By Jim Jenkins
NAWCAD Public Affairs

The Cost Wise Readiness Integrated Improvement Process (CWRIIP) you once knew doesn’t exist anymore. The process has received an overhaul, a jump start if you will, with a focus on aircraft Ready for Tasking (RFT) and the cost benefits of resourcing decisions. Naval Aviation Readiness Integrated Improved Program (NAVARIIP) is institutionalizing CWRIIP as the overarching process that all Type/Model/Series (TMS) teams use to prioritize RFT and cost degraders at the system/ part level.

CWRIIP has been structured as a standardized approach to establish priorities for resourcing decisions that support aircraft RFT. CWRIIP focuses on what will produce the most return, with return defined as reduced RFT gap or reduced costs. CWRIIP is closely aligned within the Maintenance and Supply Chain Management (M&SCM) Cross Functional Team in support of three goals for RFT Gap Closure and Reliability Improvement. These three goals together focus on the single Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Fleet driven metric of aircraft RFT at reduced costs, and are integral to elements of the NAE Performance Agreement, CNAF Current Readiness Goals and NAVAIR Strategic Goals.

“We sought to develop a standardized process that would, across the type/model/series teams, give them a standard way of assessing priorities for investment of very scarce resources,” said Capt. Terry Burt, Military Director, Industrial and Logistics Maintenance Planning/Sustainment Department (AIR 6.7), and CWRIIP Team Lead. “What we worked to develop is what’s going to get you more bang for the buck, whether that’s in terms of RFT gap reduction or cost reduction, the two primary drivers. CWRIIP strengthens focus on RFT gap/ cost drivers and alignment of scarce resources to investment decisions related to those drivers.”

CWRIIP’s renewed development last year leveraged potential success on key stakeholder input across six pilot TMS teams (F-18, P-3, E2/C2, EA-6B, H-60 and H53) and six Reliability Improvement Programs (RIPs) including IISRP, AERMIP, AvCIP, LECP, DLA and Power/Propulsion CIP. Key core participants supporting Burt and CWRIIP have included leadership from PEO, PMA, and Type Wings (APMLs, APEO(L)s, DoLs, WingMOs), Integrated In-Service Reliability Program (IISRP), Thomas Group, and NAVAIR’s Military Director for Logistics Management Integration Dept (AIR 6.6), Capt. Dave Seaton.

The “gap” describes the number of aircraft needed to meet ready for tasking entitlement goals throughout the NAE. The NAE gap goal for 2007 was 7.5 percent. There are numerous factors at play today that made this goal difficult, but not impossible, to reach. The Navy’s aircraft are being flown beyond their originally intended design life, and in a strenuous environment. The extreme heat and unique sand in the Middle East takes their toll on the Navy’s aging aircraft making the maintenance crews at the operational, intermediate and Fleet Readiness Centers work harder and longer hours to sustain material condition, and ultimately driving higher resource requirements.

Aircraft program teams know what the problems are, Burt said, and they have processes to work through to get them fixed. Accepting that resources will always be constrained, the objective of CWRIIP is to help prioritize those problems in the most efficient manner as aligned with the NAE’s priorities. The Rack and Stack system of CWRIIP prioritizes those problems in a way that emphasizes the most impact on RFT or cost reduction for the investment of resources and time required to implement the solution. The highest contributor to RFT gap may not be the number one item on the Rack and Stack. It’s the combination of RFT/cost reduction potential coupled with the estimated cost and time required to implement the solution that establishes the priority.

“We didn’t want to replace the existing processes the TMS teams already had,” Burt said. “What we sought to do is bolt on to the end of the existing process they have. We’re standardizing the data sources from which they derive top TMS degraders, then we apply a common filter that prioritizes based upon expected returns. The focus is not how to address a problem, but rather the results of addressing a problem.”

It has taken a year to get total buy-in and to revise CWRIIP to make it work in a way that is effective for the NAE and all the TMS teams. The next step in the CWRIIP implementation is to expand its use from the initial six pilot programs to phase two where another eight T/M/S teams will be added to the list of those using the new process, including USMC. Eventually every TMS team will be utilizing CWRIIP.

Reliability is a key focus area for the NAE and M&SCM. Failure of a component or system to perform at planned reliability drives increased removal and replacement actions, driving up maintenance man hours and costs. While the priorities derived via CWRIIP are not all classified as reliability issues, those that do require a reliability solution will be reviewed via Captain Seaton’s Reliability Goal. CWRIIP feeds the RFT/cost reduction focused listings of reliability issues to the RIPs. This NAE prioritized approach to reliability was not available to focus and align TMS and RIP efforts prior to CWRIIP. The collective strengths and resources of the RIPs now have opportunity to have the most potential impact on RFT or cost, with visibility of what can be accomplished across the NAE. NAVICP and Enterprise AIRSpeed are also reviewing CWRIIP prioritized listings to speed identification of barriers and maximize resolution of TMS system/ part issues.

The data gathered and calculated from CWRIIP and the RIPs are briefed to the M&SCM Co-Leads, Rear Adm. Michael Roesner and Rear Adm. Michael Hardee, each month to highlight barriers and challenges that may require higher level intervention to overcome.

“CWRIIP is strengthening our ability to realize the maximum aircraft availability given that we are in a very resourced constrained environment,” Burt said. “It gives the NAE the ability to decide what to fund next for what’s going to make the most impact to the warfighter.”