“Lean” Strikes Again

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.”