the flightline – right where the mechanic needs them. At Dover Air Force Base, POU Trailers house two crew chief tools boxes, workstations with wireless computers and printers. Sound procedures for maintaining accountability and serviceability of the tool boxes ensure this program is a success.

(Left: SrA Matthew Worden from the 436th AMXS inputs GO81 entries inside the POU tool trailer. (Photo 436th AMXS, Dover AFB)

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6S A C-5.

POC: CMSgt John Lynn, 436th AMXS Dover AFB, john.lynn@dover.af.mil You’ve 6S’d your office and your work area, but have you 6S’d your jet? Dedicated crew chiefs are applying 6S to C-5s at Dover Air Force Base.. Every item has its place and every place is labeled. Additionally, the comprehensive 6S checklist ensures the jet is kept in a sustained, clean condition. Finally, the 6S scores are a part of the DCC incentive program grading.

A1C Jorge Duarte from the 436th AMXS updates his 6S scorecard. (Photo 436th AMXS, Dover AFB) K

Logistics in the “First Command” Submitted by Mr. Garry Richey

C

hances are pretty good that your Air Force career started in an Air Education and Training Command (AETC) classroom, cockpit, flight line, simulator, or training facility. That’s why AETC is known as the Air Force’s “First Command”because it is the first to touch the lives of every Air Force member.

But the chances are also pretty good that you didn’t spend too much time thinking about AETC logistics as you studied hard to pass your next test and move on to your first duties in the Air Force.

With an annual budget of almost $7 billion and a workforce of 85,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel, AETC accomplishes its mission at over 1,600 locations worldwide. Admittedly, I was one of those folks who didn’t quite fully understand AETC and its mission – that is until my recent assignment as the Director of Logistics, Installations and Mission Support at HQ AETC. In fact, AETC plays a vital role in enabling combat operations and sending our people to the fight. I’d like to share with my fellow loggies what I’ve learned about logistics in the “First Command” during my first year in the seat.

LESSON 1: While transformation is on everyone’s mind today, AETC started its logistics transformation in the 1960s. Over the past four decades, the professionals in AETC successfully built its diverse logistics workforce while overcoming turbulence and keeping pace with the mission. In the early 60s, we converted maintenance, supply, transportation and other base operating support activities at Vance AFB, OK from “blue suit” to an all-contractor workforce with a single contract. This action fed the Vietnam War’s logistics manpower needs by allowing more loggies to get to the fight. In the late 60s, teaming with our NATO allies, AETC established a maintenance contract to support both German and United States T-37 and T-38 aircraft in order to conduct NATO student pilot training at

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Sheppard AFB, TX. During the late 80s and early 90s, AETC was called upon to free up over 4,000 military authorizations by conducting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 cost studies. This provided military personnel to support the standup of C-17 aircraft and Peacekeeper missile programs. In the late 90s, AETC surrendered an additional 2,800 military logistic authorizations to offset escalating modernization costs. In May 2004, 40 Army UH-1H/V helicopters transferred to the Air Force. AETC partnered with the U.S. Army to stand up an AF maintenance capability under the Army maintenance contract at Fort Rucker, AL. In 2005, AETC once again supported our nation’s allies and converted approximately 100 military positions to contract maintenance in support of a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program at Luke AFB, AZ. Over the last 40 years, AETC converted over 6,800 military authorizations saving the Air Force $51.6 million while maintaining a world class logistics operation. Bottom line: as a result of four decades of transformation, AETC’s logistics workforce now encompasses military, civil service, and contractor personnel working to “Develop America’s Airmen Today ... for Tomorrow.”

LESSON 2: AETC logisticians are in the fight! In FY07, AETC deployed over 700 logistics personnel to support worldwide security commitments to include locations throughout U. S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. Like Airmen in other commands, AETC Airmen are filling U.S. Army in lieu of (ILO) duties. (ILO means doing duties traditionally assigned to the Army). Similarly, AETC ensures they deploy with the training, weapons, and protective equipment they need to fight, survive, and win.

AETC logisticians hosted several Training and Equipment Review Boards (TERB) for ILO missions. War fighters tell AETC what training they want, what equipment is required, and what our Airmen need to win this fight. The TERB identified weapon requirements, improvements to body armor, and additional needed equipment. On

SUMMER 2008

behalf of the Air Force, AETC identified the requirement for M-4 Weapons, executed the purchase of these weapons, and distributed them throughout the Air Force to meet ILO and other deployment taskings. The TERB identified a need for individual body armor that could be quickly shed to expedite departure from a burning vehicle or another life threatening situation.

Additionally, the TERB identified a need for gap-filler equipment between traditional AF combat support equipment and that provided by the U.S. Army. This gives our Airmen high-tech solutions to carrying protective weapons, emergency egress knives, and other required combat equipment. Equipping each Airman with the best tools and technology available is only part of the fight. Using these tools to gain the maximum benefit possible is the product of training.

The T-37B Tweet became a part of the AF inventory in 1955, and is a twin-engine jet used for training student pilots in the fundamentals of aircraft handling. (U.S. Air Force Photo)

In 2004, AETC stood up the Basic Combat Convoy Course (BC3).

This course provides Air Force logisticians with small-team tactical leadership and combat skills needed to operate on the roads of Iraq and Afghanistan. BC3 prepares 500 logisticians every year for combat operations seen along the main supply routes (MSR) strewn with improvised explosive devices. Graduates of BC3 will drive every MSR to support bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, and typically operate for weeks at a time. Every BC3 course is manned with instructors just returning from the AOR to ensure the incorporation of the latest tactics, techniques and procedures.

LESSON 3: Contracting is a big business in AETC! An Air Force

exhausted troops to air traffic management services in Afghanistan, AFCAP contributes supplies and over 600 deployed contractors to the battlefield. To further support the fight, AETC contracting professionals arrange life-saving combat skills, cultural awareness, and aircraft familiarization training for AF maintainers and pilots prior to assuming deployed duties to stand-up the Iraqi and Afghan Air Forces. This training is especially crucial since the air advisors live and train with the Iraqi/Afghan Airmen using U.S. commercial and Soviet fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. Furthermore, AETC provides contractual support to AF Security Assistance Training (AFSAT) community to shore-up global support to our international partners. Recent Foreign Military Sales efforts include providing F-16 aircraft maintenance training to Taiwanese forces at Luke AFB, AZ and furnishing C-130 pilot training to Airmen from South Africa, Israel, Belgium, Kuwait, and Botswana. AETC contracting professionals significantly impact the U. S. diplomatic and military objectives world-wide.

vital force multiplier, AETC contracting professionals are out-infront and behind the scenes making the mission happen by managing a portfolio of contracted services, construction, and commodities worth over $4 billion. At the very tip of the spear, AETC logisticians directly affect international efforts and relations through the Air Force Contract Augmentation Program (AFCAP—the AF’s “LOGCAP” equivalent). Our contracting professionals use this tool to provide essential logistics in today’s combat zones to optimize the efforts of our SrA Micah Lenamond provides cover for a passing convoy near Camp Bucca, Iraq. More than 700 Airmen are deployed here providing security multinational warfighters. for the base, the Theater Internment Facility and convoy operations.

