McChord's Product Improvement Airmen find ways to save the Air Force millions of dollars

  • Published
  • By By Staff Sgt. Russ Jackson
  • 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. --  Editor's Note: This is part one of a five part series on McChord's product improvement section.

Tech. Sgt. Joseph Bilger, 62nd Maintenance Squadron product improvement manager, opens the door to his office and turns on the lights. He squints as he adjusts his eyes and lets out a yawn. Arriving to work before 5 a.m. is normal for him. As he makes his way to his desk, he discovers a pile of paperwork awaiting his attention. They are quality deficiency reports and he was informed about them hours ago in the middle of the night.

As McChord's only product improvement manager, Bilger is on the job 24/7. If there is a maintenance issue with any C-17 on base, it is his job to know about it before Col. Craig Gaddis, 62nd Maintenance Group commander does. Gaddis holds a meeting every morning with his group and squadron management and when he asks what is being done about aircraft maintenance issues, Bilger has an answer for him.

"We check all of our data first thing in the morning so we know the problems we're facing before the commander does," said Bilger. "When an issue arises during his meetings, we inform him that we're aware of it and working on the resolution."

McChord's product improvement section's purpose is to improve maintenance processes and save money throughout the Air Force. They focus on technical order revisions, quality deficiency reports and engineering dispositions, which are instructions written for maintenance tasks that need to be accomplished but haven not yet be written in to the TOs.

While Bilger is the sole product improvement manager, he does not work alone. Teamed with Master Sgt. Dennis Kauffman and Tech. Sgt. Joshua Taylor, 62nd MXS engineering and logistics liaisons, they proudly own the greatest number of approved requests for engineering disposition, approved technical order changes, and approved discrepancy reports for the entire C-17 fleet.

"We don't do our job for the recognition," said Taylor. "If we have just saved the Air Force money with our process, the appreciation is all we need."

Most of the process improvements this section makes are implemented fleet-wide, including several foreign military sales nations who operate C-17 aircraft. Many of the issues are brought to light by McChord's own maintainers. Once the product improvement team gets involved, they coordinate and route the issues to the right people to find a resolution which usually results in a change to the technical order. Much credit needs to go to the maintainers as they are creating the processes on the flight line.

A few examples of major finds these Airmen have made improvements for include engine fan duct fire seals, eliminating redundant operational checks on satellite communication antennas, and helping develop local procedures for aircrews loading their world-wide navigation data bases. Bilger also single handedly saved the Air Force more than $50,000 when he developed an easy, cost effective repair of an otherwise unserviceable C-17 galley.

"It is crazy, the work our maintenance Airmen do," said Kauffman. "They are machines out there fixing theses airplanes. Sometimes we have to catch them to let them know that they have a great idea and it should be implemented. That's what I'd say we do down here. We bring their ideas to the world."

By day's end, Bilger shuts down his computer and turns off the lights as he leaves his office. The battery life on his phone is low and he needs to get home to charge it since the notifications about McChord's C-17's never cease. He has an early day tomorrow, as he does it all over again.