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Moody's component maintenance squadron aims to raise bar

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Snider
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs

The 23rd Component Maintenance Squadron began assessing ways to better support the A-10C Thunderbolt II’s increased flying mission Jan. 23 through 27.

Representatives from Air Combat Command at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, traveled to Moody AFB to participate in the continuous process improvement event.

The goal was to decrease the scheduled 28 days it currently takes to disassemble, repair and reassemble the TF-34 engine used in A-10s by at least two days.

“Being able to make improvements and capture these efficiencies will have a huge impact on the Air Force,” said Master Sgt. Matthew Price, 23rd CMS aerospace propulsion craftsman and team leader of the overhaul event. “We’re ... taking the opportunity to reassess what we’re doing and see if we can do it [even] better.”

Maj. Michael Irwin, 23rd CMS commander, said he tasked Price with gathering the best and brightest Airmen he had available. Approximately 20 civilians and Airmen from almost every enlisted rank gathered in a conference room to brainstorm new ideas.

“The younger minds in this room have a different way of looking at things and like my dad used to always say, ‘there’s more than one way to skin a cat,’” Irwin said. “So, we’re looking for that [new] way.”

Newer processes to maintain the A-10s have continuously been implemented over the years from past CPIs.

“This is a follow-up to a [CPI] event we did in early 2013,” Irwin said. “To this day, I think we’re still seeing some of the benefit from that event on our line.”

While Price said Moody’s maintenance team is already top tier, that doesn’t deter him from believing his Airmen can make the process better by finding quicker and more efficient methods of conducting business.

“We want to seize the opportunity to reduce the overall flow time, and I think we’re going to be able to do that easily so this could have a significant impact,” Price said.