From lightning-quick con(USAF photo by SrA Michael Garza) struction of safe bunks for

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LESSON 4: AETC logisticians sustain and maintain over 1,500 aircraft and ground trainers. AETC’s fleet of 50 various type aircraft includes fighters, helicopters, tankers, airlifters, and even AF Academy gliders. Aircraft range from some of the oldest in the AF inventory—KC-135s at 47-years average age, C-130Es at an average of 45-years, T-38s that average 42-years, and UH-1s that are about 38-years old–to some of our nation’s newest, F-22A and the CVContinued on Next Page...

“FIRST COMMAND” IN THE

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22. As the “First Command,” we find ourselves as the AF lead for initial bed down of many new aircraft and support systems. Over the past few years, AETC was the first to bed down and operationally fly CV-22 and F-22 aircraft. In addition, we are leading the charge in the bed down of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft program. The key to our success is communications between the AETC staff (operations, plans and logistics) and our lead command partners such as ACC and AFSOC. Working relationA CV-22 Osprey lands after flying an air-refueling mission. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech Sgt. Cecilio M. Ricardo ships with our fellow lead commands are Jr.) strong and contribute to our mission accomplishment, but it can create some will be a total force, joint, coalition and FMS training location notable challenges. For example, the 58th Special Operations with plans to train approximately 200 pilots and 2,000 mainWing at Kirtland AFB, NM maintains aircraft managed by four tainers per year. Keeping the environmental impact study on lead commands—AETC (TH-1H), AFSPACE (UH-1H/N), track, accreditation of the Autonomic Logistics Information ACC (HC-130, HH-60), and AFSOC (CV-22). This challenge System and integrating the F-35 and training plan in the FY10 is met by constant crosstalk with our sister commands. And talk POM requirements are some of the many logistics challenges about flying challenges–few people realize it, but AETC executes that must be tackled. These lessons learned must be ingrained more flying hours than any other MAJCOM! The typical flying in our organizations. With limited resources, we can ill afford to day at the 47th Flying Training Wing at Laughlin AFB is a good relearn the same lesson over and over. example! Team XL routinely puts up a whopping 251 training lines per day. At Columbus AFB, Team Blaze launches and Mission movement can be the result of transformation and CPI. recovers 4,785 T-1, T-6, T-37, and T-38 sorties every month. Under BRAC direction, the Air Force is moving the Combat Maintaining and sustaining such a dynamic fleet requires con- System Officer (CSO) undergraduate training program from stant management that includes identifying areas for improve- Randolph AFB to Pensacola Naval Air Station. Concurrent with the relocation, AETC is overhauling the training program by ment. transitioning from the T-43 aircraft and replacing it with T-6s and LESSON 5: AETC takes transformation and continuous process T-1s. CSOs, formerly known as navigators, currently get “stoveimprovement (CPI) seriously. The AF aims to improve war pipe trained” in one of three specialties (Electronic Warfare fighter support and reduce costs by bringing together AF logis- Officer, Weapon System Officer, or Navigator). The new protics business processes and information systems into a single inte- gram at Pensacola better allows CSO training to meet emerging grated gateway. AETC is at the forefront of implementing the Air Force technological and mission needs. CSO training will Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS), a foundational produce a common aviator skilled in advanced navigation sysenabler of Expeditionary Logistics in the 21st Century (eLog21). tems, electronic warfare, weapons employment, and able to operIn fact, the Air Force’s first ECSS site will stand-up at Maxwell ate the complex systems so critical to the Air Force mission.

AFB in 2010. ECSS alone is expected to migrate hundreds of CSOs are currently employed in various air frames to include AF logistics and financial systems to a single portal using com- fighters, bombers, airlift and unmanned aerial vehicles. The CSO mercial off the shelf software. This broad range effort will pro- stand-up at a Navy installation will provide AETC’s logisticians vide multifunctional war fighters advanced planning and sched- unique and challenging opportunities. Today, AETC is planning uling, weapons systems lifecycle, financial, distribution and to stand up the CSO program with T-1 and T-6 aircraft under a transportation management, and much more. service contract maintenance activity and a Contractor Operated Transformation and CPI will ultimately change the way we per- and Maintained Base Supply (COMBS) concept. form our jobs and processes in the AF. The JSF bed down at Eglin AFB will push AETC and the AF in new directions. This

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AETC is working closely with other major commands to implement maintenance system processes and procedures that optimize

SUMMER 2008

repair networks across the Air Force enterprise. This will not only streamline our processes but will also save money and personnel in the long run. Logisticians at the 325th Fighter Wing’s F-15 avionics repair shop are making final preparations, including facility renovations, to accept workload from Langley AFB’s 1st Fighter Wing as part of Repair Network Transformation (RNT).

Luke AFB’s 56th Fighter Wing recently closed the doors on its targeting pod repair capability in favor of transferring intermediate repairs for the pods to the 366th Fighter Wing’s Consolidated

Intermediate Repair Facility at Hill AFB. AETC logisticians continue to contribute to several RNT forums to assess the best ways to take advantage of our facilities and technicians.

AETC logisticians are strong advocates of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO21). To ensure that AFSO21 efforts are aligned with AETC’s balanced score card (BSC), all Headquarters AETC A4/7 divisions developed strategy maps with goals, objectives, and annual improvement strategies (AIS) critical to the development of the annual AFSO21 Action Plan.

Additionally, HQ AETC/A4/7 is developing training to implement the necessary cultural changes required to make AFSO21 a success in an organization.

Leaders from logistics organizations across AETC met in March to kick off our first “Beyond AFSO21” course. The course is designed to teach the skills necessary to lead cultural change on the shop floor.

With AFSO21 in our tool box, the AETC logistics community is going from good to great!

As you can see, AETC Logisticians are busy attacking challenges in every facet of our business. Sometimes, it is hard to fathom the number of diverse projects we work on a daily basis. I’ve learned something new about every 5 minutes during my first year in the Air Force’s First Command— AETC. The command has a history of transformation—before it became “cool”.

We’re in the fight every day. Contracting is indeed a force multiplier. This command flies….A LOT! And finally, AETC is serious about finding better ways of doing business through continuous process improvement – and this is not new.

