Lean pays off for F-15 support
for F-15 work crews at Robins AFB
By Gene Rector
Telegraph Staff Writer

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE - Officials at Robins usually agree with the adage: Don't try to fix something if it's not broken. But they made an exception with the F-15 maintenance line in January of this year - an exception that proved to be painful before it became beneficial. They undertook the change because the massive overhaul of the nation's premier air superiority fighter aircraft had reached a stubborn benchmark. "We were about as good as we could get using current methods," said Ellen Griffith, who oversees the process for the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center.

Each of the Air Force's more than 700 F-15s must receive complex and extensive overhaul every six years. About 100 aircraft from bases around the world undergo the treatment each year at Robins. It begins with de-arming, de-fueling and de-painting, then proceeds through wing removal, a host of tests, checks and repairs and installation of new or modified components. The process concludes with reattachment of wings, refueling, a functional test flight and repainting. If everything goes according to plan, the jet goes home after about 114 days.

But there were always hiccups and unpredictables with the old system. Due dates - the date promised for completion of the process - weren't always met. "So we decided to go to Lean about a year ago because we thought that was the only way we would get dramatic improvements," Griffith said.

The reason was simple: The war on terrorism was heating up and combat units needed their airplanes overhauled and returned on time.

Lean is an initiative pioneered by Japanese manufacturer Toyota to streamline processes and cut waste. It had been applied successfully to a number of areas at Robins, but not to an entire depot maintenance line. And, predictably, there was a learning curve.

The goal was a continuous, one-piece flow with aircraft moving through the overhaul line - 18 different stops - at a specified rate.

"Moving a jet every few days from one repair station to the next means everything's got to be in place," said Griffith. "If we came to a work stoppage under the old system, we would put the work crew on another jet until we were supportable again. Then we put the crew back on the original aircraft, hurried up, worked overtime and got things caught up. But with one-piece flow, you can't do that."

Wartime demands made it even more challenging. Combat units had priority for spare parts. Wings had to be repaired not only for the Robins maintenance line but for direct use in the field. Key mechanics were sent overseas to solve technical problems.

The darkest hours came in June and July when due dates began to tank and up to 50 F-15s crowded the Robins parking ramp. "Our ideal number of aircraft on base is 32," said Griffith. "We were bottlenecked, backed up and couldn't have picked a worse time to do the conversion to Lean. As my boss said, we drained the swamp so all the stumps stuck up. And we spent most of the year addressing those stumps."

The naysayers had a field day, claiming the change was counterproductive. "I had people tell me it would take a year to work the ramp population down," admitted Griffith.

But Lean principles began to kick in. "Lean forces you to have all the support stuff where and when you need it," she said. "That includes all the parts, tools, technical data, maintenance stands in each specific work cell. It makes it really efficient for the mechanic."

The effects were obvious by late September. "We developed a recovery plan, everybody worked so hard and we got the ramp population down to our goal," Griffith said. "Now, we have 31 jets on station so we've made an awful lot of progress in the last 4-5 months."

Most companies take 3-4 years to fully implement Lean. "But the Air Force isn't a terribly patient organization," she said. "There's been a lot of pressure on us to be successful quickly and we've done that."

Most important, Griffith believes Lean has won the hearts and minds of the workers - the mechanics and technicians actually doing the overhauls.

"Even our crustiest supervisors now say this is the right way to do business and they would not like to go back to the way we did it before," she said. "We still have a few naysayers,

but the large majority of our folks see the benefits."

That's because the worker becomes part of the solution under Lean. "This is a great opportunity for the mechanic to be heard," Griffith said. "They're the ones who really know how the job should be done. We take their feedback and we act on every one."

She said some of 2003's most gratifying moments have come at training sessions. "Some of our mechanics have shut down the Lean naysayers by saying, 'Management is finally listening to us.' "

Griffith doesn't claim that all the problems are solved. Robins is scheduled to overhaul 104 F-15s in 2004 and hopes to meet a due date schedule of 114 days per aircraft. Anything can happen.

"We're making a lot of progress in getting everything in place. We've topped the learning curve," she said. "But I always cringe when my boss says we've rounded the corner, because you never know what's around that next corner."

To contact Gene Rector, call 923-3109, extension 239, or e-mail grector@macontel.com.