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C-130 Hercules begins critical chain project management journey

  • Published
  • By Lisa Mathews
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFMCNS) --  A "critical chain project management journey" began for the C-130 Hercules production area Nov. 14.

"We start our journey to reduce the number of aircraft here for (programmed depot maintenance) and to reduce the flow time ... to get more aircraft to our warfighters in Afghanistan and Iraq," said Col. Pedro Vasquez Jr., C-130 Squadron commander. "We support two fronts, the war on terror and the war on nature. CCPM is going to enable us to work smarter and not harder."

Until this year, the C-130 PDM was performed using the critical path method. Ed Montano, a C-130 section chief, explained the difference between the critical path and critical chain processes.

"The critical path is basically the best way we can flow an airplane all the way through the system," he said. "Critical chain is the longest chain on each individual aircraft and customizing each aircraft based on its critical chain."

The group will use Concerto software to accomplish CCPM. This software will help prioritize where mechanics are sent to work. Concerto was used by the C-5 Production Group last year and has been modified for use by the C-130s this year.

Mr. Montano said the group expects to see results from CCPM by summer. The group has some major goals they hope to accomplish with CCPM. They include reducing the average flow days of 180 by 30 percent, lowering the average number of aircraft on station from 24 to 15 and bringing new workloads to Robins.

A support group has been formed to help implement and track CCPM.

"The support group is looking at 10 days out. They make sure all the equipment is there, the tooling, anything we need has to be on station before we send a mechanic down," Mr. Montano said. "The goal here is to minimize the interruptions that the mechanics encounter on a daily basis. We're to bring them the things they need to get the job done."