Tinker unit earns Shingo Prize

  • Published
  • By Danielle Gregory
  • 72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. (AFPN) --  The B-1B Programmed Depot Maintenance team here is the recipient of the Shingo Bronze Medallion in the public sector category.

The Shingo Prize is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of manufacturing."It was established in 1988, and promotes Lean manufacturing concept awareness and recognizes companies that achieve world-class manufacturing status. It was opened to the public sector in 2005 with four levels of recognition including platinum, gold, silver and bronze.

The B-1B team is part of the 565th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's B1-B Production Flight. The team was recognized for its implementation of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st century guidelines to successfully deploy lean and critical chain project management upon the B-1B maintenance, repair and overhaul processes.

"Five years ago we struggled to complete our aircraft, reschedules and missed schedules were routine," said Matt Lyday, B-1B structural maintenance supervisor. "The scheduled rate for producing and aircraft was about 180 days. Today we put through an aircraft in 152 days, with our eye on 130. In that same timeframe, we have reduced the number of the number of aircraft on station by 28 percent."

Not content to rest with improvements made in the B-1B Programmed Depot Maintenance, or PDM, program in 2005, efforts to find an "out of the box" way to leap to a new level of excellence led to the Critical Chain Project Management method of tracking and prioritizing work on the PDM. In less than one year, the B-1B PDM team reduced the time to overhaul the bomber by more than 22 percent, cutting the number of aircraft at depot from seven to five (releasing two more aircraft for critical combat missions), and did this while remaining defect free on produced aircraft.

"The Shingo award establishes that the B1-B PDM is a world-class operation," said Kim Roe, 76th Aircraft Maintenance Group Bomber Transformation chief. "This award recognizes the mechanics and managers who have shown that critical chain theories are applicable at the depot maintenance level, repair and overhaul process."

Before winning the award, the unit was evaluated for several days by a team dedicated to the Shingo prize. Prior to the team's arrival, the Shingo Prize organization assessed the B-1B Production Flight's achievement report to determine if Tinker should be granted an actual site-visit.

According to Mr. Lyday, preparation for the site visit began more than a year ago.

"Possibly the greatest amount of time was spent working on the achievement report," Mr. Lyday said. "That consisted of thinking about what we do every day at Tinker, and then trying to condense a year's worth of stuff into 100 pages."

The Shingo examination team consists of process improvement experts with unique experiences in the implementation of the "Lean philosophy." Scoring Tinker's B-1B PDM improvements and processes by the Shingo examiners came as a result of a comprehensive review of PDM processes and interviews with process owners, managers and mechanics to see how their initiatives are succeeding according to the rigorous standards of the Shingo Prize.

"Knowing how you got where you are, and being able to explain that process and the results in a clear, measured format is the 'proof in the pudding' for the past two years of PDM transformation.," said Lt. Col. William Singer, 565th AMXS deputy director.

The Shingo evaluation team wanted to see that appropriate Lean techniques and tools were in place, and how they were systematically brought together across the value streams and the enterprise. Finally, the team looked for the deeper understanding of Lean concepts from production management to the floor mechanics, for an in-depth picture of the sustaining culture of continuous improvement.

"Our Shingo Prize recipients are at the highest level with a deep understanding of not only the "know how" of Lean but the "know why"," said Jacob Raymer, assistant director, Shingo Prize.

In October, representatives from the 76th AMXG will travel to Arlington, Va., to receive the Shingo Prize at the annual Shingo public sector conference.

The Shingo Prize is named in honor of the late Dr. Shigeo Shingo who helped create, train and write about many aspects of the renowned Toyota Production System and related production systems.

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