Two Airmen assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron improved shop operations by restoring automated processes and reducing man-hours by 98% in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, Jan. 26, 2026.
U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Matthew McKoin and Airman 1st Class Emmanuel Gutierrez, 332nd EMXS aircraft structural maintenance technicians from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, repaired an automated machine that had been inoperable for six years.
McKoin and Gutierrez arrived in the AOR less than a month prior to repairing the Crippa, a robotic tube-bending machine used to automatically shape hydraulic and other tubes for installation on the F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft.
“Producing a single line could take up to three people and six to seven hours from start to finish doing it the manual way,” McKoin said. “What used to take hours can now be done in less than a minute, which has been a game changer for our shop.”
Before the Crippa machine was operational, manually bending tubes also introduced inconsistencies, often requiring Airmen to restart the process entirely.
“When lines are bent manually, there’s room for variation every time,” Gutierrez said. “With the Crippa, the line is identical every single time.”
The Crippa machine produces a finished tube in less than a minute by using programmed schematics that control the degree, radius, and placement of each bend.
“This equipment not only ensures our ability to repair F-15s quicker and more efficiently, but also any other aircraft assigned to the 332nd AEW,” said Maj. Joshua Belanger, 332nd EMXS commander. “This machine firmly entrenches the 332nd EMXS as a forward-deployed manufacturing center of excellence and it is all thanks to the commitment and expertise of innovative maintainers like SSgt. McKoin and A1C Gutierrez.”
McKoin and Gutierrez attribute their ability to repair the machine to prior experience using the same system at their home station, leading them to only need two weeks on-station in the AOR to fix the machine.