NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Aviation Depots Rear Adm. Stephen Heilman, front, Capt. Pete Laszcz, and Dr. Tony Rodde, group vice president of Manugistics, Ind., cut a ribbon signifying the end to the Legacy Workload Control System and the implementation of Manufacturing Resource Planning II. Photo by Joe Feliciano

Out with the old, in with the new … computer program

By Bill Bartkus
NAVAIR Depot North Island

“It was a good friend for many, many, years and it did serve us very well as it helped Naval Air Depot North Island achieve extraordinary high levels of productivity. But now we’re on the verge of something new – a new system that is a tool that will allow the Depot to achieve even greater heights of productivity,” said Naval Air Depot North Island Commanding Officer Pete Laszcz at a ceremony marking “out with the old and in with the new.”

The “friend” was the Legacy Workload Control System (WCS). The “something new” is the implementation of Manufacturing Resource Planning II (MPRII).

Laszcz told the crowd that filled the Commander, Naval Air Force, Pacific Fleet auditorium that MRP II represents the convergence of three groups of people: the information technology staff, Code 7.2, who wrote the software and coordinated its integration; the functional staff (drawn from various Depot codes) who were crucial to the site and who determined how the software will be used; and those who will use the software “day in and day out and those who are still struggling with some of the long delays, but getting shorter, and solving the issues of using a new tool,” Laszcz said.

“But it all comes down to the product because Depot teammates are here to produce aircraft components. We need to focus on the fact that this software is not an end to itself but an important tool that took a lot of effort to get to us and will give the Depot a lot of capability,” the captain said. “It is a means to the end, and we always focus on our support to the fleet and how we can achieve that goal.

“It’s time to celebrate a tremendous achievement,” Laszcz said. The achievement came from a huge investment of time over the years. Numerous people worked nights, long hours and weekends to accomplish this significant milestone.

NAVAIR Assistant Commander for Aviation Depots Rear Adm. Stephen Heilman, keynote speaker , said, “This change represents a transition from an aging custom-developed legacy suite to a modern system. The goal is improving Depot responsiveness and reducing operating costs.”

The admiral said that software is not about responsiveness or reducing costs. “Software is enabling the generation of knowledge. By collecting data and turning it into knowledge, decisions can be made which in turn increase responsiveness and reduce costs.”

Heilman mentioned that there is a difference between making educated guesses and informed decisions based on knowledge created from data. “The new system gives us a new suite of tools and makes it easier for us to make good decisions that result in increased responsiveness and decreased cost.”

According to Heilman, the implementation of MRP II is the culmination of a five-and-a-half-year effort that started with a Conference Room Pilot in August 1996. Of the original 30 members of the CRP only four remain. They are Ron Snipes, Julie Lee, Marva McLaurin and Jim Barnett.

“Since the implementation of CRP, hundreds of individuals have been involved with the effort to stand up MRP II. Every area of the Depot was involved from extensive involvement of Information Technology to artisans on the shop floor,” said Heilman. “The difficulty in changing business processes that were embedded in the Work Control System for the past 30 years cannot be overstated. This is a real achievement that’s being celebrated. The change is still ongoing. If implementing a major software suite was easy, everyone would be doing it and succeeding. It’s not easy, but you have done it and you have succeeded.”

Legacy WCS shut down on March 31. The admiral said that WCS wouldn’t be used at any NAVAIR depot. “Now that we have a new tool in our tool box it’s time to hone our ability to use it and take advantage of it. The uses of MRP II must be matured, processes must be revised to make the best use of the tool, bombs and rudders must be maintained and accuracy improved,” stated Heilman. “We’re not home free quite yet.”
A lot work still needs to be accomplished to integrate MRP II with Naval Aviation and Naval Supply and Defense Logistics Agency Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) pilots, according to Heilman. “This integration will require increased commonality across the depots in both Business Processes and Information Technology solutions,” he said.

Among other things, MRP II will provide material planning a more accurate projection of parts to be ordered in advance, and shop floor priorities can be closely aligned to the delivery of parts. It will also provide much better capacity planning. “MRP II excels in dealing with the indeterminate workload quantities of the products that we induct, produce and deliver,” Heilman stated.

The Depot can now more effectively forecast future material, capacity requirements based on projected workload.

“This (MRPII) step forward is a bigger deal than most people actually realize. This step forward is in fact the facilitator, the foundation, the modernization that is going to allow us to operate in a manner that will dramatically enhance our ability to produce the 130,000 components, the 1,000 engines and modules and the over 500 airplanes per year with a level of efficiency never before seen,” said Capt. Stu Paul, NAVAIR executive director of aviation depots in a congratulatory email to Laszcz. “My favorite motto is ‘You cannot fly without Supply’ and I view this as a critical step in working to better tell our Supply brethren that we need to do our jobs.”

Said Paul, “It’s more than just getting parts better; it’s about providing a much better visual acuity into what is going on throughout the plant. We’ll discover thing we never knew before and tighten up where it was impossible to do so before.”

Pam O’Dell, NAVAIR assistant commander for operations, said in her congratulatory letter, “Standing up MRPII in an Integrated Data Environment and Data Warehouse is a significant milestone for our team. With ERP just around the corner, we need to continue integration efforts using state of the art technology. Working together, your functional and technical experts have implemented a state of the art tool that is providing value to our team and the warfighter.”

At the ceremony, Laszcz handed out numerous awards including Navy Civilian Meritorious Service Medals and Special Act Awards to Depot members who brought MRPII implementation to fruition. Fleet and Industrial Supply Center (FISC) personnel received Commanding Officer’s Coins. And commercial partners, who were a part of the project from the beginning, were recognized as well.