About the Author: Mr. Garry Richey is the Director, Logistics, Installations and Mission Support, HQ AETC. He oversees aircraft maintenance, supply, transportation, contracting, civil engineering, security forces, logistics plans and budget support for 13 flying and training wings across Air

TH-1H is the latest aircraft to join the Air Force inventory. It will serve as the undergraduate pilot training platform. (USAF photo by MSgt Lance Cheung)

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Training and Education Command.

K

AFSO21 JOURNEY

Submitted by Maj Joe Heilhecker

W

hile dealing with the fog and friction of warfare, have operational commanders ever had everything on their wish list prior to or during a conflict? Have logistics officers ever supported the operational comTo learn Lean manufacturing concepts under the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, aircraft mechanics manders and led in an environment with from the 725th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Rota Naval Air Station, Spain, build aeropod airplanes in an assemno constraints? No matter how plentiful bly line process. (USAF photo SMSgt Bryan Ford) or scarce the resources, the victorious commanders reach their objectives more neys. Each center started by developing their own body of knowleffectively by using their constrained resources more efficiently than edge and training implementation skills from various Lean experts. their opponents. The art of exploiting the opponent’s weaknesses, The experts hailed from consulting firms, industrial partners, and while minimizing one’s own, will endure as long as there is compeuniversities, each with unique vocabularies and/or proprietary contition on the battlefield, free market, athletic field, etc. The desire tinuous process improvement (CPI) tool kits. Although the to win drives a passion for performance improvement, and that pasapproaches used at the tactical level varied, the results at the opersion resonates throughout airpower history. From the muddy fields ational level were dramatic. For example, by removing a mechanof France in 1917, with airpower’s exponential growth during World ic’s travel by 60% in the C-5 programmed depot maintenance War II through General LeMay’s formation of SAC and during the (PDM) process — the flow days dropping from 339 days to below jet fighter era, airpower’s performance improved not only with tech170 days…allowing a 33% increase in throughput. Similar waste nology, but with process improvements. reduction efforts over 5 years, cut flow days on the organic KC-135 The most recent logistics process improvements can be linked back PDM line from over 400 to below 180 days and reduced the numto 1993 when the Air Force asked the Massachusetts Institute of ber of aircraft on station from 53 to 22—that’s 31 aircraft returned Technology (MIT), “Can the concepts, principles and practices of to combat operations! In conjunction with the parallel efforts at the Toyota Production System be applied to the military aircraft the contracted KC-135 PDM locations, depot possessed aircraft industry?” This simple question was the genesis of the Lean plummeted from 176 to less than 60—that’s 116 aircraft returned to Aerospace Initiative (LAI)—a collaborative effort among the Air combat operations! Along with the MAF, the CAF felt the impact Force, aerospace defense companies, and MIT focused on imple- of the CPI journey with F-16 Common Configuration mentation of Lean principles throughout the acquisition, develop- Implementation Plan (CCIP) line established an 11-cell, single ment, and production processes of military aerospace systems. piece flow process. The results reduced flow days from 142 to 119, Through extensive research, LAI eventually developed a holistic with aircraft on station dropping from 20 to 9. The PDM lines Lean implementation guide titled “Transitioning to a Lean might be the most visible examples of success, but results were also Enterprise.” Meanwhile, WR-ALC embarked on their Lean journey found in the commodities arena as well. In fact, results to date in providing significant early results thereby spurring the other two all areas show successfully led process improvement efforts result in ALCs to kick start their own continuous process improvement jour- increased productivity of Airmen, dollars, and machinery, plus

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Air Force senior leaders take a tour of Boeing’s 737 Production Facility in Seattle as part of the AFSO21 industry exchange. The site visit gave Air Force representatives a firsthand look at how Boeing incorporates Lean processes into its business practices. (Boeing courtesy photo)

improved availability of critical equipment, and faster respond to new logistical requirements.

AFSO21 is about combat capability, strengthening the Air Force by systematically reducing waste, variability and unevenness. AFOS21 program objectives became known as the 5 Desired Effects: 1.) increasing productivity of our most valuable asset – people; 2.) significantly increasing in critical equipment availability; 3.) improving response time and agility; 4.) sustaining safe and reliable operations, and 5.) improving energy efficiency. Leaders implemented a CPI program that reached out to numerous academia and industry experts, as well as the AFSO21 program office, to build their body of knowledge in application of CPI tools, thereby resulting in some differences between the ALCs, i.e. slightly different terminology and models.

If the core of AFSO21 is to assess current operations, set targets on strategic needs, take action and follow through to conclusion, then while taking action, problems must be solved for a team to reach their new performance targets. From site visit observations, there was an absence of consist problem solving methodology looking for the proper leverage points at the constraint(s) instead of the problem’s symptoms in the value stream.

To once again borrow from the origination of Lean, the AFSO21 office tailored the 8-step problem solving process from Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant. Slightly modifying on the descriptions and replacing Plan, Do Check, and Act (PDCA) cycle with the Air Force’s Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act (OODA) loop, the AFSO21 team delivered a scalable problem-solving process.

[The process is detailed in the AFSO21 Playbook, volumes B and Continued on Next Page...

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ER: AFSO21 JOURNEY

J.] Now, the OODA problem-solving methods are introduced in the Level 1 and 2 implementers’ courses, senior leaders’ class, general officer class, and eventually will become part of the curriculum at all levels of professional military education.

Properly following the 8-step model will focus the performance improvement desires while preventing some of undesirable effects and smooth the CPI journey path.

As the Air Force’s CPI program matures, the AFSO21 system will evolve to improve the habits of Airmen to become better system thinkers; see value streams; solve problems at the root cause; and reduce firefighting.

Integration of solutions found at the tactiDr. Ronald Ritter, Air Force secretary’s special assistant for Air Force Smart Operations 21, discusses cal level across the entire enterprise is the improvements that the 374th Maintenance Squadron’s engine shop is making for the AFSO 21 project with greatest challenge for AFSO21 advocates.

Senior Master Sgt. Guy Ragan, 374th MXS propulsion flight chief, Yokota AB. (USAF photo by SrA What does a model engine line look like Veronica Pierce) and how do we replicate it? What is the standard KC-135 or C-130 isochronal inspection process? How tional sponsorship of policy change and overcoming budget hurdo we take the Vandenberg AFB Light Emitting Diode (LED) dles. It will require teams working on shared goals across comstreet light solution and deploy it across the Air Force to save mon value streams. It will take communication of not only the millions of dollars? Unfortunately, we can’t just take the solu- solution but the starting point of the problem and the journey tion and say “make it so” it is not that easy. It will involve func- along the way.

About the Author: Maj Joe Heilhecker Organization: SAF/SO – Air Force Smart Operations. As AFSO21 Integration Team Lead defines and develops mechanisms for rapid approval and complete transmission and deployment of solutions horizontally across the Total Air Force in order to achieve AF, MAJCOM & unit commander goals, objectives and performance targets.

