ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Supply Chain Improvement Boosts Customer Satisfaction
Danielle Benson
Employees at Tobyhanna Army Depot (TYAD) are using Lean Six Sigma principles to transform their supply chain in order to better serve their customer, the Warfighter. As a result of these efforts, the Miniature Multiple Threat Emitter Systems (Mini-MUTES) team earned a Silver Shingo Medallion, awarded after a Shingo site visit in October 2011. The award recognizes six years of hard work and improvements via Lean Six Sigma. The Shingo Prize recognizes world-class organizations for creating a culture of continuous improvement and operational excellence.
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| The AN/MST-T1(V) Mini-MUTES. |
The AN/MST-T1(V) Mini-MUTES is an Identify Friend or Foe tracking and training simulator that provides threat signals for pilots and aircrews. It is one of many weapons systems that TYAD overhauls. The system can replicate threats such as surface-to-air missiles, early warning radar systems, and airborne intercept systems. The Mini-MUTES is a massive asset. In other words, thousands of parts require work in support shops across TYAD.
Managing parts during inter-shop processing proved to be a challenge for the Mini-MUTES value stream team. Some parts require just sand-blasting, while others require paint, plating, and stenciling. A collaborative effort between the Mini-MUTES team, the Industrial Operations Facility (which performs the support processes), and TYAD’s Production Management Directorate resulted in a palletization effort. (See Figure 1.) Items are placed onto a pallet with other items that all follow the same path of processes in the support shops. The pallets also include a standardized picture of the pallet’s contents and detailed instructions on how to process the items on that specific pallet. This proved so successful that it became a TYAD-wide best practice.
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| Figure 1. The Mini-MUTES team, the Industrial Operations Facility (which performs the support processes), and TYAD’s Production Management Directorate worked together to develop a palletization process. |
“We are determined to do whatever it takes to help ensure the success of those industrial shops that support our final products,” said Robert Katulka, director of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Directorate. “They are a key part of our overall supply chain and their successes are ultimately our successes, too.”
Many improvements by the Mini-MUTES team were employee-driven, including one that solved a long-standing parts availability problem. Platters, located on slip ring shafts, were easily damaged during repair and not readily available for replacement. The Mini-MUTES team experienced long delays in repair cycle time (RCT) while waiting for replacement platters. An employee from the Mini-MUTES team worked with TYAD’s Production Engineering Directorate to design a cradle that prevents damage to the platters, reducing time and costs associated with the Mini-MUTES.
The Mini-MUTES team faced a unique issue when it came to improving supply chain management and competing demands, as the U.S. Air Force is both a supplier and the final customer of this weapons system. As a supplier, the Air Force sometimes caused long RCTs due to unavailability of parts. As the customer, the Air Force suffered the consequences of missed schedules. In an effort to improve communications and “make problems visible,” the Mini-MUTES team held a lean event involving direct participation by its supply chain management, Ogden Air Logistics Center. During the event, the team identified the need for pre-positioned parts to reduce wait time for long-lead items and agreed to create a real-time database for parts to increase visibility. “The event was an opportunity to get the key players in the room and make needed changes,” said Clark Ross, event facilitator. “The improvements from that event have directly contributed to the continued success of the Mini-MUTES team.”
“Without the use of lean manufacturing techniques in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of the Mini-MUTES, these improvements would not have happened,” said Jeff O’Neill, Mini-MUTES supervisor. The most important benefit: The Mini-MUTES team improved customer satisfaction.
“We are very pleased with Tobyhanna’s support of the Mini-MUTES system,” said Lt. Col. Jesse F. Warren, chief of the Combat and Missions Support Branch, Hill Air Force Base, UT.
Danielle Benson is a management assistant, D/Productivity and Innovation, Tobyhanna Army Depot.
