U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY – In a deployed environment, Airmen and joint service members rely on a fleet of government vehicles to carry out the installation's mission. Vehicle maintainers are tasked with resolving time-sensitive mechanical issues for the fleet, but preventing these issues poses a challenging task.
That’s where the idea for the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Preventative Maintenance and Inspection Team arose.
Senior Airman Alfe-May Zinger, 379th ELRS fleet management and analysis journeyman, and the rest of the vehicle maintenance team noticed approximately 600 of the 1,800 vehicles under their responsibility were overdue for inspection. Some were in need of major part replacements that would keep the vehicles out of operation for weeks, even months.
“There were a lot of overdue vehicles,” said Zinger. “That’s why the PM&I team was created, so we can tackle that overdue and focus on the mission.”
Two Airmen work in two-week rotations focusing exclusively on PM&I, such as replacing filters and performing oil changes to keep vehicles on the road for longer and reduce the number of vehicles that are overdue for maintenance.
Zinger was determined to make a change that would not only improve the unit’s workloads and capabilities, but the lives and operational capabilities of everyone on base needing a vehicle.
With the foundation for the PM&I team laid out, there was still room for improvement and innovation in how effectively this new team could perform.
Staff Sgt. Michael Barry, 379th ELRS vehicle maintenance technician, brought ideas to the table to use the PM&I team’s full potential and reduce the time other units would be missing their vehicles.
“I procured more equipment to increase productivity and make it easier for mechanics so they’re not getting exhausted as quickly," said Barry.
The added equipment enabled the team to increase the number of vehicles serviced from four to approximately 10 per day. Through this increase, the team has performed inspections on 116 vehicles and counting within the four months they’ve been active.
These combined efforts produced an efficient system that minimizes the time it takes to maintain vehicles, allowing Airmen to focus on bigger projects and save on manpower and repair costs in the long run.
“If the previous trend continued, it would be a vicious cycle of having long projects with a lot of time and money spent on them,” said Barry. “By focusing on preventative maintenance, we schedule everything and get vehicles knocked out within twenty-four hours.”
The success of Zinger’s idea fulfills both the unit’s mission and the mission set out for herself.
“I wanted to leave an impact, show I did something,” said Zinger. “It’s my first deployment, I've only been in for a year, so I feel very proud to have done this for the mission.”
The PM&I team will continue even after the current deployment, allowing Airmen to carry out their mission on and off the base to their fullest ability.