Email: joseph.heilhecker @pentagon.af.mil

Col. Charles Fox records inputs at a breakout session during a three-day meeting of U.S. Air Forces in Europe leaders designed to help USAFE-wide implementation of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. (USAF photo Col. Susan Strednansky)

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Lessons Learned…

Key Transformational Tool here is life after retirement for an old maintenance officer, I can prove it. Ten years ago when I left my last flight line assignment at Kunsan Air Base I figured the fun was pretty much over. All I could look forward to was staff work for the rest of my time on active duty. With the exception of a brief 78-day whirlwind experience as part of then Brigadier General Terry Gabreski’s 1999 Operation ALLIED FORCE (OAF) logistics staff, this was pretty much the case.

So what is A9, and what does an “A4 kinda guy” do there? The concept developed from OAF when the USAFE Commander, Gen. John Jumper, recognized a need and stood-up a new operations assessment team (OAT) to, among other things, capture issues and lessons from OAF and provide specific recommendations on how they should be fixed. One of this team’s recommendations was: “…there’s a glaring need to institute a process to capture and fully develop the observations, lessons learned and recommendations from future combat operations…” Part of that OAT team ultimately evolved into today’s Third Air Force (3 AF) A9.

I retired in 2003 and followed my wife back to Germany where she was teaching school in a DoDDs school. With Operation IRAQI FREEDOM’s (OIF) major combat operations ongoing, there wasn’t any work in sight. This was soon to change. In July of 2003, I was hired to join a contractor team writing U.S. Air Forces in Europe’s after action review for OIF. Working out of USAFE/A9, that’s when the fun started.

Immediately after the events of 911, Gen Greg “Speedy” Martin, USAFE/CC at the time, directed the staff to “build a cell like we did for OAF”. He selected the Warrior Preparation Center (WPC) Commander to be his Director of Mission Rehearsals and Operational Analysis and called the function A9. Using the WPC’s exercise and analysis capabilities, A9 developed a mission concept and went to work.

Submitted by Lt Col (ret) William L. Kopch

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Controllers in the Combined Air Operations Center at an air base on the Arabian Peninsula monitor the status of ongoing missions supporting OIF. (Photo by Ministry of Defense-Royal Air Force Sgt. Gareth Davies)

With the formation of USAFE’s Warfighting Headquarters three years later (now referred to as a Component-Numbered Air Force (CNAF)), COMUSAFE instructed the WPC to transfer the A9 function to the newly formed headquarters. At the time, the War-fighting Headquarters concept was just beginning to emerge, and USAFE was actually the first major command in the Air Force to stand one up.

So where does an aircraft maintenance officer fit into this headquarters transformation equation? The answer — weapons systems maintenance, otherwise known as lessons learned. In the year 2000, General Jumper, who had gone on to become the Air Force Chief of Staff, designated the Air Operations Center (AOC) a weapon system. Two years after that, the AOC command center infrastructure was dubbed the “AN/USQ-163 Falconer”.

Command and control is a 24/7 operation at the Combined Air Operations Center in Southwest Asia. (USAF In2003, the AOC weapons system program was photo by SrA Brian Ferguson) new and without a funding line. Test activity was primarily limited to small, but high-priority improvements needed to support CENTCOM’s Working for the Commander, Air Force Forces (COMAFFOR), efforts in the Middle East. Over the next five years, we continued Falconer provides the Joint Forces Air Component Commander to learn new lessons as the 3 AF Air Force Forces (AFFOR) staff (JFACC) the capability to plan and employ aerospace forces. When and the AOC planned, sustained, and executed air power together. the COMAFFOR is also the JFACC, the AOC is the Joint Air Today’s 3 AF Falconer, supported by its partner AFFOR staff, pro- Operations Center (JAOC). In cases where multinational operavides joint air operations plans, guidance and tasking, and manages tions are being conducted, the AOC is a Combined Aerospace and evaluates offensive and defensive operations at the operational Operations Center (CAOC). level of war.

As the 3 AF “lessons learned” guy, it’s my job among other things to serve as corporate memory for the AFFOR and the AOC. With my one person A9L staff, I attend every operations planning team meeting. We participate in red teaming and mission rehearsals. We play in every operation and exercise. We facilitate after action reviews and write after action reports. While we are assigned to the AFFOR staff, we serve both the AOC Commander and the AFFOR Chief of Staff (yes, I said Chief of Staff, not Director of Staff…but that’s another story entirely).

Because our lessons learned job requires us to examine the inner workings of the C-NAF, we’ve become the 3 AF “go to guys” for reviewing transformation-related program action directives and operational level command and control doctrine and procedures publications.

USAF Academy Cadet Brian Vickers plays with American children that have just arrived at the Air Mobility Command Passenger Terminal at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (USAF photo by A1C Julianne Trulson)

Since lessons are always observed and seldom learned, the lessons learned job fits into both ends of the bigger mission of the A9 directorate. Before an event, lessons Continued on Next Page...

E R : L E S S O N S L E A R N E D … K E Y T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L T O O L

After the Chief of Staff validates a key take-away, he stays engaged and receives face-to-face bi-weekly updates from the office of primary responsibility for each take-away.

learned section distributes information to help guide senior leaders and planners. During the event, we collect and analyze new lessons and feed them back to the AOC and AFFOR (as well as to the A9 red teaming folks to help them test the leaders and staff). After everything is over, we facilitate the after action review and write the after action report.

The true catalyst and effectiveness of A9 has been the complementary synergy attained by three divisions (Operational Analysis and Red Teaming, Exercise Analysis, and Lessons Learned) interacting with each other while residing under one director.A9L’s job is to capture lessons observed, incorporate them into exercises, roll them into red teaming and mission rehearsals, and then capture the new lessons learned following each operation and exercise.

Once lessons and key take-aways are resolved, they remain in the lessons learned data base and are used by A9 to build table top scenarios to test planner’s courses of action for gaps and seams. Our A9 exercise analysts also use these lessons to identify training objectives, enhance exercise master scenario events list injects, and improve the overall exercise design process. Last but not least, these lessons ultimately support the HQ transformation effort because they highlight the processes that work and force process owners to change the ones that don’t.

While this job may sound like a lot of paperwork, nothing could be further from the truth. For me, it’s a lot like the good old days on the flight line. Unlike the “skip echelon” NAFs many of us grew up with, C-NAFs are actually staffed to do their job. Not only are there more people, the ones I work with every day are the crème de la crème—just like the best unit level organizations out there in the tactical level Air Force. To me, today’s 3 AF has the feel of a squadron but at the operational level… the same sense of camaraderie, the same energy, the same drive that made my days pushing airplanes into the sky so much fun.

