Cutlines: NOTE: Dennis is wearing the white T-shirt.

Dennis Campbell, left, and Al Auderer

Ignacio Limtiaco, left, and Tom Sablan

North Island artisans helping AIMD at Lemoore

By Bill Bartkus
NADEP North Island

Need help with training? Call 1-800-NADEP NI.
This isn’t the actual telephone number for Naval Air Depot North Island, but Depot artisans and engineers are always available and ready to help Sailors assigned to naval aviation.
Take, for instance, Sailors at Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. They needed help with components and called on NADEP North Island for assistance.
Since last November, NADEP North Island artisans have been traveling to Lemoore once a month and spend a week there training Sailors in avionics and hydraulics, said Dennis Weddle, Code 6.2.3.3, pneudraulic systems supervisor. “We send two from avionics and two from hydraulics, When we help them, we help ourselves,” Weddle said.
The team – Ignacio Limtiaco and Thomas Sablan, both Code 6.2.3.2 in Avionics, and Dennis Campbell and Al Auderer, both Code 6.2.3.7 in Hydraulics – works with AIMD on F/A-18 components. “The Depot team was selected based on their knowledge with the particular components in which the AIMD needed help and because they have the know-how to perform the training. This is just as important as helping the Sailors to work down their backlog of components,” said Weddle.
The entire training program started when AIMD started having problems with some of the components that Depot artisans were making ready for issue (RFI). “After a certain pattern or trend developed with these components and running into the same problems, we were able to determine … over the phone that AIMD was having problems with their test procedures and some of their test equipment,” Weddle mentioned.
This training procedure started about two years ago. Weddle said that at that time, Mike Fuller, Code 6.2.3, the program manager, decided to send several artisans to Lemoore’s hydraulics shop. “And at that time, we sent a crew leader from the 02 Shop (Code 6.2.3.7) to Lemoore to start working with AIMD and helped them with training,” Weddle said. “The crew leader started getting some of the situations resolved.”
The program lapsed for several months. Then, according to Weddle, AIMD began experiencing problems with Depot components, and contacted Fuller and asked for NADEP help again.
“Mr. Fuller and I started talking last October, and we concluded that the Depot needed to send some artisans to Lemoore,” Weddle said. “We also determined that they had a backlog plus big problems in avionics as well, so we decided to send a couple of Avionics artisans, too.”
They stayed in contact with AIMD to understand what they were dealing with. “So, we decided to load some test equipment into a van, and we headed to Lemoore last November. We were successful in helping the Sailors get the training they needed,” Weddle said. “Each time the Depot team leaves at the end of the week, we clean them out of work. The hydraulics section has been wiped out. We clean them out of work so they don’t have any backlog any more.”
Depot artisans go through AIMD’s awaiting parts area and show Sailors how to cannibalize parts while certain parts are on order or reorder. “We show them how to get more units workable,” Weddle mentioned.
He said that the main problem at AIMD Lemoore stems from the highly transient workforce. “These Sailors are on and off the ships, and they are there for a few months and then they go to sea again. They don’t have any time to develop their skills,” he said. “These 19- and 20-year old Sailors are anxious to learn and work at their profession. We determined that the only stable people in those areas at AIMD are the first class petty officers who are permanently assigned to Lemoore. So we direct our training at them and they in turn can pass on the knowledge to the junior Sailors.”
And the training is paying off. Weddle said that Campbell – the Depot crew leader at Lemoore– called him shortly after the team arrived there last month and reported that there was very little backlog. Auderer said that Sailors were mixing and matching and doing whatever it takes to get the components out to the Fleet.
According to George Oderlin, Code 6.2.3.2, Avionics and Hydraulics plans even more on-the-job training and technical guidance. Depot artisans plan to continue to teach systematic methods of troubleshooting and the repair process while reducing redundant practices that do not lend to the most efficient use of time and resources. This may include helping to establish a common Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that could be followed in both sections of Lemoore’s AIMD.