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ALC contributes to US Air Force's record F-16 availability
February 3, 2005 (by
1st Lt. Caroline Wellman) -
The F-16 Management Directorate at the Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC), Utah, is increasing aircraft availability for F-16 units across the Air Force by using a "big picture" approach to streamlining processes.
Pursuing the Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. John P. Jumper's goal to increase aircraft availability across the Air Force, Maj. Gen. Kevin Sullivan, Ogden ALC commander, challenged center directors to find ways to meet that goal.
After many conversations with F-16 units and major commands, Col. Michael Vidal, director of the F-16 Management Directorate, set his process improvement efforts in motion, hoping to increase F-16 aircraft availability from 939 in December 2003 to 986 by January 2005.
"We're focused on the customer," said Dawn Sutton, deputy director of the F-16 Management Directorate. "Process improvements lead to improved customer support and success in our core competencies. By Leaning out the processes, we're eliminating waste and freeing up resources for other workloads."
Because of the amount of F-16 work the center influences, it is a critical system here, said Ms. Sutton.
"As the system support manager, we have significant program management responsibility as well as overall supply chain responsibility for the F-16. In addition, we do a large amount of the depot work here at Hill," Ms. Sutton said. "Given our influence in these areas, there is a lot of potential for us to improve availability for this weapon system."
The directorate set out to improve each of these areas through a Lean enterprise approach. Lean is the initiative commonly used in private industry to streamline operations, management processes, personnel and logistics to increase an organization's overall value. It has been used here along with other process improvement initiatives to improve the way the center does business.
"The enterprise approach is best described by defining what it's not," said Col. Michael Maquet, former chief of the Transformation Office. "It's not a functional view. It looks across functions, and considers a larger scope of the process."
In other words, the process improvement teams don't look at program management, depot maintenance or supply chain management in isolation, but rather as contributors to the support of a total weapon system, in this case the F-16, said Colonel Maquet.
The approach is working.
As of November 2004, the directorate was able to increase the number of F-16s available from 939 to 974, an increase of 35 aircraft. Across the Air Force, the increase means an improvement in the F-16 aircraft availability rate, from 69 percent to 72.5 percent.
The directorate started by identifying the best areas for process improvement. The teams found three root causes lowering F-16 availability: downtime due to schedules depot repair or modification, lack of spare parts, and downtime due to maintenance.
While the number of teams has fluctuated depending the number of processes identified for improvement, the teams are currently focusing on scheduled depot maintenance, supply processes and maintenance.
Perhaps the most ambitious Lean applications in the F-16 value stream can be found within the Aircraft Division, said Col. Paul Davidson, the division's director.
After many conversations with F-16 units and major commands, Col. Michael Vidal, director of the F-16 Management Directorate, set his process improvement efforts in motion, hoping to increase F-16 aircraft availability from 939 in December 2003 to 986 by January 2005.
"We're focused on the customer," said Dawn Sutton, deputy director of the F-16 Management Directorate. "Process improvements lead to improved customer support and success in our core competencies. By Leaning out the processes, we're eliminating waste and freeing up resources for other workloads."
Because of the amount of F-16 work the center influences, it is a critical system here, said Ms. Sutton.
"As the system support manager, we have significant program management responsibility as well as overall supply chain responsibility for the F-16. In addition, we do a large amount of the depot work here at Hill," Ms. Sutton said. "Given our influence in these areas, there is a lot of potential for us to improve availability for this weapon system."
The directorate set out to improve each of these areas through a Lean enterprise approach. Lean is the initiative commonly used in private industry to streamline operations, management processes, personnel and logistics to increase an organization's overall value. It has been used here along with other process improvement initiatives to improve the way the center does business.
"The enterprise approach is best described by defining what it's not," said Col. Michael Maquet, former chief of the Transformation Office. "It's not a functional view. It looks across functions, and considers a larger scope of the process."
In other words, the process improvement teams don't look at program management, depot maintenance or supply chain management in isolation, but rather as contributors to the support of a total weapon system, in this case the F-16, said Colonel Maquet.
The approach is working.
As of November 2004, the directorate was able to increase the number of F-16s available from 939 to 974, an increase of 35 aircraft. Across the Air Force, the increase means an improvement in the F-16 aircraft availability rate, from 69 percent to 72.5 percent.
The directorate started by identifying the best areas for process improvement. The teams found three root causes lowering F-16 availability: downtime due to schedules depot repair or modification, lack of spare parts, and downtime due to maintenance.
While the number of teams has fluctuated depending the number of processes identified for improvement, the teams are currently focusing on scheduled depot maintenance, supply processes and maintenance.
Perhaps the most ambitious Lean applications in the F-16 value stream can be found within the Aircraft Division, said Col. Paul Davidson, the division's director.
Courtesy of Ogden ALC Public Affairs
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