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Show r'.: -- miiihimi II imi Mini-"Mi-ii- immiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iii i . -- 1 - , - mm mjm mi offltoiD lMM -- 1L : n I Hiil AfB, Utah : www.hilitoptimes.com hiIltop.pahiil.af.mil Vol. 58 No. 44, November 7, 2002 84056-582- 4 I inside: Agreement partaeirs base, Honeywell t)f by Frances Kosakowsky (i 7 ' i .v. Chief of Internal Information A signing ceremony held Oct 31 in Bldg. 1102 marked a radical change in the way an aerospace company and the Air Force does business. Ogden Air Logistics Center commander, Maj. Gen. Scott Bergren, I and Paul Lavin, director of U.S. Air Force Programs Defense and Space, Honeywell Defense and Space Corp., signed Letter of Intent to Partner that is aimed at making the a best possible use of each organization's core competencies. In his remarks to ceremony attendees, Bergren said, "I think 11th environment which President Bush in today's post-Sehas characterized as a constant war against terrorism, it is tremendously incumbent upon those of us who work .it our air logistics centers to provide our war fighters with the very best tools we can give them ... and at the same time, do it in a cost efficient manner." The major goals of the Air partnering are to: Increase war fighter readiness, Optimize use of both Ogden ALC and Honeywell capabilities, Increase reliability of aircraft and systems covered by this one-ye- ar 1 n pt Force-Honeyw- partnership, Reduce operation and supportability costs to the Air Force, and ' ' . IS ' Improve Honeywell's business position in the marketplace and enhance return on shareholder investment . As the original equipment manufacturer for various engine systems, components and accessories, Honeywell has engineering and product knowledge that is valuable to the Air Force. In turn, as the Air Force's Supply Chain Manager and Technical Repair Center for Power Systems, Ogden ALC possesses unique logistics processing and maintenance knowledge. Both sides can profit by working together to improve products and processes. The letter of intent starts the partnering ball rolling. Initially, no contracts or monies are involved, but the underlying purpose of partnering is to find paths that will provide improved warfighter support at the right time and at a reasonable price. The general told the audience that it was important to understand the true nature of partnering. "Partnering is more than just a handshake; if s sharing of risk, if s the sharing of rewards, if s the sharing of our resources, if s sharing of our brain trusts...and in the end, what we get is the very best for America's warfight- era. He said it was important to understand that partnering agreements are long term, which is a departure from the way gov- Division, isenthusiastic about doing business with Honeywell ernment business has been done in the past because they're good at manufacturing and repairing gas tur"I think we're still in the formative stages of partnerships," said bine engines and secondary power systems for many kinds of Don Cazel, director of the Logistics Management Directorate. aircraft and he sees the immense potential partnering has to "I think each one is going to have its own characteristics. move both sides forward. "There's no template to follow here and the hard part is find"Honeywell does supply chain management just like we do and ing whaf s in it for the government and whaf s in it for the comthey do depot maintenance just like we do, so we hope they'll how they determine pany we're dealing with. Thaf s a very difficult question to answer share some of their processes with us and if s not one we're used to dealing with because we've always requirements, for example. We know it's different from what dealt in contracts. We write the request for proposal and too often 'we do, so well be looking for improvements we can make in our say, Ve've got our information and you've got your informaprocesses," Lee said. tion and we're not sharing it Partnering will help get us out of Lee added that Honeywell is currently cooperating in benchthat mode and into sharing information openly so we can do marking comparisons for two power systems repair lines. and everybody wins whaf s best for everybody thaf s the "There's a lot to be gained, we think, from hooking up with idea," Cazel said. "I'm convinced the result will be improved reli- these guys. If we never get to a contractual arrangement on specific things, just the sharing of how we each do business will be ability and greatly reduced costs." Steve Lee, chief of the Power Systems Branch, Commodities beneficial," Lee said. s r ' 4 4 ings train, maintain aircr aft Photo by Airman 1st Clau MJcah Garbarino to partner is signed by Paul Lavin (center), director of USAF programs for Honeywell and Maj. Gen. Scott Bergren. The agree- A letter of intent ment Is designed to Improve warfightar support at a reasonable price. at night Activities on HillAFB don't stop many when the sun goes down k areas operate .i around-the-cloc- sup- porting the warfighter, protect- ing base assets, maintaining morale or preparing for the next day. This "Hill at night" series explores the people and places that keep the base and the Air Force operating. o J r-- by Gary Boyle Hilltop Times staff I The most visible activity at Hill happens above the base taking flight at all hours of the day and night practicing to fly in the unfriendly skies. "We practice at night so we can fight at night. We practice every possible scenario. We'll pick out an intersection of a town and then fly out to find it. When we get the call for action we have to be better than just ready and that's what we practice for," said 468th Fighter Squadron pilot, Maj. Chris Ogren, of the 419th Fighter Wing's rigorous schedule. "It's more than just pilots in the air. People all over this base support the mission and are dedicated to making it happen." On the flightlines and in the hangers of Hill's two resident fighter wings, airmen and reservists work to keep the Falcons flying. "We work on leaks, imbalances, transfers of fuels. The majority of work gets done on swing. When an airman first comes to the 388th Fighteij, Wing we like to put them on the swing shift because this is F-1- 6s t S7.t.TTTKJlHX353U.3f m rial 1 OOR COPY! r - IT""--. Photo By Gary Boyla Airmen 1st Class Brandon Hobart, left, and Jonathon Beck move an external fuel tank with an Indoor celling mounted chain hoist The fuels shop operates non-sto- p supporting the Falcons of the 383th Fighter Wing. F-- where a lot of training happens," said Staff Sgt. Jeff Brown, an aircraft fuel technician with the 388th FW. "The day shift is prepping the aircraft for sorties and their focus is getting the plane turned around and back in the air. We handle a lot of the maintenance and then the graveyard shift finishes up whatever we don't" Active duty airmen are assigned to a shift while reservists have more flexibility. These citizen warriors are federal employees who also srve their reserve duties one weekend a month and 15 days a year. They are predominantly for- mer active duty airmen who are dedicated to serving their country. Like their counterparts across base, they work multiple shifts staying to support the warfighter all nijjbt if need be. "We get to choose our shift and I just started working swing. I don't like it as much as days, but the job needs to get done and I wanted the experience of seeing how things get done both shifts," said Staff Sgt. Kenneth Kowalczyk, a weapons systems specialist with II See Wtngt, page, 2 '. |