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Show Hilltop Times January 19, 2006 Pylons Continued from 1 its the team for making it happen. "The pylon team was given the reins to make it all happen," Captain Fuller said. "They bought into the process, used the expertise of our consultants to stay on track, and gave them ownership of the process to create Snow Continued from 1 where to put all that snow." In addition to a bustling airfield that's home to two F-16 fighter wings and serves as a fuel stop for numerous other aircraft of various descriptions, from F-16s to enormous cargo-jets, it's also the emergency divert airfield for thousands of personal, cargo, and passenger jets that use Salt Lake International, Ogden Hinckley, and other airports. That's why, Mr. Ferguson says the 152 miles of streets and roads and hundreds of parking lots across Hill fall second to the airfield when it comes time for snow removal. "We do all we can do to ensure Hill's 23,000 employees have cleared pavements to safely report to work," he said. "During the Dec. 6, 2005 snowfall, the Snow Barn put down more than 225 tons of sand and salt on Hill's streets and parking lots alone." A grounds maintenance contractor plays a major role in keeping the common-use sidewalks free from snow and ice. "They are responsible for ensuring a 4-foot-wide pathway free of snow accumulation, piles, or drifts by removing all snow and ice from sidewalks, steps, bus stops, entrance ramps, and the tun- and maintain a world-class shop. "They see the value of a Lean environment, where they can readily adapt to ever-changing customer demands," he added, reflecting on the shop's future work with A-10 pylons. "The A-10 workload, while being very new to us, will benefit from the same Lean process we enjoyed with the F-16 pylons." nel under South Gate Drive," Mr. Ferguson said. "They start snow removal operations when accumulation reaches two inches or within one hour after snowfall stops and they follow a priority listing found in the Hill AFB Snow and Ice Control Plan." Facility managers and occupants are responsible for keeping facilities clear of snow and ice accumulation up to 75 feet from their facility, Mr. Ferguson said. This includes doorsteps, landings, walkways, fire hydrants and facility ramps or other areas frequented by personnel to avoid slips and falls. A major change this snow season is with base housing snow removal. Base housing is now "privatized" and all snow removal for base housing streets is the responsibility of the base housing privatization contractor. "When it storms on Hill, it takes a team effort to ensure successful snow removal efforts," said Lt. Col. Brett E. Crozier, 75 CES commander. "The Snow Barn's 34 Airmen (11 of whom are currently deployed overseas), 40 seasonal-permanent employees, 8-year-round employees, facility managers and grounds and housing contractors - play a major role in helping Hill employees get the mission done." Smart Operations Continued from 1 next step in the process. Once the part is cut or drilled, it loses its value as raw material, but has gained no value as a final product. So, it becomes a financial liability. A leaner process would attempt to move each part through the system in one pass, if possible, to eliminate warehousing of unfinished parts. Six Sigma deals primarily with quality control and tolerances. If one step in a manufacturing process requires a board be "cut to eight feet," an employee might spend too much time lining up raw material at a cutting station to ensure the goal is met. Six Sigma has the manufacturer ask customers to be clearer about what is truly needed. If a deviation of a half-inch is acceptable to the customer, then the worker will be able to cut more boards in less time. That produces less reject boards that end up in a scrap bin. The process saves money for both the manufacturer and the customer. Six Sigma has users look at many areas of a process to determine what a customer truly needs, and to then make determinations about when and where it is appropriate to spend more money to achieve higher levels of perfection. Secretary Wynne said the Air Force will use Smart Operations 21 to increase the efficiency of the processes it uses to develop its own products. In some places, Air Force people already have that mindset, he said. Foryears, air logistics centers have improved their workflow by employing some of the tools that make up Smart Operations 21, said Maj. Gen. Kevin J. Sullivan, the commander of the Ogden Air Logistics Center at Hill. At the conference, General Sullivan said the Ogden Air Logistics Center has processes in place to save time and money, and to give customers what they really want — faster turnaround on their aircraft. The general said things are moving away from a traditional batch and work on the airplane so he doesn't have to leave the airplane." One thing the general implemented was rolling supply bins. A later improvement was the introduction of parts vending machines. They allow parts to be sold on an as-needed basis. That way, the center does not have to warehouse parts. "We don't pay for those parts until the worker puts in their number to get the part," he said. "Not only are we getting consumables out to the work site, but we don't pay for that inventory." Col. Samuel Cox, who commands the 436th Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, Del., applied similar thinking to isochronal inspections for the base's fleet of C-5 Galaxy aircraft. The inspection process had never really been engineered, the colonel said. Over the years, new requirements were simply tacked on to the, end of the process without regard to the time needed to meet the new requirement. If repairing one C-5 part takes 10 days, and the repair doesn't begin until the 10th day of the inspection, then the aircraft can't be back on the flight line until the 20th day, the colonel said. The isochronal inspection process was re-engineered. "In the end we completely re-flowed the process, with the long lead items at the front end," Colonel Cox said. "The first thing that happens now is everybody in the ISO dock tears into the panels — it's a collective effort — and they can identify the long lead time items." — Maj. Gen. Kevin Sullivan Reducing the time it takes to fix a C-5 means it spends more time doing its job. "We need to have those airhistoric batch processing for these airplanes out there flying missions, not in planes," General Sullivan said. the ISO dock," he said. Now aircraft move quickly from cell While developed mostly in the private to cell. Paying attention to individual sector, the two business process improcesses optimized work within a cell. provement tools serve as the foundation Tools and parts are made available to for Smart Operations 21. workers locally, so they don't have to Secretary Wynne said the Atr Force travel to get them, he said. needs a strategy to understand and optimize the basic processes around which "Think of your technician as a surit organizes and Smart Operations 21 geon," General Sullivan said. "Give him will be the centerpiece of the strategy. all the tools and supplies he needs to queue process for aircraft repair. Optimizing workflow has helped the center decrease the time it takes to get an airplane back in the air. By creating work cells — where aircraft move through at a pace of one every two days — the center eliminated having large numbers of aircraft lined up waiting for somebody to get to them to apply the next step in the process. "What we really had going on was hink of your technician as a surgeon. Give him all the tools and supplies he needs to work on the airplane so he doesn't have to leave the airplane." When called, you served your Nation. While you may have returned to civilian life, your service to your community and country still matters. 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