Initiative brings Travis into 2012

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Timothy Boyer
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFNS) --  Born out of the Electronic Flight Bag Initiative for aircrew and intended to cut down on inefficiencies, the Digital Air Wing Initiative is now in effect here.

Inefficiencies are felt most where the work is taking place, whether it is repeatedly inputting data manually or attempting to find a way through a complicated website, said Capt. Jeffrey Gilmore, the 60th Air Mobility Wing director of staff executive officer and the team lead for the initiative.

"We realized that many of the potential savings of the Electronic Flight Bag Initiatives for aircrew could be utilized by non-flyers as well," Gilmore said. "Our goal is to do things more efficiently while using fewer resources."

The most noticeable change can be seen when opening the Travis Air Force Base Sharepoint site, which was redesigned and now includes familiar application-style link buttons.

"Our first project was designed to make a visible change in a short period of time," Gilmore said. "It was an integrated strategy to utilize more modern technology to reach our base population."

Found on the new Sharepoint site is a new feature called the bulletin board. The bulletin board is the last in the row of app-style links on the bottom of the page. The bulletin board is designed to cut down on bulk mail.

"Instead of sending out large attachments, first sergeants can post information on the bulletin board," he said. "It is a virtual bulletin board where anyone can post or find information about force support squadron, Airman and Family Readiness Center and wing activities."

Gilmore said the next step is to introduce initiatives that will save significant manpower and resources. One such project is already underway: Laptops have replaced traditional technical order books for aircraft maintainers here.

"The laptops just make my life so much easier," said Senior Airman Ryan Holley, a 660th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief.

Holley is the technical order distribution account manager in the 660th AMXS and is responsible for keeping technical order books up to date with any recent changes that have been issued. Traditionally, the technical order distribution account manager would have to go through each technical order in the tool room library as well as any books kept in aircraft and mobility kits.

"The TODA used to have to go through every single page in a (technical order) and post the necessary changes," Holley said. "With the laptops, it gets taken care of automatically when they are plugged into the network on their docking station."

The laptops contain every wiring diagram, illustrated parts breakdown, troubleshooting information, checklist, technical order and job guide in existence for every aircraft on Travis, he said. Having the most current technical orders and information on the laptops enables the maintainers to perform maintenance correctly while having less to carry onto the flightline.

"I used to have to check out up to 15 books a day to be able to do my job," said Senior Airman Anthony Mitchell, a 660th AMXS crew chief. "Now I just check out one laptop and it has every technical order and job guide already on it. I don't have to go back to the tool room when I need a different book. The battery life on the laptop is 12 hours, so I can work five or six different planes with fewer interruptions."

Not having multiple books to check out and turn in also cuts the time it takes for maintainers to perform turnover between shifts, Mitchell said.

The laptops are also more durable than the traditional books. They hold up better to fuel and hydraulic spills because they don't have paper pages that get soiled and become unreadable. Another problem the laptops are immune to is the strong winds at Travis that constantly ripped the pages out of the books and scattered them across the flightline.

The mobility of the laptops doesn't just play an important role for the maintainers, but for the aircraft and cost effectiveness of flights as well, Holley said.

"Not having to take a library of books on the aircraft for a flight cuts down on the overall weight of the plane and results in lower fuel costs," Holley said. "There are also significant cuts in man hours spent when the TODA doesn't have to spend as much time checking every page of a book for changes."
Besides the crew chiefs' laptops and new Sharepoint site, there are other Digital Air Wing Initiative projects on the horizon.

"One of our projects under development is to give David Grant USAF Medical Center information technology personnel tablets so they can move from one trouble ticket to the next without having to return to their office on the first floor of the hospital," Gilmore said. "This would create a greater efficiency in service, without having to hire any additional personnel."

The initiative is all about getting Airmen to share their ideas and solutions to issues that are making the organization less efficient, Gilmore said.

"We want more people to get involved," he said. "If you have an idea, we want to hear about it. No idea is too small."

(Staff Sgt. Patrick Harrower contributed to this story.)