Parts storage on the ‘rise’ in electronics

  • Published
  • By Lisa Mathews
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  What do you do when you run out of floor space for storage? If you work in the 402nd Electronics Maintenance Group here, you look up.

Jim Bon and Kevin Shanahan, facilities and production engineers supporting the F-15 Eagle avionics squadron here, are overseeing the installation of shuttle storage systems that take up space vertically, freeing up space for more workstations. The storage shuttles take up about 80 square feet of floor space rather than the 400 square feet of floor space it takes to store the same amount of items in single roll-around cabinets.

“The objectives include reclaiming floor space for new test stations and tracking our test equipment more efficiently,” Mr. Bon said.

“The shuttle can be used to store, track and inventory a variety of items,” Mr. Shanahan said.

Test adapters, spare parts and test equipment also can be stored in the shuttle. Security can be maintained by assigning passwords to restrict access to authorized personnel, officials said.

The storage shuttles also offer significant improvements in maintaining inventory accuracy.

In an environment where there is high-volume activity, inventory fluctuates rapidly. Manual records are difficult, if not impossible, to control, officials said. Annual inventories may require as many as eight weeks to accomplish, and often are out of date by the time a manual count has been completed, Mr. Bon said.

With the new shuttle system, bar codes are swiped when parts are removed, automatically updating the inventory.

The new system also will make locating a needed part a faster, simpler task. A part can be located in minutes within the new shuttles, as opposed to the hours it might take if the part is stored in a warehouse, Mr. Shanahan said.