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Show r the oh DancLD. Hilltop Times April 7, 1989 O 11! li(liiBiiSBiIipl' Shop talk George Zacco explains woodworking techniques to Donna Hansen, wife of Gen. Alfred G. Hansen, AFLC commander. She toured various base facilities during a visit March 29-30. ill -- 1V -- i -- - fl mm-- IBllllBBil 111 t ;lillllBs jSlfii 1 Kl iiilipiliBiiljl Hi llli wmm1" V .A W...V. en hoi Hill g worH employees have taken the quality initiative to every ers inputs on quality. 7 s Quality smile General Hansen U.S. Air Force Photos by Ralph Lcuo shows his pleasure at a job well done by Hill workers. The general was at Hill March 4 Ps4 jfcij Gregg Wixom Bill Shirley mission, jlaterkt a wo Com-inners- E. , ; ilianwork verstated. e to work i that! the ould stop ;he gener-- : ng to be-wit- im-quali- h ty d aircraft gener aTs are about r 1 quality. If you do a job and do it right, people are backing you up," he said. John Williams, a sheet metal worker, agrees. He sees the general's emphasis as a different approach to quality that will work better. Used to be that workers were sometimes afraid to alert their supervisors touring up problems,; because they were afraid they could be written up on a pink slip of paper. Williams likened the pink slip to a traffic ticket. But no more. Now worker input is sought and valued, he said. "That police mentality hurt. Sometimes I'd see the attitude 'Let's don't tell them, because we'll get written up.' for a quality 29-3- 0 visit. people are more willing to come forward now that they're not so afraid of being blamed," Williams said. One of the biggest factors that led to the change in the workshop attitude is that employees see their sugges- "I think tions being implemented, via process action teams. "PAT has been the single most important factor in our quality program., It has allowed us to make quantum - leaps forward and improve our' overall processes," the general said. PAT teams are curSome 700-75- 0 in work AFLC, eight on base. rently at It is command policy to accept and employ the recommendations of the teams, made up of several workers with hands-o- n experience in the process in question. "Once those people spend four to six months studying a process, they become the experts in a particular area. And my policy on PAT recommendation s is that they will be implemented. No questions," General Hansen said. PATs are saving the Air Force time and money across the command and in every uea. "There is not a single area in AFLC that hasn't been touched by the quality program, though it's most dramatic in maintenance," the general said. Throughout his visit the general related PAT successes: D A team at another ALC found a new coating for F100 engine afterburn - ers, which adds two and one-hayears to the life of the parts. It will save the Air Force $26 million. DA Hill PAT standardized the process of building F-- 4 Phantom landing gear doors. The team assembled measurements and technical data in a blueprint that was previously lacking. Before, the doors had to be reworked almost without fail. Now the success rate is near 100 percent. A Hill PAT in the 2849th Civil lf Engineering Squadron reduced a process there from 29 to 14 steps. Fifteen steps didn't add value and the job is now done faster and with better service to the customer, the general said. |