With 48 percent of all crash and salvage crane individual components facing Diminishing Manufacturing Sources and Material Shortage (DMSMS) concerns, this became an example of how both Naval Sustainment System – Supply’s (NSS-S) End-to-End Integration and Expand Organic Repair pillars drive fleet readiness improvements.
The crash and salvage crane is a vital piece of equipment used to remove non-functional aircraft from the flight deck with a tillable boom, hence its fleet nickname “Tilly.” It is both highly critical and extremely unique without a direct commercial sector equivalent. This equipment is utilized on ships including Aircraft Carriers (CVN), Landing Helicopter Assaults (LHA) and Landing Helicopter Docks (LHD) throughout the fleet.
Critical to fleet readiness efforts are the Aviation Support Equipment end items that enable operational availability across all Type Model Series (TMS) aircraft. Without specific Mission Capable (MC) targets to draw upon, and reliability measurement not tied to flight hours or run time, focus on defining measurable outcomes became paramount.
When this initiative kicked off, the Aviation Support Equipment IWST carried 113 UCOs across all 25 components. Readiness issues centered on consistent commercial no-bid issues directly hampering supportability while driving costly and disruptive redistribution of crash and salvage cranes across the fleet.
Starting in January 2018, the Aviation Support Equipment IWST, Common Support Equipment Branch instituted and led a bi-weekly crash and salvage crane working group to align critical stakeholders from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), the Commander Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC), and Commander Naval Air Forces (CNAF) Support Equipment Class Desk with the desired end state of eliminating supportability issues and increasing readiness. Led by Michael Anthony, Common Support Equipment Crash and Salvage Crane planner, the working group identified constraints, applied collaborative solutions, drove senior leader decision making, and developed aggressive milestones all while holding stakeholders accountable to ensure success.
“Without active production contracts to draw upon, this was a collaborative effort across the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) sustainment and readiness enablers to improve all levels of performance,” said Jess Holland, Deputy Director, NAVSUP WSS, Aviation Support Equipment IWST. “Standup of a bi-weekly synch was vital, drawing in mission partners from Norfolk Naval Shipyard, three FRCs (Fleet Readiness Centers), NAVAIR's Common Aviation Support Equipment program office (PMA-260), Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division Lakehurst and key vendors.”
Through collaborative source development efforts, the IWST was able to resolve long-standing carcass constrained supply issues driving demand suppression behaviors in the fleet across both WRAs. The most challenging proved to be a high-failure Constant Speed Drive 60 HP Motor which accounted for 19 percent of all crane SRA demands across a three-year span. The team rapidly identified the commercial industrial divestment and a change in crane technologies limited the available sources of supply. Through a concerted effort with mission partners, the team affected numerous Design Change Notice (DCN) implementations and the standup of an additional commercial source to provide the necessary relief to reinvigorate a bottlenecked repair line.
With spare part constrains resolved, the team drove multiple Organic Repair site standups, a critical source of support which protects from DMSMS issues and industrial divestment. Mission partners at three FRCs stepped up to the challenge.
The Crash and Salvage Crane team also focused on demand in improving the capture of fleet redistribution behaviors, development of retail allowancing, and forward staging piece parts with key organic repair partners. Efforts directly improved supply system predictability and reduced repair turnaround times on two key motor components from more than 365 days to a contractually binding 69 days.
The efforts were driven by a grassroots, working-level focus driven to resolve a significant fleet support issue that ultimately delivered the best support Tilly has seen in nearly 35 years of service.
“This is reflective of the tremendous caliber of people we have at NAVSUP WSS and in the Common Support Equipment community at large,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Couchman, Aviation Support Equipment IWST Director.
Because of the on-going efforts of the Aviation Support Equipment IWST, the fleet perception of Tilly has significantly changed.
“From a logistics support standpoint, this 34-year-old crane system is now one of the most efficiently supported commodities that we own,” said Vic Gutcher, Commander Naval Air Forces Common Support Equipment Manager.
“Achieving zero backorders and 100-percent availability across the crash and salvage portfolio is a monumental achievement, and one that has not happened in the history of Enterprise Resource Planning,” said Capt. Matt Bolls, NAVSUP WSS Aviation Operations Director. “Having been an operational CVN Supply Officer watching Tilly in action daily and the significant efforts involved in keeping it operational, combined with significant changes in fleet usage to include back-to-back deployments straining preventative maintenance … it was thought to be impossible, but through grit and ingenuity became reality. I’m very proud of the Common Support Equipment team and a huge thanks to our mission partners at PMA 260, FRC Aviation Support Equipment, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Naval Air Warfare Command Aircraft Division Lakehurst, and the fleet for providing unparalleled support.”
NAVSUP WSS is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and sailor and family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss, and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.