ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — Defense Logistics Agency Aviation at Warner Robins has developed a process tool with one goal – to help increase the Issue Effectiveness rate at Shop Service Center locations across the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex. 

The tool, the Shop Service Center Issue Effectiveness Root Cause Analysis Tool, or SSC IE RCA tool, deployed here this spring, as well as other DLA Aviation sites at Tinker and Hill Air Force bases. 

Its origin derived from a Materiel Support Specialist Functional Forum as a first generation tool which resulted in a continuous process improvement event this past year that further refined the tool into a new improved version. 

DLA Aviation MSSs are responsible for identifying materiel that should be forward stocked in each respective SSC.

The SSC IE RCA tool gives MSSs a more detailed and organized picture of weapon system parts that are ordered and where these parts are stored at the ALC. 

It’s critical for the MSS to look at those parts that are issued outside of the SSC to identify candidate parts that should instead be forward located in the SSC. 

Parts that are needed on an aircraft in programmed depot maintenance, or those needed in support of end item repair in electronics or commodities, realize faster delivery when assets are positioned in the SSC.

In the past, tedious manual research through columns and columns of data across multiple systems (DLA and Air Force) was required to get the most up-to-date information on a particular asset. That’s no longer needed. 

The new and improved SSC IE RCA tool allows managers to assess information as it is “bucketed” based on established business rules. That allows the MSS to prioritize and make efficiency decisions in identifying which parts need to be forward located.

Most importantly, it gives accountability, and more informative explanations as to why certain actions and decisions are made. For example, if an item was not issued from an SSC and instead held at DLA Distribution, what were the reasons? 

Now, the tool gives MSSs a more refined approach to gathering that information. Perhaps the part is too big for the SSC space, perhaps the item is a classified item, or the part needs an authorized level established. The MSS now has a myriad of information that is organized in “buckets” that provide these additional detailed facts. This allows the MSS to quickly determine which parts are non-stockable or stockable in the SSC. 

In the C-5 PDM SSC in Bldg. 125, Darren Farmer, a DLA Aviation MSS, lauds the benefits of the new tool. 

“One of the greatest things about this tool is that it breaks data and information down to every single SSC,” Farmer said. “It eliminates having to do all that manual research.” 

The C-5 PDM SSC, located in the heart of where C-5 programmed depot maintenance is accomplished, forward locates DLA, Air Force and other managed items, and has space limitations on what it can store. Typical items forward stocked include aircraft floor boards, actuators and wing flaps. 

DLA Aviation personnel are attentive to the customer with whom the SSC is aligned. With the focus in the SSC on weapon systems, it’s aligned to support the mission concentration on getting parts to the customer and proven to be much more responsive. Whether it’s an SSC in support of aircraft PDM or in electronics or commodities, it’s ideal to have items stocked on SSC shelves since delivery times are much quicker. 

On average, it can take 14 hours if the part is not stored in the SSC from the time an order is received to the time it’s delivered.

“When the part is forward located, it takes an average of 56 minutes,” said Sandy Martin, DLA Aviation’s Aircraft Materiel Management Branch chief here. 

“Our DLA Aviation mission is very focused and dedicated as we free flow all of our orders,” she added. “That’s why it’s important to identify items, get them stored and replenished. This tool gives our people the ability to forego sorting manually for information. It has eliminated and saved a lot of time. It also allows our DLA Distribution family who operate the larger ‘wholesale’ warehouse space to focus on replenishments of the SSCs. 

“It is just a more efficient way of doing business,” she said.

In the C-5 PDM SSC, since October 2015, the number of customer orders totaled 5,751. The use of the RCA tool is a key factor in issuing those orders. The goal is 85 percent issue effectiveness from every SSC to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency in supporting PDM lines. As the Air Force Sustainment Center’s Art of the Possible matures and goals continue to be made to decrease aircraft production flow days, DLA Aviation continues to partner with the WR-ALC to look for ways to support those production processes. 

“We have to find quicker ways of identifying what we need to have forward located, because getting an item out of the SSC is faster than waiting for it to come out of distribution,” said Martin. “In DLA Aviation, we are always looking for ways to improve.”