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Show Hilltop Times August 11,2005 Maintenance Continued from 1 McMahon Continued from 1 amounts of unpredictable work. "The quality's been exceptional this year as well," Mr. Stevens said. "Out of 267 aircraft that have been reported back to us, 182 of that 267 had zero defects. That's 68 percent of the aircraft produced, on time for a year, with no defects." Mr. Stevens attributed the success to adopting and following Lean principles as well as worker commitment to their jobs. "There are a lot of dedicated folks in this group who willingly support our warfighters," Mr. Stevens said. "We have great leadership on the part of the squadron directors and commanders, the production chiefs and the Weapons Systems Support Center chiefs. They seem to enjoy what they're doing and are committed to doing it right and making it better for their people. Our workforce is first class! "The group works as a team, rather than as isolated squadrons," he added. "They work together to ensure the group's successful rather than wasting time at the individual squadron level." His sentiments were echoed by Brig. Gen. Robert McMahon, 309th Maintenance Wing commander. "Our wing is blessed with the finest workforce," the general said. "The last 2 1/2 years have been phenomenal, watching what people can do with superb leadership and motivation." While not all shops in the aircraft maintenance group have been converted to Lean — a program that helps get work done faster by reorganizing work areas, streamlining work flow and using employee and management suggestions to improve the process —• plans are underway to make the change. "The 'pioneers' who have implemented Lean principles have led the way," Mr. Stevens said. "Through this implementation our efficiency has increased and reduced the number of days it takes to finish a project. All this, increases our capacity, enabling us to bring additional workload in. We're even looking at hiring more people because of this additional capacity." The 309 AMXG's workload will also be expanded as the contract for depot repair and heavy maintenance on the F/A 22 Raptor has been awarded to the Ogden ALC. brakes, landing gear and secondary power." Other areas of improvement he noted are: — Becoming the first air logistics center to participate in the original manufacturing of a modern weapon system with the F/A-22. — Instituting a model leadership-development program for the workforce and creating a workforce development program that is now being considered for implementation Air Force wide. "Our workforce wants to make the organization better and to make us more efficient. Our senior leaders want to do exactly the same thing," the general said. "Our challenge has been convincing our middle managers that creating a Lean culture and encouraging more participation by our workforce in the way we manage the enterprise doesn't diminish their importance to the organization. I think we are making progress in this area." The Lean philosophy — understanding the work process, often referred to as a "value stream map," then removing the waste — has resulted in work areas being rearranged, tools made more accessible to the workers and employees working on more than one portion of a project at the same time. "I get tired of the naysayers comparing Lean with the Quality Air Force of the 1990s. Although there were some very positive elements to QAF, it was focused more on process and less on results," the general said. "It focused on perfecting the rain dance instead of creating rain. Lean is all about results, and how we improve the process to create results. "The great aspect about Lean is that we're never done. There is always more waste we can take out of a'process allowing us to improve product quality and reduce flow time, theceby reducing product cost and improving product availability for the warfighter." General McMahon began his 27-year career as a second lieutenant, working in avionics. He has since worked in aircraft maintenance, logistics and,logistics information, pollution prevention and maintenance policy and propulsion. He previously worked at Hill as director of the Aircraft Directorate from April 2000-September 2001. He noted that the Air Force has been in a surge mode since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,2001, and that it will continue to remain busy in the future. "There is no indication that our operations tempo, within the Air Force, will slow down anytime soon. One unforeseen result of this has been an expansion of our product portfolio as we've begun to support the Army's ground power reset and their overhaul of night vision goggles," General McMahon said, mentioning workloads that are handled by the wing's Electronics Maintenance Group. "And despite the surge effort, we have reduced MICAP — mission capable — hours by 66.2 percent since October 2001, providing the warfighter a level of support never before seen." As he leaves the employees he's worked with for 2 1/2 years, the general's advice to them is to "keep the focus on producing a quality product, on time, at or below cost — exactly what they are doing today. "In addition, our leader- ship team needs to contin- ue to encourage the workforce to find new and better ways to do their business -m and to eliminate the waste from our processes. Lean ; is the perfect tool for mak- , ing that happen." While General McMahon .. has a few regrets — not being able to totally modernize facilities and equip- ment among them — he's pleased to have found out the mission is often accomplished by leaders taking care of people. "The best job in the Air Force is to be a wing commander, the best place to be a wing commander is Hill AFB," the general said, "and the best wing to command at Hill is the 309th Maintenance Wing. The workforce is a mix of highly experienced mature employees and highly motivated and energetic young men and women. The result is the perfect combination to achieve levels of performance never before seen. "We are also blessed to have the best union leadership you can find anywhere in DOD. Although we don't always agree, we share a common vision for the success of the Ogden ALC which makes resolving differences much easier." ++ON SALE NOW!! IN STOCK FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY!! ** We Stock ALL Models! 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