Maintenance squadron wins Shingo silver Published Oct. 29, 2007 By Bill Orndorff 309th Maintenance Wing HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- Employee innovation, cost reduction and use of Lean principles have earned the 574th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron (Structural Repair) the Shingo Silver Medallion for 2007 in the public sector category. The squadron was notified of the award by the Office of Business Relations in the College of Business at Utah State University, which administers the Shingo Prize. The squadron submitted a 100-page report of its processes and achievements, which was followed with a two-day evaluation by a four-person Shingo team. "The team performed a critical review of our A-10 and F-16 wing shops and the A-10 deceleron shop," said Jan Kester, 574th deputy director. "They reviewed our process improvement lean initiatives that were accomplished in the past three years, comparing where we were in 2004 to present." The medallion was presented to base, wing and squadron representatives on Oct. 11 at the Public Sector Shingo Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C. The squadron, part of the 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group, 309th Maintenance Wing, has 470 employees in a two shift operation. "We are a backshop to the weapon systems -- A-10, C-130, F-16," Ms. Kester said. "We repair management of items subject to repair items and line routes, meaning the MISTR items we draw from supply are repaired or modified and returned to the field in a serviceable condition in support of the warfighter." The squadron is spread out in seven buildings and includes shops responsible for sheet metal manufacturing, egress, canopies, plastics, fuel cells, transportation and paint. "Because we have a diversified workload that supports aircraft production lines for the A-10, C-130 and F-16, we were a perfect choice to go for the Shingo," said Capt. Greg Nisula, former 574th deputy director. "If we are successful in our jobs, the other squadrons, the other production lines are successful. Without the work that we do, they can't be successful. A-10s and F-16s cannot fly without wings or any of the little end items -- panels, miscellaneous things like that. All those are supported through our squadron as well." The journey to the Shingo honor began in 2002 as units that are now part of the 574th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron were faced with significantly increased workloads but no increase in personnel or work area. Striving to provide a quality product to the warfighter, on time and at cost, Lean principles were implemented in the shops to reduce flow days and boost productivity through waste reduction. One by one, maintenance areas were improved through employee and management involvement on process improvement teams. Work areas were studied, ideas discussed and analyzed, then Lean principles applied to everything from where trash cans were placed to the direction that work would flow through the shops. "One of the coolest innovations the squadron made was used on F-16 wings," Captain Nisula said. "When they tear the wings down, a simple piece of pipe is used to secure the wire harness and eliminate binding. The wires are old, and the way they used to do it, the wires were kinked and they'd break. There was a 75 percent rework loop on those wings before they used a $5 piece of (PVC) pipe on each wing." This simple initiative called "Poka Yoke," is a system named after a Japanese term that refers to using techniques to eliminate mistakes. The (PVC) pipe has saved $900,000 and helped eliminate numerous hours of rework. The A-10 Service Life Extension Program for modifying thin skin wings benefited greatly from Lean implementation in January 2005, according to the nomination package. To date, the average flow days and overtime per aircraft wing have been reduced by 32 percent and 60 percent respectively. These improvements were realized by using improved process orders, standard work, dedicated teams, cellular flow; adding point of use machines and improving the machine shop; and introducing on-site engineering support. Through continuous process improvement, the desired end-state is 130 flow days and zero overtime. Once process, involving the A-10 deceleron, was identified in several ways for improvement. A critical flight control that doubles as a speed brake, the deceleron had the longest lead time for repair and was consistently being returned late to the customer. Team members included engineers, planners, schedulers and shop floor technicians from the 574th, and eventually involved teams from the 571 AMXS and the 575 AMXS. Deceleron completion time was lost in transportation, tool location, painting and disassembly. The solution now has the deceleron being taken apart in the same area where it is removed from the aircraft, reconstructing the shop layout to eliminate the need for transportation and storage, painting the item while it was on its lifting sling instead of placing it on a table and placing equipment where it is used. Combining disassembly and removal saved 15 hours per deceleron, relocating the tools saved more than 1,600 steps, and painting the item on its sling saved 28 hours. And delivery rates improved from "rarely on time" to 100 percent on-time. Another process improvement shown to the evaluation team was a blasting system that uses dry ice instead of chemicals to remove paint and corrosion from aircraft wings. "The Shingo criteria have five different categories and 11 key elements within those five categories," said Bob Migliore, from the 309 AMXG Process Improvement office. "The elements deal with leadership, the infrastructure, workforce empowerment, strategy, innovation, non-production support functions, quality improvement over the three-year time period, cost improvement, delivery improvement and overall business results." Statistics the Shingo evaluation team saw, comparing 2004 to 2007, showed that work-in-progress on A-10 and F-16 wings have been reduced by am average 40 percent, cutting flow days to an average of 39. The efficiency saved more than $1.6 million in rework and overtime costs. Additionally, 99 percent of the wings were delivered to the customers on time, compared to an on-time delivery rate of only 48 percent in fiscal 2004. This is the third consecutive year that units within the 309 MXW have received public sector category Shingo awards. In 2005, silver medallions were awarded to the 309th AMXG, 573rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron F-16 Common Configuration Implementation Program, and the 309th Commodities Maintenance Group pylon maintenance shop; and in 2006, a gold medallion was awarded to the 573 AMXS for depot-level F-16 maintenance. The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing, established in 1988, recognizes business excellence in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Evaluation criteria are based on an overall Lean business systems model. The award honors the name of Dr. Shigeo Shingo who helped create, train and write about many aspects of the renowned Toyota Production System and related production systems.