U.S. Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., speaks with displaced Americans at the Air Mobility Passenger Terminal at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The citizens are being transported from Cyprus back to the United States. (USAF photo by A1C Amber SorsekBressler)

Theoretically, the A9 approach should ensure lessons are really learned and don’t just go on a shelf to be learned again at a later date.

In reality, A9 synergy alone does not fix every lesson. Some lessons just keep on showing up over and over again. With the support of the 3 AF/CC and Chief of Staff, the Lessons Learned Division developed a solution to that problem. It’s called the 3 AF Lesson Issue Resolution Process (3AFLIRP).

3AFLIRP provides an end-to-end analysis to create efficiencies and enhance mission execution by identifying and resolving shortfalls. The process goes two steps further by determining which issues should be referred to the U.S. European Command Commander and Air Staff, and by tracking all actionable lessons to resolution.

3AFLIRP represents a collaborative effort of the three A9 divisions and lead planners from 3 AF’s AFFOR and AOC staffs.

On a C-NAF wide scale, analysts and subject matter experts vet issues, observations, and lessons and identify actionable “key take-aways”. These key take-aways are presented to the Chief of Staff for validation, resolution, and for presentation to 3 AF/CC.

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Not only is my job fun, it’s a great source of personal satisfaction—I know we’re making a contribution that will make a difference for every Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine in this combatant command. After watching 3 AF in action for two weeks during Phase I of Exercise AUSTERE CHALLENGE 08, the 505th Command and Control Wing’s Operation Command Training Program experts had this to say:

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“Excellent preparation” “Detail of planning was noteworthy”

“A benchmark of C-NAF functionality and integration” “Outstanding integration of Air National Guard personnel” “Face-to-face team integration enhanced sound practices” “Positive attitudes + hard work + outstanding leadership = outstanding training” “Interaction between the AFFOR staff and the AOC – Outstanding!”

“Team leadership was the key” “The 3 AF team set the bar high for crisis action planning – we can’t wait for Phase III.”

USAFE Commander Gen. Tom Hobbins introduces Ambassador William R. Timken, Jr., U.S. Ambassador to Germany, at a press availability at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Ambassador Timken visited Ramstein on behalf of President George Bush, thanking the troops for their support with the current humanitarian efforts. (USAF photo

by SSgt Angela Malek)

Just like the old days in aircraft maintenance, once again I get the chance to make a difference, to see the impact of my work every day, and to use the skills the Air Force taught me over my 24 years in maintenance.

Specifically, the ability to ask the right questions, a knack for seeing seams in a process, the skill to work within a system to help leaders harmonize the efforts of many talented people.

Every day, I watch the C-NAF take off and land. Once in the chocks, I participate in the debriefing for the AFFOR and the Falconer weapons system.

Every weapons system needs maintenance. That’s where the Lessons Learned Division comes in. As far as I know, no Falconer AOC and its supporting AFFOR has come back from a sortie code one. The first day that happens is not too far down the road…it will happen at 3 AF, and I intend to be part of that accomplishment.

While we continue to transition to a fully manned C-NAF headquarters, one lesson 3 AF and other C-NAFs still haven’t come to grips with fully is “how does the AFFOR piece fit into the AOC weapons system?” To paraphrase Air Force Senior Mentor Lt. Gen. (ret.) Mike Short… “After OAF, Air Force leaders decided the AOC needed to be a weapons system so the JFACC could command and control air power more effectively. For the longest time leadership believed the AFFOR staff’s job of providing the beds, beans, bullets didn’t need any kind of maintenance and training: ‘That’s their bread and butter, it’s what they do every day’. The truth, observed General Short, is “the more we employ the weapons system, the more evident it becomes

that both the AOC and AFFOR pieces need training, care and feeding. It’s the only way we’ll get to a point where the weapons system truly achieves full operational capability.”

The General went on to say: “As an Air Force, we need to do a better job training our Airmen to fight the force. We train our officers to “support” the fight on the ground tactically, but we never come to grips with training them to fight the Air Force itself…something our sister services do well from second lieutenant on up.”

As the HQ transformation continues, the Third—and Thirteenth (PACAF)–Air Force C-NAFs will need loggies who want to learn the art of sustaining Air Force Forces at the operational level. If you want an opportunity to make a difference, this is a great one. For my more mature colleagues out there, there is life after retirement, and I found it!

About the Author: Lt Col (ret) William L. Kopsch, is the Chief, Lessons Learned Division, HQ 3 AF/A9L. He collects, analyzes, and archives lessons and observations to ensure they’re effectively integrated into procedures and doctrine. Additionally he must author after action reports and provide lessons upfront in planning process for operations and exercises; feed lessons to 3 AF/CC to improve policies, processes, and to institutionalize issue resolutions across the CNAF. EMAIL: william.kopsch@ramstein.af.smil.mil

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K

A Look Behind the Scenes YOUR ER FIELD TEAM

ER: A LOOK BEHIND

THE

SCENES

Submitted by Col (ret) Mary H. Parker The Field Team is composed of volunteers that perform the initial editing on all article submissions for grammar, spelling, and accuracy. If warranted, the Field Team contacts the authors of the articles and works in concert with them to modify specific points or ideas for clarity.

The Field Team also provides candid comments to the Editor on the content of the articles, and indicates where some submissions may not fit the venue for publication in the ER. The Field Team members have varied logistical backgrounds, and as the Assistant Editor, I assign 3-5 articles from the issue to each member based on the subject matter of the article. Here are short bios on the Field Team members, who all happen to be sitting SQ/CCs: Lt Col Gene Carter is the Commander, 15th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Hickam AFB, HI. He leads a Total Force Integrated squadron of 150 Hawaii Air National Guardsmen, Active Duty and Air Force civilians maintaining eight PACAF C-17s. His service began in Jan 1986 with the Air Force Reserves before he was commissioned and transitioned to active duty in 1992.

Lt Col Gene Carter

Maj Rich Fletcher is the Commander, 305th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, McGuire AFB, NJ. He leads 218 active duty, Air Force civilian, and air reserve technicians responsible for maintaining 13 C-17s. He entered active duty on 31 May 1995 and has served in ACC, AETC, AFMC, and AMC. Maj Paul Pethel is the Commander, 100th Maintenance Squadron, RAF Mildenhall, UK. He leads 240 active duty, civilian and Ministry of Defence employees providing support for KC135R, C-130 and RC-135 aircraft. He entered active duty on 2 Sep 1994 and has served in AMC, AETC and PACAF. Col Cheryl Allen is our ER photo editor. Col Allen scans multiple web sites to locate photographs that will enhance and augment the narrative portion of the articles submitted to the ER. She assists Marta Hannon, Managing Editor, by sorting through the photos that are provided with the articles, and selects a composite of images to create a “First Class” periodical.

