Mechanics at the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah, have cut the time it takes to repair an F-16 fighter antenna from 28 days (in the door) to three days (shipped out). And, in so doing, the nine members of the Viper antenna repair shop reduced the repair cost by $2,000 per antenna. There’s more—the mean time between failures has jumped from 425 hours to more than 660 hours. Bill Wilmot, radio frequency shop supervisor, credits the center’s “lean” process, which he said was introduced with “baby steps.”
The U.S. sent Air Force F-16s over central Syria in a show of force following the Dec. 13 killing of two U.S. Army Soldiers and one American civilian interpreter by a gunman linked to the Islamic State group.
