Innovation at Dyess leads to big savings

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Two Dyess Airmen have developed a process that improves quality control and saves the Air Force money, earning them the innovator of the month award, which they received April 19 during a wing staff meeting here.

Randel West and Airman 1st Class Andrew Ludwig, 7th Logistics Readiness Squadron, created a solution to conduct in-house, cab-off engine repairs on Ford Power Stroke engines, saving the Air Force $5,000 per vehicle repair and tightening quality control measures.

"Without the ability to do this in the shop, we had to contract the repair off base as the cab is required to be removed to conduct the engine repairs," said West, the reigning Air Combat Command vehicle management technician of the year. "We have 39 vehicles that have the 6.0L or 6.4L engines, both of which are capable of using this technique. If we do this once on each vehicle during the life of the vehicle, we would save about $145,000 in excess labor costs."

The idea came about due to the high cost and the Form 9 process wait time of nearly one month from start to finish, as well as maintenance done by the downtown agency.

"Since we now have the ability to do this on base, we can limit the downtime to 30 hours total, down from the 40 hours downtown and 80 hours in shop without this capability," West said. We also do not incur the high labor cost and do not have to wait for the Form 9 process, saving a total of four weeks downtime."

Since the implementation of this innovative solution, Dyess has already saved $15,000 after just three vehicles.

"In addition to saving money, this has allowed us to train our junior airmen at a level we could never do before, with an unobstructed view to many of the mechanical workings of these vehicles," West said.

"We didn't do this for any recognition," Ludwig said. "We did it because we saw a way to make the process more efficient. I must say though, it does feel good to be recognized for the hard work we do on a daily basis."

The IOM award was created as a compliment to the Innovative Development Through Employee Awareness program and to provide additional advertising for it.

"The best way to encourage a behavior is to reward it. We want to reward those who come up with innovative ways of doing our business," said Col. Bryan Harris, 7th Maintenance Group deputy commander and creator of the IOM program. "The Air Force is on the verge of some very challenging times with budget cuts and downsizing, and the best way to survive is to adapt."

"Like the IDEA program, individuals or teams should be eligible, but this award would feed the IDEA program and IDEA pool," added Harris. "We plan to send all inputs through the IDEA office for them to see if the innovation could meet their criteria."