Luke, Intel share knowledge

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Mark Adams
  • 56th Maintenance Group, Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  Process improvement practitioners from the 56th Maintenance Group and Intel Corporation toured each other's facilities to learn how each develops a culture of continuous process improvement.

The first visit to Intel's facility in Tempe occurred Aug. 4. Five MXG Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century practitioners learned from Intel's CPI practitioners how they organize and train, and some examples of recent CPI successes.

"It was wonderful to see a company who also recognizes the need to eliminate waste within processes," said Staff Sgt. Corbin Simmons, 56th Equipment Maintenance Squadron Aircraft Ground Equipment technician. "Getting the opportunity to see how they train and mentor their Green Belts (trainees), a process I recently went through here at Luke, was fascinating. I was able to see our similarities, while at the same time seeing ways we could help each other by sharing our lessons learned from training and certifying CPI practitioners."

"Everyone we met was extremely nice, and I think we all felt refreshed at how excited each of us was to learn from the other," said Master Sgt. Douglas McGraw, 56th EMS Programs Flight section chief. "I learned so much in spending just one day with them."
After learning about how Intel incorporates CPI, the team from Luke got a chance to tour the computer chip manufacturing company.

"Not only was I impressed to see how dedicated they were to improving processes, I was equally impressed with how they take care of their employees," said 2nd Lt. Gregory Thomas, 56th EMS AGE Flight commander. "For instance, they make their employees use external mice to help prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome instead of using mouse pads on laptops. They also have a strict enforcement of hand rail usage, which even we got called out on when we went up only three steps to see their maintenance operations center and didn't use the hand rail."

After the tour, Intel's practitioners were invited to see how Luke Air Force Base and the 56th MXG incorporated CPI, better known as AFSO21. Intel's practitioners arrived Sept. 1 and were greeted by Col. Deborah Liddick, 56th MXG commander.

"We wanted to share with them, exactly what they shared with us," Thomas said, who also served as the point of contact for organizing Intel's trip to Luke. "We provided them an overview of our AFSO21 culture, how it is organized and structured, along with how we train and certify our practitioners. Our briefs ended with an overview of successes Luke has seen over the past year using AFSO21."

"I was extremely impressed with what was presented," said Kimo Skyles, Intel Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. "The AFSO21 organization here at Luke, is exactly where we are trying to head. I can't wait to continue this sharing in future collaborations."

After the briefings, the visitors had a chance to take a "Red Carpet" tour of Luke. They visited the F-16 simulators to practice dog fighting skills and explored shops within the MXG that have successfully integrated AFSO21 into their maintenance culture. The tour ended with a walk around an F-16 guided by Airman 1st Class Shane Peters, 309th Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chief.

"It was interesting to see how vital standard work is to the mission, said Bob Phillips, Intel Lean instructor. The technical orders, checklists, quality assurance and separate skill level reviews really showed how important standards are, and that makes sense with these $25 million aircraft and pilots' lives.

Liddick presented a plaque, on behalf of the 56th MXG and Luke, to Intel commemorating the two visits.

"This was just the beginning," said Paul Skipper, Intel Cost Management and Business Process Improvement advisor. "We are making plans now to allow future visits, training opportunities with each other's organization and collaboration with improvement projects that affect both of our organizations."