By Gary Rice
NADEP NEWS Editor

Where there’s a will there’s a way, and when artisans in the NADEP Cherry Point Bonding Room wanted to resolve a problem with their workspace, it was Mechanical Engineer Lester Wardlow’s challenge to find the way.

Located in Building 4224, the Bonding Room is part of the depot’s Plastics and Fiberglass Shop. Due to the nature of the materials used and the work done there, strict temperature, humidity, and cleanliness requirements must be maintained.

It was primarily the high cleanliness standard that was a cause of concern. The many adhesives used in the room are highly vulnerable to dust and dirt contamination, as are the dynamic components and flight critical items to which those adhesives are applied.

“The problem they had was that they were in a huge room that needed to be thoroughly cleaned once a week,” Wardlow said. “The shop workers had to do the cleaning, and with such a large area, it was a very time consuming process. They had to mop the floor and wipe down the walls to eliminate dust and dirt. It took time away from their normal work and cost the depot a great deal of money in terms of labor.”

A smaller workspace was the solution, an enclosed area where the work could still be properly performed but that would require much less time to clean. Once the chain of command made that determination, they contacted the Mechanical Engineering Branch and let the engineers take it from there.

The project was assigned to Wardlow, and over the course of two months, he studied and evaluated the conditions in the shop, conducted extensive research, and applied his engineering knowledge and expertise to the task of modifying the workspace. It took him about three weeks of that time to draw the modification design on his office computer.

Once Wardlow finished his design, the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction (ROICC) office handled the small business contract, and a contractor performed the actual construction work. A new wall with an overhead door was built to enclose a small section of the larger room, and a vinyl strip curtain was installed around another small part of the room. Now, the strict cleaning standards only have to be maintained in the small strip curtain area.

“This new arrangement has knocked the cleaning time way down,” John Favorite, Plastics and Fiberglass Shop work leader, said. “The room has to be cleaned every Monday morning, and it used to take five people a half day to do the job. Now it takes two people just a few hours. It’s a much better situation.”

“Since I’ve been at the depot, I’ve had to learn a lot about architectural design,” Wardlow said. “I’m very pleased that everything went so smoothly on this project.”
Wardlow explained that though the modification project was a big job, it was not too detailed, and his past work experience proved helpful. He worked for five years in the heating and air conditioning contracting field before coming to NADEP about 18 months ago.

“My biggest challenge was dealing with the existing systems,” Wardlow said. “The original design was balanced for the larger area, and I had to make sure that my placement of the new walls would not affect the operation of the overall heating and air conditioning system. I had to incorporate the existing systems into the new design and still achieve the required result.”

The modification project was completed in late February and will result in significant savings in labor cost over the years to come. With less time devoted to cleaning, workers in the shop will be able to spend more time on their regular production work. Plus, performing their jobs in a smaller area will make their work more efficient.

“The original large area is still theirs,” Wardlow said, “but now they’re not required to spend as much time cleaning it.”

Photo Caption #1: (l-r) Mechanical Engineer Lester Wardlow, Advance Composite Supervisor Tim Bartlow, and Facilities Planning Project Manager Mike Merrell discuss Wardlow’s construction plans in the Bonding Room in NADEP Building 4224. (Photo by Gary Rice)

Photo Caption #2: Lester Wardlow works on an engineering design in his office at Plant Engineering in NADEP Building 159. (Photo by Gary Rice)