News Release
Fleet Readiness Center, Southeast
Jacksonville, Florida 32212-0016
(904) 542-3267 DSN 942-3267
FAX (904) 542-5866
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Point of Contact: Nancy L. Crook, Public Affairs Division Director Release No. 07-04
(904) 542-3168, extension 161

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 28, 2006
FRCs unite to win PBL Award
By Judy Hartman, Public Affairs Specialist

In a ceremony, held November 7, at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) conference in Hilton Head, S.C., Fleet Readiness Center Southeast (FRC-SE) and Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRC-SW) were recipients of the 2006 Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Performance Based Logistics (PBL) Award in the Component Level with the F/A-18 and F-14D Cockpit Displays Group PBL team. The Navy Cockpit Displays group’s PBL effort delivers improved readiness and maximizes production efficiency through a public-private partnering agreement between Rockwell Collins Display System and FRC-SE at Jacksonville, Fl. and FRC-SW at North Island in San Diego, Ca., providing service to the Fleet. The 15 year, fixed price contract was signed in October 2003. It covers the Heads Up Display, the Digital Data Indicator, and the Digital Data Repeater Indicator utilized on the F/A-18 A-F and the F-14D models – a total of 274 components. Current PBL performance is 100 percent material availability. This outstanding achievement represents a 40 percent increase in component availability since the execution of the PBL program. In three years, this program has not only increased the supply availability, but also reduced delivery response time from between 60 and 90 days to 3 to 5 days, and has virtually eliminated backordered Fleet requisitions; all while generating remarkable savings. By embracing the intent of public-private partnerships, the FRCs have been able to implement Lean manufacturing processes that increase time on wing for the display components. Not only has this solution resulted in increased component availability, reduced delivery response time, and zero backordered fleet requirements, it has also served to unite Rockwell Collins Displays System team, the Naval Supply, and Naval Air Systems Commands into a cohesive team that is positioned to provide the warfighter with outstanding support for years to come. The Cockpit Displays Group PBL team’s efforts are considered particularly significant, since they tackled the challenges of an aging, out of production system. They applied the innovation, commitment, and teamwork to achieve a record level of support not deemed possible in a pre-PBL environment.