CHANGING ROLES: BLENDING AIMD AND DEPOT TO CREATE FRCSW

By Chuck Arnold
FRCSW Public Affairs

When Naval Air Depot, North Island and Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Detachments (AIMD) San Diego and Point Mugu merged to create Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) last October, then-AIMD Officers-in-Charge (OIC) Cmdr. Thomas Straub (San Diego) and Cmdr. Greg Munning were well aware of the challenges facing them in the integration of their commands and their changing roles in the new command.

“The integration of two different workforces operating under two different funding streams, IT systems, and supply systems is quite a challenge,” Straub said, who now serves as FRCSW Components Officer.

No longer operating independently, Munning said the merger is transforming AIMD Point Mugu into a component of a “unit that thinks collectively.”

“We are now part of a much larger enterprise, and it is an essential part of my job to ensure Point Mugu ‘connects’ and aligns its business management processes with those of FRCSW. Because of this new alignment, I am charged with local management of the critical linkage, interaction, and integration between FRCSW Site Point Mugu and FRCSW at North Island,” he explained.

As the AIMD San Diego OIC, Straub was responsible for more than 600 enlisted Sailors and nine officers. A significant part of his day was spent mentoring personnel and dealing with leadership challenges on the “people” side of the business including legal, family, and personal issues. Following the merger, many of those responsibilities transferred to FRCSW’s Commanding Officer and Executive Officer.

Munning, conversely, continues to provide guidance and direct leadership to more than 300 active duty personnel.

FRCSW employs a sizable population of civilian managers and artisans, who now, will integrate with AIMD San Diego’s active duty population. “In my new position, my civilian population is larger than my Sailor population, and will require more oversight on my part to better understand the inner workings of unions, disciplinary actions, and the National Security Personnel System (NSPS),” he pointed out. Creating a unified, diverse workforce, he noted, will be essential as the transition evolves.

No stranger to the mechanics of workforce integration, Straub and his AIMD staff designed integrated work centers where Sailors and civilian artisans worked side-by-side prior to the FRCSW formation. “Our ‘Petri-dish’ experiment with the APX-100 IFF transponder gave us the opportunity to address our concerns of being a fully integrated workforce,” he explained, “We enlisted the help of experts from both the AIMD-side and Depot-side and formed teams to identify differences and similarities, and then put together a future design of how we will operate in the Fleet Readiness Center construct.”

To help ensure product success, Straub said, AIRSpeed tools were used as a foundation for all decisions. Further, cross-functional teams were created to address the 5M’s (manpower, material, methods, measurements, and machines). The teams also developed training materials, SOPs and business rules to better equip managers and supervisors on their roles in the new integrated workforce.

AIRSpeed improvements were instrumental in the integration of AIMD technicians with experience on the SH-60 Seahawk helicopter and its components, adding to the overall value and capabilities within FRCSW. Straub said the ability to integrate speed and velocity of repair at AIMD proved significant in the integrated work cell for the repair of the AN/APX-100 IFF transponder. This momentum, he said, will now carry forward as the merger of Sailors and artisans continues throughout the FRCSW Components Department.

To reduce its Beyond Capability of Maintenance (BCM) costs while increasing capability at a lower cost, Munning said
Site Point Mugu is working to qualify its civilian workforce to perform depot level repairs. “In many cases, our highly-skilled workforce has already been completing tasks above the I-level standards, but now we are working to get these artisans ‘certified’ through a training process going on right now at FRCSW,” he said.

In addition to workforce issues, Straub said the opportunity to work within FRCSW’s Maintenance, Repair and Operational (MRO) business sector was not only challenging, but also the most beneficial aspect of changing the AIMD officer billet to that of a Components Officer. “Although I was the (AIMD) Maintenance Officer, the production aspect of the business was left more in the hands of the Maintenance Material Control Officer with me providing the ‘stick and rudder’ where and when required.”

He said his new position has focused him on the production of components, working within budget and managing costs and materials. Straub works with two different funding types: one common to direct military operations such as AIMD, and the other derived from the Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF), involving the industrial aspects of component production. Funding challenges include direct and indirect costs, variances of costs and performances, buyer-seller negotiations, and competing production schedules.

“My new job has broadened my production management skills more so than as an AIMD Officer, and will make me a more effective maintenance officer,” he said.