Source: United States Navy
In January 2021, the V-22 Osprey production line at Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) set a personal best, returning an aircraft to the fleet in record time: just 297 days, far faster than the standard turnaround time of 420 days. In November of that same year, the team improved on that record, clocking a 164-day turnaround.
In the months since, the team has made a relentless push to continue driving down V-22 turnaround times at FRCE while continuing to meet the exacting safety and quality standards required by the nation’s military aviators – and their efforts have attracted attention.
The Institute for Defense and Business (IDB) presented Andrew Rock, FRCE’s V-22 Branch Head, with the 2022 GEN William G.T. Tuttle, Jr. Award for Business Acumen in Defense and Government during an April 13 ceremony at the FRCE. The award recognized the V-22 line’s achievements in significantly increasing direct labor hours on the line with only a minor increase in staffing.
“I’m so pleased IDB chose to recognize the hard work Andrew and the V-22 team have done to increase efficiency and employee utilization on the line,” said FRCE Commanding Office Capt. James M. Belmont. “I’m proud of the team’s efforts to reduce cost and increase aircraft availability, and of the work they do every day to provide quality products to our nation’s warfighters is certainly deserving of recognition. The team truly earned this award.”
This increased efficiency has led to the V-22 line is completing aircraft more than 100 days faster than in the past, even while performing more maintenance operations, Rock explained. Cutting the turnaround time so significantly has required an all-hands effort; the award is reflective of the hard work put in by everyone who impacts the aircraft’s production, from the artisans and aircraft evaluators to the production controllers, quality assurance, engineers and support staff, he said.
“This award represents the work the team put in, and the buy-in they had during the process modifications we’ve gone through while implementing Naval Sustainment System initiatives and other alterations to the way we have done business in the past,” Rock said. “It’s awesome to see the hard work the V-22 line has been doing for the past two years being recognized by an outside entity.
“We continue to change the way they accomplish tasks, and they take it all in stride and get the job done, all while supporting the Air Force CV-22 at Hurlburt Field, Florida, and in-service support requests from all over the world,” Rock continued. “Our team members are sometimes away from home for weeks or months at a time, but they always push through and meet the mission.”
This V-22 team’s success demonstrates the innovative application of concepts Rock studied when he attended the Aviation Industrial Readiness Program (AIR-P) at the institute, said Mike Bogdahn, senior client relations director at IDB, a North Carolina-based nonprofit education and research institute that develops and delivers custom education programs addressing complex industrial leadership, logistics, technology and innovation.
Presented yearly to an outstanding IDB alumni, the Tuttle Award requires nominees to demonstrate how they are applying, with supporting data, what they learned in the program by successfully impacting national defense; improving readiness, quality or safety reducing cycle times; improving processes; or reducing costs in one area and using those assets in other areas of need.
“The application of what Mr. Rock learned during his time with the IDB, and what he and his team accomplished, was amazing,” Bogdahn said. “All our nominations had superb achievements, but the average increase in work hours per aircraft – which led to an increase of direct labor hours by 30 percent, with only a 15 percent increase in staffing – really stood out.”
Rock said his biggest takeaway from AIR-P was to change what isn’t working, and that mindset helped facilitate the improvements on the V-22 line.
“Change it – and if that doesn’t work, change it again,” Rock said. “Don’t be afraid of change, and keep changing until it’s right. We continue to change and always look for better, more efficient processes; that’s how we will continue to improve. It was an honor to accept this award on behalf of the team.”
The award selection process is competitive, with more than 10,000 IDB alumni eligible for nomination. Candidates must clearly demonstrate a return on investment in one of the areas of emphasis considered for the award, and the nomination packages are then validated and verified by a panel of IDB representatives, Bogdahn explained. IDB Fellows review the verified nominations and provide input and recommended rankings, and then the IDB president reviews the results and inputs from all sources and validates the recipient of the year’s Tuttle Award.
Though the FRCE nomination stood above the rest, the pool of applicants is always impressive, Bogdahn noted.
“(Mr. Rock) demonstrated a great application of knowledge, skills and tools learned during the Aviation Industrial Readiness Program, and this was an outstanding project that stood above all others. However, it should also be noted, and we are quite sure that Mr. Rock would agree, that it is not an anomaly among our participants,” he said. “The programs that the IDB delivers are designed and developed to not only educate people but to consistently teach people to think differently and immediately take what they have learned and apply it to their processes, their organizations and to be better equipped to meet mission objectives.”
FRCE is North Carolina’s largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.