A two-day Boots on the Ground (BoG) site visit at Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, California, July 26 and 27, spotlighted SH-60 Seahawk readiness.

It also marked the first time in more than five years attendees were able to see continuous process improvement (CPI) efforts at all three levels of maintenance firsthand at the same event.

Capt. Timothy Pfannenstein, then FRCSW commander, said collaboration among Sailors and artisans is what it takes to make H-60s function and perform.

"If something happens in one wedge, it happens in another," he said. "At FRC Southwest, you will see that partnership between Sailors and artisans. You will meet folks who see and approach readiness challenges differently."

Commander, Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, U.S. Pacific Fleet's (CHSMWP) Aircraft Inventory Management-Decision Support System/Material Condition Module (AIM-DSS/MCM) is one tool the command is using to get a different perspective on aircraft utilization and inspections. Lt. Cmdr. Riley Swinney, CHSMWP's Readiness officer, said AIM-DSS/MCM was created to better answer CHSMWP Commanding Officer Capt. Sil Perrella's questions about the material condition of H-60 Seahawks.

Originally developed to improve management of aircraft inventory planned life cycle at the type wing and squadron levels, AIM-DSS was expanded to include MCM as a repository for material condition inspection (MCI) results. Using data from MCIs performed by the CHSMWP Inspection Team, the tool housed on CHSMWP's SharePoint feeds an Excel-linked graphic tool that provides leadership with visibility into H-60 material condition.

Data can be parsed by wing, squadron and aircraft bureau number (BUNO) and can show MCI results across Focus Area List (FAL) in six H-60 aircraft zones. FAL is a standard list of 15-20 areas encompassing all aircraft zones where corrosion is most frequently found. The inspection list aligns corrosion prevention efforts from the organizational to the depot level and gives maintainers a clearer understanding of what aircraft parts require the most attention, which areas cost the most to repair, and what behaviors increase depot turnaround time. AIM-DSS/MCM uses a Commander, Naval Air Forces-directed point scale to indicate the severity of each discrepancy.

Before the development of AIM-DSS/MCM, Swinney said he spent a lot of time going through inspection paperwork and putting that information into context for CHSMWP's commanding officer.

"I spent up to four hours briefing him," he said. "He asked me how one aircraft compares to another aircraft and how I know if the material condition of the aircraft got better. There was no easy way to answer him without performing a deep-dive into all of the paperwork."

Now CHSMWP has a record for each BUNO which follows the aircraft throughout its service life. AIM-DSS/MCM shows the number of times an aircraft is inspected, the condition of aircraft during each inspection, and who inspected the aircraft.

"It can show trending data squadron by squadron, squadron against squadron, BUNO by BUNO, and BUNO against BUNO," he said. "It also shows which of the six aircraft zones are impacted the most by corrosion and can indicate effectiveness of policy and training. The goal is to drive down the highest manpower and cost drivers while improving the overall material condition of the aircraft."

Beta testing of the no-cost tool is still being conducted. The wing plans to compare MCIs with planned maintenance interval (PMI) inspection discrepancies, focus corrosion training on highest impact zones, and use future inspection results to determine the effectiveness of squadron maintenance and identify areas for improvement.

FRCSW used CPI to improve the ready for issue (RFI) rate of the Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS), MH-60R's primary anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sensor.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Ian McWilliams, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Branch supervisor, said maintainers wasted 56 man-hours per ALFS cable before a rapid improvement event (RIE) on the process revealed several causes.

"We can RFI a cable in 48-72 hours," McWilliams said, now that his team has implemented changes to their processes.

FRCSW shared its lessons learned with FRC Southeast and submitted a Technical Publications Deficiency Report (TPDR) on the improved procedures.

Use of the Buffer Management Tools (BMTs) was also revitalized throughout FRCSW. By meeting with divisional production controls every two weeks to specifically focus on items that went beyond their times to reliably replenish (TRRs), Petty Officer 1st Class Nicholas Schwenk said backlog was reduced by 58 percent and backlogs on expeditious repairs was reduced by 55 percent.

Building 325, FRCSW Level 3 Vertical Lift Program's 100,000-square-foot facility which houses planned maintenance interval (PMI), modifications, in-service repairs (ISR), special rework for H-60 aircraft, and the Integrated Product Team (IPT) was constructed using CPI methodology, IPT Lead Michelle Gomez said.

"We were scattered among four buildings and had to transport aircraft, which resulted in a loss of productivity," she said. "Using CPI, we improved the flow and design of the building's layout to maximize efficiency."

The facility now features a dedicated repair bay that can accommodate eight aircraft, an assembly bay that has a maximum capacity of five aircraft, and a crane that moves in six different directions. Disassembly and Evaluation are now located in the same place as well.

"Before, if we found a crack in an aircraft, we would've had to move it from building to building," said Deputy IPT Lead Travis Cooper. "Now if we find a crack, we can move the aircraft that night to the appropriate bay and it is available for repair the next day," he said. "This building also allows us to be open for the Sailors to work on their aircraft from 6 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. and to have two shifts, whereas before we only had one for them to perform the work."

An unexpected benefit to using CPI to plan the move was how quickly they were able to transition to the new building.

"Originally, we planned to stop production for three weeks and to move the aircraft to coincide with the repairs," he said. "In the end, it only took us two weeks and there was zero impact to aircraft delivery dates and turnaround time."

Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF); Brig. Gen. Allan Day, commander, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation; Rear Adm. Daniel MacInnis, Reserve deputy commander, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR); Rear Adm. Michael Moran, Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft Programs (PEO(T)); Rear Adm. Dean Peters, Program Executive Officer (Air, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Assault and Special Missions Program) (PEO(A)); Rear Adm. Shane Gahagan, commander, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) and NAVAIR assistant commander for Research and Engineering, (AIR 4.0); Rear Adm. Michael Zarkowski, commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC); Bryan Scurry, CNAF executive director; Bill Taylor, Headquarters Marine Corps assistant deputy commandant for Aviation (Sustainment); Roy Harris, director, Aviation Readiness and Resource Analysis, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR 6.8); Tracey Moran, director, Industrial and Logistics Maintenance Planning/Sustainment Department, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR 6.7); Lynn Kohl, vice commander, Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) and representatives from Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic (CNAL); FRC Southeast; H-60 Helicopter Program/Acquisition Category IC/PEO(A) (PMA-299); E-2/Airborne Tactical Data System Program (PMA-231); Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron (MALS) 16, FRC West, the NAE Integrated Resource Management Team (IRMT) and contractor support attended the event.

In his closing remarks, Shoemaker said the NAE must continue to build upon relationships to increase readiness more quickly.

"The H-60 community is working well together -- from the PMA to the depot, to the I-level and to the squadrons," he said. "I've seen several tools during this BoG that improve the predictability of I-level and depot-level repairs. We need to continue to identify solutions and put them into operation. Small investments can have a huge return in readiness."

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