Maj Rich Fletcher

The new tasking that the Field Team has accepted is to select the annual winners for the “Exceptional Writer” Awards in the three categories (CGO, FGO and Civilian). The criteria for these awards are based on 1.) clear and concise writing; 2.) overall value for the audience; and 3.) mission impact, effectiveness and applicability of the article. The winners will be announced at the National LOA Conference in Oct 08.

K Maj Paul Pethel

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CGO Corner “IPS” FOR 21ST CENTURY AIR FORCE LOGISTICS “IPs” or instructor pilots, as they are referred to outside the Air Force flying world, are the most important mentors pilot-candidates will interact with during their quest to earn “silver wings.” Only those pilots who have demonstrated an unequivocal mastery of flight are selected to return to the schoolhouse to guide future pilots through the unforgiving and, at times, perilous science of flight. IPs use Capt Ernest Cage their hands to “talk” about flight maneuvers, and know their applicable regulations and procedures “to the letter”. They inspire, and for some, speak candidly about the hard realities of their incompatibility with flying skills. One of the traits an IP possesses is image and attitude. Young impressionable students are eager to find their place in the Air Force—everything from a unique swagger to the half-roll of a flight suit sleeve will most likely be emulated.

While most logistics CGOs don’t wear flight suits or teach with planes on sticks, we all serve a critical role in preparing our Airmen to be “logistics aviators” as they navigate the ever evolving stratosphere of our 21st century air, space and cyberspace force. As junior leaders – the soldiers on the ground—it is our tasking to ensure that our Air Force is prepared and ready to engage in a spectrum of operations that can range from convoy duty on the treacherous highways of Iraq, to civil operations in Africa, and to nation building in Afghanistan. We are immersed in all these missions, while simultaneously prosecuting a campaign “in garrison” to abolish waste and improve operations through AFSO 21 initiatives.

As a logistics “IP” your curriculum must contain such varied topics as Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Process Improvement, physical fitness, basic combat skills training, senior leader perspectives, and an understanding of the history and culture of the enemy. In 1780, General George Washington said, “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” Two-hundred and twenty-eight years later, we are once again immersed in a long and critical conflict that demands every logistics Airmen be ready and capable to carry out his or her assigned tasking.

You will not have the luxury of a sterile classroom environment to explain and discuss these issues. The critical demands of warfigther support are too great. However, conversations during daily roll calls and candid discussions with your Airmen as you visit the flightline or warehouse floor are excellent opportunities to plant the seed of thought and to stimulate fruitful synthesis. The learning model here is simple. Your Airmen look to you for leadership and direction. Regardless of your rank, second lieutenant to captain, your people are taking mental notes — take the opportunity to shape this cognitive discourse.

A battlefield logistics officer must step off the aircraft confident, informed, and in command – your Airmen deserve this and our Air Force and the Nation demand nothing less. When the tasking drops and the combat orders flow to your Airmen—will they be ready to solo – to fly, fight, win, and return to base with honor? Rent Top Gun this weekend and pick up a pair of new shades— America’s finest logistics Airmen are looking for a few good “IPs”.

The CGO Corner is written by Capt “Nest” Cage is a Logistics Readiness Officer currently serving as an Air Force Logistics Career Broadener at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. He has been a staff writer for the Exceptional Release since 2006.

For comments, submissions or questions about the CGO Corner please email CGOCORNER@LOANational.org K

**Help Wanted ** We are looking for a passionate maintenance CGO to join the staff. If you’re a good writer and want to help shape the logistics CGO community, then we want you! Interested applicants should submit a sample of your writing and your squadron’s commander endorsement letter to Col Dennis Daley at editor@loanational.org.

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Chapter CrossTalk MIDDLE GEORGIA CHAPTER

E R : C H A P T E R C R O S S TA L K

Submitted by: Capt Samuel Payne Due to very successful fundraising efforts, the Middle Georgia Chapter was recently able to provide assistance to several deserving Robins AFB personnel. The Chapter donated $300 towards the Robins AFB Annual Awards winners and also hosted a very successful Scholarship Awards Program. Mr. Hank Halter, Delta Airlines Senior Vice President, was the Chapter’s guest speaker for the Chapter Scholarship Program and provided an outstanding briefing on the similarities of (L to R) Capt Samuel Payne (LOA Middle-Georgia Chapter President), Mr. Hank Halter Delta Airlines and Air Force Logistics. He also discussed the (Delta Airlines), SSgt Richard Sheppard (Scholarship Recipient), Ms Mary Nauss challenges of leading a $20 Billion operation along with (Scholarship Recipient), SMSgt Stuart Allison (Scholarship Recipient), and Col Terry advice on how Delta has managed its $8 Billion transforma- Szanto (330 Aircraft Sustainment Wing Commander). tion progress to restore profitability with challenges such as record high fuel costs and the recent Delta/Northwest Airlines merger. Most importantly, the Chapter selected three scholarship recipients among a very competitive pool of candidates. Each recipient received a laptop computer, $500 towards college expenses, laptop carrying case, and various LOA merchandise. In addition to the local awards Ms Nauss and SSgt Sheppard will go on to compete at the LOA National level. Congratulations to all our nominees and recipients, we are grateful for their contributions to Robins AFB and the logistics community.

CHARLESTON CHAPTER – CHARLESTON AFB, SC Submitted by: Maj James Petrick Recently the Charleston LOA chapter toured the SPAWAR facility in Charleston to study production of the MRAP armored vehicle. Around 20 chapter members got the chance to ask questions and climb inside one of the DoD’s top priority assets.

The tour was spearheaded by Capt Ryan Reynolds of the 437th Aerial Port Squadron and proved to be interesting and enjoyable for all LOA members.

Recently it was announced that Charleston has airlifted over 2,000 of these armored life savers to war fighters in the theater of operations.

Charleston LOA chapter toured the SPAWAR facility in to study production of the MRAP armored vehicle.

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CHARLESTON CHAPTER CONTINUED...

2nd Lieutenant Kegan Moreira sponsored an in-house tour of the 437 Aerial Port Squadron for Charleston Chapter LOA Members. Numerous LOA members were amazed to visit, Aerial Delivery, Air Freight and Fleet Services. Moreover, members received the opportunity to watch an automated grid area demonstration and check out a C-17 comfort pallet. Many thanks to the Lt Moreira and the APS Port Dawgs!

AIRBRIDGE CHAPTER – DOVER AFB, DE Submitted by: Maj Andy Levien Another great quarter for the Dover Chapter—full of guest speakers, tours, and an expanding membership! In April we had two outstanding visitors at our monthly meetings—Col (ret) David Handel and Capt Bill Ott. Col (ret) David Handel is currently the Senior Manager, Air Mobility Programs, for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, but spent the last six years of his active duty career as the Deputy Director of Logistics for AMC. He provided insights into the modernization efforts of the C-5, including the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) and the Reliability Enhancement and Re- Engining Program (RERP)—both programs intimately affect Dover’s future. Additionally, he spoke about the latest Wing Re-organization plans. As a former Deputy AMC LG, he offered keen insight into what our leaders are working towards with this reorganization and the effect it will have on our Air Force.

