AMXS’ LEAN way to faster CTK process

Published Jan. 12, 2007
By Airman Rebekah Phy
McGuire Public Affairs

MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- The 305th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron here recently participated in the AFSO 21 LEAN initiative efforts and held a Rapid Improvement Event here.

The week-long event was initiated by Col. Randall Harvey, 305th Maintenance Group commander, and was implemented to improve the process of how maintainers on the flightline process through the Composite Tool Kit .

"The CTK is a consolidated facility where maintainers from the 305th and 605th AMXS check-out and return their tools each day," said 2nd Lt. David Stone, 305th AMXS assistant OIC and a lead in the RIE. "The goal of the RIE was to keep the maintainers on the flightline with a wrench in their hands, for us to eliminate the non-value added steps in the process to help save time, effort and energy, so the maintainers can spend maximum time on the flightline where they're needed and minimize time lost while waiting in line for tools."

Lieutenant Stone, along with representatives from across the 305th MXG and the 436th AMXS from Dover AFB, Del., all participated in the RIE here.

"We had a good mix of people - from airmen to chiefs," Lieutenant Stone said. "We had technicians from the CTK, because they understand the system and would be directly affected by the changes [to their work center], as well as maintainers from the flightline, because they are the customers," Lieutenant Stone said. "We also had representatives from the 305th MXS and MOS to offer outside perspectives, and from Dover, who have already made improvements to their CTK and were able to provide assistance and guidance."

The group spent the first four days of the RIE studying the current process at the CTK, laying it out step-by-step - from walking into the building to leaving with the tools - and decided which steps were of non-value, Lieutenant Stone said.

They studied the check out process for some common-use items, timing it and measuring how many feet the CTK technician behind the counter had to walk to get each tool, he said.

The next step was to present their findings and proposed course of action to Colonel Harvey, Lt. Col. Stacey Hawkins, 305th AMXS commander, and Lt. Col. Donald Atkinson, 605th AMXS commander.

"We presented our specific ideas on how to improve the process now," Lieutenant Stone said, "and also made a separate list of improvements to be worked on, and possibly implemented, in the future."

"Overall, leadership was pleased with our findings and enthusiastic about implementing them," Lieutenant Stone said.

Counters were reorganized to maximize usable space and efficiently serve more customers.

The more common-use tools were then moved to more accessible locations for the CTK technicians to reduce time and distance traveled. Heavier boxes were moved to more convenient spots to prevent excess lifting.

They also incorporated a visual element - adding some instructional signs and labels for tool shelves to aide both the customer and the technician, making the process go more smoothly, he said.

The RIE has been beneficial for the 305th and 605th AMXS as well as the 305th MXG and Team McGuire in general.

"We can already see the improvements," Lieutenant Stone said. "It took a little time to adjust to the changes, but when we went back for a follow-up a few weeks after the RIE to retest the process, it proved that time and effort used was cut down significantly."

"In our study we were able to cut distance traveled by the CTK technician by 31 percent which yielded savings of 35 percent on time to process the customer (maintainer) through CTK," Lieutenant Stone said.

"We are pleased with the results of the RIE and confident that we can continue to make improvements based upon the foundation that we have established with the initial RIE."