March maintainers streamline the KC-135 periodic evaluation process

  • Published
  • By Capt. Jess Lozano
  • 752nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  Last month, members of the 452nd Maintenance Group came together to overhaul the periodic evaluation processes for KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft assigned to March Air Reserve Base. The periodic evaluation is a critical element to overall fleet health and is necessary to ensure the unit can meet operational demands.

Under the guidance of 452nd Maintenance Squadron and 752nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron leadership, as well as Continuous Process Improvement Master Black Belt Doug Fergusen, the team was able to come up with process improvements designed to significantly slash the length of the periodic evaluation.

The team spent one week scrutinizing the entire process, starting from when the aircraft lands to when the inspection team delivers the jet back to the flight line in a fully mission capable status.

"Every option that had the potential to save time, manpower and money was explored," said Master Sgt. Derrick Jones, a 752 AMXS crew chief and key leader in the revision process.

"It was impressive and inspiring to see our maintainers get together and streamline this process," said Capt. Ben Roy, the 452nd Maintenance Group's quality assurance officer-in-charge. "Each section displayed an amazing amount of passion and job knowledge."

Using LEAN Six Sigma and CPI methods, the team was able to identify 34 action items aimed at restructuring the KC-135 inspection process. In addition, the team was able to consolidate 48 major tasks into 35.

Previously, periodic evaluations were taking approximately 19 work days to complete. The new goal is to reduce the entire inspection to 15 work days. The team plans to achieve the 15 day mark by the time the sixth aircraft goes through inspection. This month, the first aircraft will be going through the revised inspection process.

To indicate the attention to detail of this review, all initiatives were documented on a large flow chart spanning the length of the 752 AMXS Ready Room.

"There were no sacred cows and no stones were left unturned," said Jones.

One initiative focused on fixing aircraft discrepancies well before the scheduled "fix" phase of the inspection. Another initiative focused on reviewing and quality-checking aircraft forms as each shop completes their job, rather than waiting until the end of the inspection.

"Our maintenance group is continuously looking to improve the way we do business," said Col. Bob Stormes, 452nd Maintenance Group commander. "This was a Total Force Integration event with participants from RegAF, Reserve and civil service. Our objective was to attack critical processes in our maintenance group, make them more efficient and ultimately boost KC-135 availability."

"Our goal is to have robust processes that yield results despite numerous manpower and resource constraints," Stormes continued. "I am amazed by the brilliant efforts of this team and excited that we'll benefit from the increases in aircraft availability."

Members of the team included Maj. Paul Smith, Capt. Al Knapp, Capt. Benjamin Roy, Art Del Rio, Jennifer Baumgartner, Senior Master Sgt. Gerald Paine, Senior Master Sgt. Virgina Osborio, Master Sgt. Rodrigo Marquez, Master Sgt. Derrick Jones, Master Sgt. Lucila Dickinson, Tech. Sgt. Jeremiah Westman, Tech. Sgt. Dennis McGrath, Tech. Sgt. David Reese, Staff Sgt. Patrick Brazee, Staff Sgt. Daniel Moore, Senior Airman Gil Castillo and Senior Airman Jackie Fritz.

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