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Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support’s (NAVSUP WSS) F/A-18 Integrated Weapon Support Team (IWST) achieved a significant milestone in September, reaching zero unfilled customer orders for the entire F/A-18 Super Hornet Generator Converter Unit (GCU) portfolio. For the first time on record, the team reached zero unfilled orders for all GCU Weapons Replaceable Assemblies (WRA) and System Replaceable Assemblies (SRA), a portfolio encompassing 34 individual components.
This initiative was born from then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ mandate in October 2018 for all strike fighter platforms to increase readiness to 80-percent mission capable (MC) rates by the following October. The Navy’s subsequent “Drive to 341” MC F/A-18s uncovered long-standing issues with the Super Hornet’s GCU.
At the time when the 80-percent mission capable mandate was announced, Super Hornets had only been able to maintain readiness levels of 260 mission capable aircraft.
“With only a 65-percent mission capable rate for Super Hornets, and the GCU Issue Priority Group One (IPG-1) backorder burn down timeline 14 months behind schedule, it became clear GCUs would be the primary hindrance to meeting the SECDEF’s goal,” said Lt. Cmdr. Dustin Martindale, NAVSUP WSS F/A-18 IWST Avionics Branch Head.
In February 2019, the F/A-18 IWST team instituted and led monthly GCU Summits to bring all mission partners together for executive-level engagements. Each month the GCU Summit convened to collaborate on initiatives, set goals, gain commitments, and measure progress by all partners including NAVSUP WSS, PMA-265, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), General Electric (GE), and the Navy’s Fleet Readiness Centers (FRC).
“Many successful initiatives were spawned from the summit to include reliability improvement, throughput management, capacity prioritization, and reduction of repair turnaround time (RTAT),” said Clinton Mench, NAVSUP WSS F/A-18 Avionics Deputy Branch Head. “F/A-18 IWST GCU planner Erin Neason worked tirelessly to execute summit initiatives through daily/weekly vendor calls with GE and Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW), focusing on WRA and SRA throughput.”
By teaming with NAVAIR, the F/A-18 IWST identified production velocity at the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) was an additional bottleneck to GCU WRA availability. GE produced six spare GCUs per month across all Navy interests to include requirements from NAVAIR, Boeing, and NAVSUP WSS.
“The contractual delivery schedules of aircraft production contracts resulted in NAVSUP WSS only receiving GCU spares deliveries over and above the NAVAIR contracts,” said Martindale. Through Ms. Neason’s leadership, the government and industry team resolved to re-baseline the three competing contract schedules, allowing GE to ramp up production of new GCUs to 21 per month. This creative solution eliminated IPG-1 requisitions by August 2019 and brought GCU WRA backorders to zero as of mid-June 2020.”
In addition to increasing GCU spare production output to address supply, the IWST team also focused on demand by accelerating upgrades of NAVSUP WSS wholesale spares from the GCU G3 version to the more reliable G4 version.
NAVAIR PMA-265 reliability efforts also contributed to the reduction of GCU backorders.
“The upgraded GCUs increased the time on wing from 152 hours to 532 hours,” said Kimberlee Haney, PMA-265’s Assistant Program Manager for System Engineering. “This 350-percent increase in GCU reliability significantly reduced fleet demand, allowing NAVSUP WSS repairs to meet and exceed fleet demand to burn down to zero across the portfolio.”
Component RTATs were greatly reduced, making SRAs available for the expeditious repair, keeping GCUs on the flight line longer. Establishment of weekly production targets via the Integrated Supply Chain Management (ISCM) tool set expectations for the OEM and provided the IWST an accessible method to measure production performance.
The combined improvement efforts have eliminated the GCU as the number-one degrader for the F/A-18 platform and contributed to the fleet routinely flying more than 350 mission capable aircraft.
“The success of the summit and the resulting leadership actions displayed by the F/A-18 IWST cannot be understated and resulted in the team being recognized along with the PMA-265 Power and Propulsion Integrated Product Team for the 2020 Naval Air Warfare Center Commanders Award for Logistics,” said Woody Payton, PMA-265’s Product Support Manager.
“Achieving zero backorders across the GCU portfolio is a tremendous accomplishment, especially given the long-standing issues with GCUs and their chronic effects on fleet readiness,” said Capt. Matt Bolls, NAVSUP WSS Aviation Operations Director. “This achievement is a shining example of what the collective Naval Aviation Enterprise team can accomplish when working toward the singular North Star goal of readiness. I’m very proud of the F/A-18 Avionics team and a big thanks to PMA 265, Fleet Readiness Center Southwest and the fleet for helping us get these healthy.”
NAVSUP WSS is one of 11 commands under Commander, NAVSUP. Headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, NAVSUP employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and sailor and family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsupwss, and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.
| Date Taken: | 10.29.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 10.29.2021 15:01 |
| Story ID: | 408350 |
| Location: | PHILADELPHIA, PA, US |
| Web Views: | 962 |
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