Out with the old, in with the new: B-1 APS makes space for new parts

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Alexander Guerrero
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The B-1 Aircraft Parts Store from 7th Logistic Readiness Squadron has recently taken steps to reorganize inventory and streamline the purchasing processes for the parts needed by B-1 maintainers.

Several Airmen from the B-1 APS have taken the initiative to streamline their supply process. Their job is to quickly supply flightline B-1B Lancer maintainers with the parts they need. Due to a large amount of storage space being used inefficiently, it was costing B-1B maintainers time and manpower to drive from the flightline to the main warehouse to get their parts.

"It was a joint realization among B-1 APS personnel that space needed to be made," said Tech. Sgt. Shivonne Valero, 7th LRS B-1 Aircraft Part Store/Mobility Readiness Spares Package NCO in charge.

Multiple shelving units in the B-1 APS were being poorly utilized with small hardware parts that could be placed elsewhere. It was decided to move the hardware from APS to the main logistics warehouse on base.

Four Airmen were responsible for a large part of the movement, accounting, and tracking of the parts.

"Mr. Morton was the first to bring it to my attention," said 2nd Lt. Daniel McKeown, materiel management flight commander. "They've had this in the making for a while, but he really started the push on it within the past few months."

Mr. Pete Morton, APS/MSRP materiel handler, noticed the unused space about a year ago.

"It was talked about for about a year, but it didn't really gain momentum until the past four or five months," Morton said. "Hopefully, this will plant the seed for other Airmen to look for more effective to do our jobs."

Airman 1st Class Vang Lee, a storage and issue journeyman, was responsible for physically moving the parts to the main warehouse.

"There are more efficient places for these parts," Lee said. "Just because the parts have been here since before I was born doesn't mean they have to stay there."

Lee has been working to organize and consolidate more than 116,000 individual parts from the parts store to the main warehouse.

"Moving these parts was not as simple as picking them up and putting them somewhere else," Valero said. "Airman Lee's effort in this process is what is keeping us from being bottlenecked with work."

Each part and its line number had to be accounted for at the parts store, during the move and when they were received at the warehouse.

"It's a pretty intricate process," said Staff Sgt. Marilyn Torres Rivera, B-1 APS assistant NCO in charge. "We have to maintain accountability of physical and data-based movements and processes."

The new space will be used to store large parts and bulk storage that, until now, has been kept outside.

"To get the old parts out of this place and back inside where they should be stored is important," Morton said. "This will allow us to fix self-identified deficiencies from our last inspection and to help better follow Air Combat Command guidelines."

The Airmen who have assisted in streamlining the B-1 APS have directly supported the 7th LRS motto of "Precision logistic enabling death from above."The Airmen who have assisted in streamlining the B-1 APS have directly supported the 7th LRS motto of "Precision logistic enabling death from above." McKeown said.