By Vicky Falcón
NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

A new method to monitor the utilization of Automated Test Equipment (ATE) via the use of control charts and a new method for forecasting future ATE requirements at the NAVAIR Support Equipment (SE) and Aircraft, Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) Department (AIR-4.8) Cherry Point will save more than $1.2 million over the next five years.

These methods were created through a recent NAVAIR 4.8 AIRSpeed project and have the potential to save millions more if they are replicated throughout the Naval Aviation Enterprise. This project was initiated as a result of an increased emphasis by the AIR-4.8 SE & ALRE to vigorously pursue AIRSpeed projects that were beneficial to the National Organization and Naval Aviation Enterprise.

ATE is used throughout the Navy to test and repair avionics. ATE stations are vital in keeping aircraft ready for tasking. Two of the main types of ATE used in AIR-4.8 SE & ALRE Department throughout NAVAIR, are the Hybrid Test Stations (HTS) and the Consolidated Automated Support Systems (CASS).

These ATE stations are used by the AIR-4.8 engineering staff at Cherry Point, N.C. in support of sustaining existing fleet avionics test software. In addition, the ATE is used to develop new test software and is also used during the acquisition of new software that is developed commercially for the AV-8B Harrier, the V-22 Osprey and the H-60 helicopter.

Though the ATE stations perform essential functions, they can be very expensive to operate – costing $1.3 million per year through maintenance, contracts, parts and depreciation expenses at Cherry Point.

“ATE costs at Cherry Point have been excessive for well over three years,” said Joe Kaufmann, a NAVAIR 4.8 Black Belt since June 2005. “These overhead expenses directly impact engineering labor rates, which have also continued to rise over the past three years.” Not only are the stations costing more and more money, but they were taking up a lot of valuable space.

In an effort to reduce the overall costs of ATE, Kaufmann led a team of AIR-4.8 employees from Cherry Point in an AIRSpeed project called the Support Systems Department Automated Test Station Optimization Initiative. This project looked at the processes and methods associated with ATE.

“Our goal was to reduce overall ATE costs by 25%,” said Kaufmann. However, from a voice of the customer perspective, it was vital that cost saving approaches did not adversely affect support to the fleet or the development efforts underway.

Before any new procedures could be developed, the team needed to gather metrics. The first phase of the project was to gather data. Since no data was available to conduct an assessment, the team spent more than five months recording actual ATE usage and usage requirements.

Brantley Garner is the AIR-4.8 Cherry Point Site Lead for SE & ALRE. He was also the project sponsor.

“We were able to identify how many hours per day we were using the stations and the platforms we were working on,” he said. “Based on the metrics gathered and historical data, we were able to develop a new forecasting tool.”

The forecasting tool, which will help predict future station requirements, is based on Test Program Set maturity and workload curves. The tool is in the process of being formalized now and training is being conducted.

The data that resulted from the team’s efforts confirmed the stations were being under-utilized. That same data allowed them to reduce the number of ATE stations from 13 to nine.

“We felt from the beginning that the systems were under-utilized, but since there was no usage data or any reliable way of predicting future requirements we didn’t have any real way of determining how much excess existed,” said Kaufmann.

The team’s initial assumption of station usage, though, still proved incorrect. Prior to the data collection they had assumed CASS usage was at 65%, however, the accumulated data actually showed CASS usage at only 27%.

With these metrics in mind, the team determined which stations could be removed based on current and future needs. Lab space requirements were reduced and ultimately (later this year) the two ATE labs utilized by the AIR-4.8 engineering staff at Cherry Point will be consolidated in one ATE lab. Management tools and new processes were created to help balance the ATE stations utilization, monitor their usage, and help ensure future requirements were met without impacting the customer.

By eliminating four ATE stations, the team created Type II savings of $1.283 million over the next five years. Type II savings are actually waste elimination where assets/resources are freed up to be reassigned to other value-added work and/or potential future savings.

Since the ATE costs were built into the overhead rates, Kaufmann is hopeful his team’s work will ultimately lower man-year rates for the AIR-4.8 department.

“The group did a really good job identifying the types of stations that will be needed in the out-years,” said Garner. “They have made a huge impact and we will continue to improve our service to the Fleet as we identify and understand what our real requirements are as we move into the future.”

With ATE stations currently used by AIR-4.8 engineers at Lakehurst, N.J., Pax River, Md., Cherry Point, N.C., Jacksonville, Fl., Point Magu and North Island, Calif., the replication potential of this project is very exciting. The AIR-4.8 department is currently working on the replication of this and other AIRSpeed projects with the hopes of saving millions more for NAVAIR and the Naval Aviation Enterprise.

For more information about NAVAIR AIRSpeed, go to http://www.navair.navy.mil/navairairspeed/.