By Gary Rice

It’s a new concept, a different way of looking at things, with emphasis on what each and every employee can do to make things better. In its effort to create a customer-centered culture, the Naval Air Depot (NADEP) Cherry Point has adopted a proven, practical approach to achieving and sustaining leadership in quality and customer satisfaction.

NADEP Cherry Point provides maintenance, engineering, and logistics support on a wide variety of aircraft, engines, and components for all branches of the U.S. armed forces. The depot’s mission is to support the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) in providing the American warfighter with absolute combat power through mastery of six broad categories of naval aviation technologies: sensors, aircraft, weapons, training, launch and recovery, and communications. Employing almost 4,000 people, the depot is the only source of repair within the continental United States for many jet and rotary wing engines. It is the Navy’s center of excellence for rotary wing aircraft, providing engineering and logistics support for all Navy helicopters.

“Customer-Centered Culture (C3) is an attempt to get into the customer’s mind,” MaryEllen Kirkland, Supervisory Program Analyst, said. “It’s an efficient way to find out what the customer wants, needs, and expects and what we can do to provide it.”

Kirkland is one of six employees on the depot’s C3 Committee, which is headed by Maj Todd Caruso. NADEP Commanding Officer Col Eugene K. Conti is the committee’s sponsor, and the other members are Pacita Whatley, Gregory Robinson, Lori Glass, Mark Meno, and Brenda Stilley. The Executive Leadership Council (ELC) has tasked the committee to address the all-important element of customer satisfaction.

“We mostly focus on internal depot products,” Kirkland said. “We’ve been charged with taking those products, getting the folks together who have the most input on them, and educating them on how to understand and help the customer.”

Kirkland said the committee is currently working on a list of projects that address some initial issues and concerns of the ELC. They pertain to products that have the most urgent need for improvement, such as Form 4235/2, Beyond Economical Repair (BER) items, Missing and Lost Tool Reports, Corrective Action Request (CQR) Forms, Job Order Numbers and the requisition process, and the V-22 Fleet Support Team and Reliability Team.

“We’re trying to make the processes and procedures involved in these projects smarter and more effective,” Kirkland said. “They’re just not as efficient and customer friendly as they should be, so we’re going to try to fix them.”

Kirkland says the committee is also trying to develop a new command phone book, known as the Customer-Focused Information Center (CFIC), which will be on-line and may also be staffed by an employee. She says they want to come up with a product that will effectively provide needed information yet stay within the heightened security restraints of the post 9-11 era.

“A paper phone book is basically worthless,” she said. “It’s outdated almost as soon as it’s printed. But the Internet has its problems, too, so we’re working with legal to see how much internal and external information can be posted on-line. We really hope to succeed with CFIC because everyone can benefit from it.”

The concept of C3 is based on a 1993 book by Robin L. Lawton. In his book, Lawton says the role of management is to demonstrate that the organization cares about satisfying customers with products and services. Management’s challenge is to confront the issues that stifle change and innovative thinking.

“The book deals with ideas that tie in with ISO 9000,” Kirkland said. “In fact, the new ISO standard we’re transitioning to at the depot requires us to evaluate customer satisfaction.”

The committee meets every Thursday and also offers a course of instruction in which the members teach the concepts and principles of C3. Their first class was held July 25, and others will be offered in coming months. Prospective students are people who supervisors think are in the best position to know about the defective products and processes and make changes. During the three-day training class, students will be given the knowledge and tools needed to fix the problems.

“We hope to make it easier for people to use the forms and systems they need to do their jobs properly,” Kirkland said. “Our goal is to make things work better and make life easier for everyone at the depot.”

Photo: C3 committee members and students pose in a stairwell at the Jerry Marvel Training Building after completing NADEP Cherry Point’s first C3 class July 25. From left are Greg Robinson, GySgt William James, Pacita Whatley, Brenda Stilley, GySgt Jose Munagorri, MaryEllen Kirkland, Capt Blaine Ferguson, GySgt Richard Hadley, Capt Colleen Grimm, Lori Glass, and Maj Todd Caruso. (Photo by Larry Conley)