Our second speaker was Capt Bill Ott, an aircraft maintenance officer currently serving a tour at Warner Robins in the ALEET program. He briefed us on the current and future states of the LCBP and ALEET programs and provided us with key information to help our Commanders prepare their junior officers for the future in our logistics career fields.

Internal networking! Airbridge LRO/Mx members visit C-5 Regionalized ISO Facility.

One of our Chapter goals this year was to ensure our MSG and MXG members understand each others roles in the logistics community. To that end, our APS gave the maintainers a tour of their new “Super Port” and the maintainers will be reciprocating that shortly with a tour of the Air Force’s C-5 Regionalized Isochronal inspection effort. A true networking success story—a key role of LOA! In June, we have a trip planned to the Cincinnati area to tour the Toyota plant, the GE Engine Plant, and the Wright Patterson AFB museum. The Dover LOA is the lead on this visit, but we are also taking several other Lean leaders throughout the Wing and from Charleston AFB in an effort to benchmark some Lean processes in the civilian section. We will be working closely with the Wright Brothers Chapter to further this networking opportunity.

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KANALOA CHAPTER HONOLULU, HI

–

E R : C H A P T E R C R O S S TA L K

Submitted by Mr. Darrell Bridges Aloha. The Kanaloa Chapter ushered in 2008 by proudly hosting Lt. Gen Terry Gabreski, Vice Commander, Air Force Materiel Command on a recent visit to the Pacific.

Gen Gabreski addressed Air Force Transformation, Wing Reorganization, as well as leadership perspectives.

Her remarks energized a packed house and provided those in attendance with an inside look at AFMC accomplishments and gave us a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes.

Kanaloa Chapter welcomes Lt Gen Gabreski.

We were also fortunate to have Maj Andrew Pate from SOCPAC/G4 share his perspective from an Air Force officer point of view on working and deploying in a joint environment. He shared valuable insight on the importance for logistics officers to broaden their core base knowledge and experience. He stressed the need to provide our senior leaders sound Air Force expertise while developing our own joint skills.

Finally, we held our annual elections to select our 2008 chapter officers. We are already working hard on planning a number of events for the upcoming year promising to carry forward the great start from last year. Community events already planned include the March of Dimes Baby Walk and our first annual LOA golf tournament. Additional events are also under development to strengthen our connection to both our local community as well as professionally developing our chapter members.

MUSTANG CHAPTER – OSAN AB, KOREA Submitted by: Capt Andrea Wild On 7 March 2008, the Mustang Logistics Officers Association (LOA) had the pleasure of hosting Lt Gen Terry L. Gabreski, Vice Commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB at lunch during her visit to Osan Air Base to discuss USAF war fighter requirements in the Republic of Korea.

Gen Gabreski took the time to expound on the topics of acquisition, testing, and sustainment during lunch with the Mustang LOA Chapter. AFMC manages over 40% of the Air Force’s funds, with 4 core mission areas, 10 bases and many sites, and over 74,000 members. She also highlighted several challenges this type of sustainment creates, to include the current environment of declination of personnel and financial resources versus the increasing requirement to modernize logistics technology to meet the demand to produce more repeatable and predictable results.

Gen Gabreski also gave further details about current logistics initiatives, to include the Global Logistics Support Center (AF GLSC), the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS),

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Lt Gen Gabreski visits Osan AB.

Centralized Asset Management (CAM), and Repair Network Transformation (RNT), which was formerly known at RE21. She demonstrated how these initiatives enable the seamless flow of information across the AF logistics enterprise, centralize programming, budgeting, and execution for sustainment, and efforts to take a systematic approach to evaluate field level maintenance and centralize DEPOTs where it made good sense to do so.

Gen Gabreski also touched on several other topics, to include the upcoming organizational change in Operations and Maintenance, and leadership perspective for some of the younger logistics officers. Specifically highlighted was the creation of the Materiel Group, and how the logistics community would be realigning to enable this change. The realignment would also open up opportunities for advancement and broadening within the 21XX career field, as well as facilitate future logistics transformation initiatives to include centralization, regionalization, and AFSC mergers.

Gen Gabreski took the time to pass on her leadership outlook to the Mustang Chapter as well. Logisticians have a profession, a calling that’s answered with passion and commitment, not just another job. She said logisticians must retain “leader-results focus,” not allowing ourselves and others to accept the “too hard to do” answer, or relying on technology as a solution and a primary method of communication. We have a responsibility to improve what is under our control, gain knowledge on the things that aren’t, and make the tough decisions.

Gen Gabreski closed her comments with the Ten Commandments of a Logistics Officer; putting safety first, knowing the mission, balancing capabilities with requirements, and maximizing resource effectiveness to name a few. She left a strong message with the Mustang LOA members; the Air Force Core Values give us the foundation we need to succeed-we are Airmen first, last, and always.

Mustang Chapter hosts Lt Gen Gabreski

BLACK HILLS BANDITS CHAPTER - ELLSWORTH AFB, SD Submitted by: Maj Trace B Steyaert In January, our Black Hills Bandits Chapter of the Logistics Officer Association was fortunate to have Major General Reno (Commander, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base) visiting Ellsworth AFB for Colonel Debra Shattuck’s retirement ceremony. Our LOA chapter coordinated a special breakfast gathering and presented Col Shattuck with a farewell gift and enjoyed listening to Major General Reno speak on “Depot Support to GWOT”.

Also in January, part three of our “Logistics Familiarization Series” landed our LOA chapter members in the 28th Maintenance Maj Gen Reno visits with Bandit members.

Squadron (MXS). Our group of learning loggies experienced the demanding world of backshop maintenance and learned half of what it takes to keep the lethal B-1 Bomber in the air. We witnessed first-hand the everyday workings of repairing critical pieces of B1 equipment through exciting tours and briefings given by various MXS professionals. This lunch and learn session left those who attended more educated and aware about the challenging world of backshop maintenance.

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BLACK HILLS BANDITS CHAPTER CONT’D. In March, we met at the Ellsworth Dakotas Club for a LOA Chapter luncheon and enjoyed encouraging words on the future of logistics from our new Maintenance Group Commander, Col Thomas Fitch. In the works for the month of May is a chapter visit to the local Coca-Cola distribution center to learn about their logistics processes.

