Providing Product Support to U.S. Military Aircraft Operations

Challenge

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps were facing an array of challenges to their effective support of aircraft operations. One of the more persistent challenges involved sustainment of aircraft throughout the entire service lifecycle.

The U.S. Department of Defense refers to this as "product support," which covers maintenance, labor, training, technical data, and other supply support and logistics elements. Historically, product support stakeholders have often viewed supply support issues such as backorders as indicative of a fractured supply chain. This can result in over-reliance on supply support without understanding the underlying issues affecting aircraft sustainment. The problem is frequently compounded when undetected product support gaps linger for several years, unbeknownst to the supply chain.  

Approach

We assessed the underlying causes of performance gaps residing outside of the supply chain using our Weapon System Product Support Assessment methodology and comprehensive understanding of the interface between component design, operations, repair, and procurement. As users identified parts shortages, our team conducted a forensic analysis of business process flows across operations and such product support areas as supply, maintenance, and engineering. This methodology placed special emphasis on maintenance and repair to assess underlying issues impacting the supply chain, such as accelerated mechanical/electrical failure, process deviation, design flaws, training deficiencies, and gaps in technical data. Our comprehensive understanding of the interface between component design, operations, repair, procurement, etc., allows us to deliver impactful solutions. We then orchestrated corrective action across the full product support spectrum.

Impact

We produced verified improvements to U.S. aircraft readiness and affordability by identifying root causes and creating corresponding solutions that:

• Extend aircraft component life
• Reduce aircraft component repair time
• Minimize supply chain disruptions
• Optimize wholesale and retail inventory levels
• Reduce sustainment costs