New parts can cost less than old ones

  • Published
  • By Lisa Mathews
  • Warner Robins Air Logistics Center Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  C-5 Galaxy mechanics here recently found that making new aircraft floorboards rather than repairing used ones saves nearly $5.5 million per year and reduces work-flow days from 42 to nine.

When a C-5 floorboard team started rethinking their work process, 923 floorboards were on backorder, and C-5s were being held up in the depot because of it, said Heath Rowland, a team member and shop mechanic.

Additionally, the old process was messy and frustrating, said Rob Couillard, a mechanic.

"We'd get a floorboard in from the aircraft and tear it down, and we'd try to save all the skins and close-out pieces as best we could and clean them up," he said. "It was a time-consuming process and a real nasty job."

He said the maintainers would get stacks of floorboards in, accompanied by a lot of disorganization.

"It was putting aircraft way behind, so we knew we had to do something to speed up our process," Mr. Couillard said.

The team worked with its “lean” process-improvement office to find a solution to the delays, said Terry Darsey, work leader. There they found the tools needed to go in the right direction.

"We worked on production-control boards for the shop so everyone could go by and see where we were (in the process) at any time," Mr. Darsey said. "The lean office had the pull, if you will, to allow us what we asked for. They let the mechanics make a lot of the decisions on how we wanted to do our job."

In the old process, team members had to rebuild, sand down and clean up the floorboards. Now, the new parts are built to the engineers' specifications.

"You're not jeopardizing the integrity of the part," Mr. Drasey said. "I think the customer would much rather get a new part instead of a used one. It's like getting a new car for the price of a used car."