Bandit chapter members visit the 28th Maintenance Squadron (MXS)

E R : C H A P T E R U P D AT E S

WRIGHT BROTHERS LOA CHAPTER CROSSTALK Submitted by Charlie Botello Once again the legendary Wright Brother’s Chapter has had an action packed quarter! The team was honored to host the AFMC Vice commander, Lt. Gen Terry Gabreski in February. She spoke to the various internal and external challenges facing the command, the wing restructuring impacts to the logistician, and left us with her Ten Commandments for a maintenance officer…most importantly, “posture for flexibility”.

In March, the team rallied at the 445 MXG hangar on the backside of the base. Col Anna Schulte shared the invaluable mission of her unit and how they impact the war fighter across the globe. To top The Wright Brothers team rallied at the 445 MXG hangar. it off, the event was held directly under the open nose of a kneeling C-5 Galaxy! In addition to the tremendous presentation by Col Schulte, the President and National recruiter for the Joe Foss Institute flew in from Phoenix, AZ to train 14 Wright Brothers members on how to present the motivational message of patriotism in local schools. Changing the world one student at a time!

As you all know, the National Conference is right around the corner. The planning committees are diligently at work setting up what you will soon say, “08 was the best conference ever!” We look forward to hosting you all in Columbus, Ohio. Stay tuned to updates on the National LOA website. As always, great quarter Wright Brothers’ team - strength and honor!

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ARC LIGHT CHAPTER – GUAM Submitted by Maj Chuck Payne Once termed a “Sleepy Hollow,” Andersen AFB, Guam has moved over the last few years from a refueling stop to the forward edge of America’s deterrent force in the Pacific. Over the past year, Andersen has seen just about every aircraft in the Air Force and Navy inventories on its flight line. Ex VALIANT SHIELD ‘07, was launched from Andersen AFB and has been called the largest military air operational exercises in US history. COPE NORTH, an exercise with the Japanese Self Defense Forces, made history with the first live bomb drops by the Japanese Air Forces since World War II. This increase in activity has been matched with an influx of bright and determined logistics officers that are breathing new life into the Arc Light Chapter of the Logistics Officers Association. Boasting twenty national members the chapter is really taking off.

It was this environment that Lt Gen Terry Gabreski stepped into when she visited the Arc Light Chapter of the LOA on 10 March 2008 for a logistics luncheon. Lt Gen Gabreski began the luncheon by discussing the many changes going on at Andersen AFB and the role of the LOA over a meal with some of Andersen’s senior leaders.

After the meal, she took the stage to discuss the many changes occurring in the world of logistics. She provided an overview of the current logistics centers located around the United States and how they all come together to support the war fighter; then transitioned smoothly into the new Global Logistics Supply Center being set up at Scott AFB. She light heartedly joked with the audience asking them how many were familiar with RE21 and then telling them to forget about it because it was now called RNT

BARBAROSSA CHAPTER – RAMSTEIN AB, GERMANY Submitted by Maj Anthony M. Nance Nothing is more frustrating for aircraft maintainers than to see a grounded plane unable to meet mission requirements due to awaiting delivery of replacement parts. Logisticians at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, have always struggled with the extended time it takes for aircraft components to make it across the pond…especially when they often appear to sit stationary at the German airport for up to two full days awaiting “customs clearance.”

The Barbarossa LOA Chapter decided to check things out for themselves as they visited the Federal Express processing center at the Frankfurt Airport on 12 February 2008. The local FedEx Director of Operations, Jurgen Tagler, and manager of Global Trade Services, Felix Ullmann, toured the group throughout their facilities. The LOA crowd, mostly comprised of irritated aircraft maintainers, learned a great deal about how operations are conducted by the trusted FedEx Corporation. A little to their surprise, it was discovered that most of the delay for customs clearance was actually due to the military sector of the processing center and not because of any civilian-side bottlenecks. The trip was hailed a huge success as the group gained a better appreciation for the process and took back several suggestions to hopefully change things for the better.

Next the chapter has a developmental tour planned to the Theater Consolidation and Shipping Point-Europe (TCSP–E) in Germersheim, Germany. K

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Milestones

ER: MILESTONES

MAJ TRACE STEYAERT

WRITES:

COL (RET) RANDALL HARVEY

WRITES:

My family and I have moved from Ellsworth AFB to Wright Patterson AFB in May 2008. I will be attending the AFIT IDE in-residence program for a year to complete an advanced academic degree in Logistics Science.

Hung up the spurs after almost 29 years — what a fantastic ride.

Many thanks to all the great Americans who have made my life and career so satisfying. Jayne and I have retired to the Charleston, SC area — stop by and visit.

MAJ GREGORY LOWE

MAJ MATTHEW PASKIN

WRITES:

WRITES:

Finished up two INTERESTING years at Nellis running ACCs largest A-76 competitive sourcing study. Got just smart enough at contracting, acquisition and manpower to be dangerous.

Heading to D.C. as a CSAF-POLAD Fellow for the 09AY. Look us up if you are in the Capitol area.

Graduated from Naval Postgraduate School in December with an MBA in Supply Chain Mgmt and arrived at HAF/A9L AF Office of Lessons Learned as Chief, Logistics Lessons Collections.

I will be on an AEF deployment during the national conference so send drop me a line and stay in touch. – Matt

COL (RET) RICK JONES

LT COL MAX STITZER

WRITES:

As of 13 June 08, I became “Mr. Rick Jones”. It has been a great career and a privilege and honor to serve with so many wonderful people. What a great journey - will miss it, but time to move on. Hope and plan to see many of you at various LOA and other functions over the years. We plan on staying in the Hampton Roads area for now. Come visit! All the best and Blue Skies, Rick

Howdy! After two arduous but rewarding years here at Hill as 419 MXG/ CD, standing up an AFRC Associate unit with the 388 MXG, I have been selected to PCS to Holloman in July 2008 to serve as a Fighter Group Deputy Commander for Maintenance (DCM!) and stand up the F-22 Associate unit with the 49 MXG.

MAJ LORI MINNICK LT COL ERIC JACKSON

WRITES:

I will be heading to ACSC in Jul 08. K

WRITES:

After only two years in the AFSPC headquarters, it is time to move on. This time we are headed to a wonderful little base in the south center of the Netherlands. I am looking forward to joining the awesome 703 MUNSS team at Volkel AB on 16 June 2008.

DR. KENNETH MCKELLAR

WRITES:

WRITES:

I’ve recently relocated to the great state of Texas, where I splits my time between Fredericksburg, Texas and Alexandria, Virginia working for a Small Project Management Company. My wife Sunny and I also offer business and leadership consulting through our small woman owned and service disabled veteran owned business, KNS Ventures, LLC.

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LOGISTICS OFFICER ASSOCIATION Post Office Box 2264 Arlington, VA 22202

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 768 Nashville, Tennessee