MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, NC—The Fleet Readiness Center East (FRC East) here has been named as one of two recipients of Aviation Week's 2007 Charles B. Ryan Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Award for Business Innovation.
The Aviation Week & Space Technology and Overhaul & Maintenance publications present the award annually to recognize industry leading companies and organizations finding new ways to improve operations and service, profits, products, efficiency and effectiveness, while sustaining or improving safety and technical proficiency. The award honors the memory of Charles B. Ryan, former Nordam Group president and chief operating officer, who died in a plane crash in October 2001.
“This year, our judges--a panel of editors and reporters from the Aviation Week group--selected two winners in the operator category, and declined to name a winner in the MRO supplier category,” said Patricia W. Coates, MRO 2007 editorial director, in notifying FRC East of its selection. There were a number of outstanding entries for the award, according to Coates.
“It is an honor to be recognized as an industry-leader in the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul business for the work that we have done to achieve cost-wise readiness in support of our mission as our country meets the difficult challenges of the global war on terrorism,” said Col. J. Mark Reed, FRC East commanding officer. “Many dedicated FRC East employees and Marines have focused aggressively to improve quality of our products and services, schedule reliability and cost performance. Earning the Charles B. Ryan Award has affirmed our commitment to remain focused on those things that matter to the customer while improving our ability and flexibility to meet increasing demands."
FRC East’s selection for the award recognizes its innovative implementation of industry best practices through a continuous process improvement initiative known as AIRSpeed. AIRSpeed has helped FRC East to meet the maintenance challenges of an aging, but critical, fleet of military aircraft, increased customer demand due to real world requirements and reduced defense budgets. At the same time, the FRC East was able to provide a multi-million dollar savings and cost avoidance to taxpayers.
FRC East made significant results in minimal time using Theory of Constraints concepts and methodologies, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma process improvement tools, the Manufacture Resource Planning II production management system, the Voluntary Protection Program for Safety and International Organization of Standards and quality processes.
An awards presentation is scheduled in Atlanta, Ga., April 17 at Aviation Week’s MRO Conference & Exhibition.