IDEAs are more than just money

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jacob Morgan
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  His ingenuity has saved the Air Force more than $650,000. He has improved multiple processes, saving employees' hours of work. He has also written technical orders, improving quality of work and job safety throughout the AF. His name is Larry Phillips, a 36-year veteran maintainer of the TF-39 engines used for the C-5 Galaxy, and jet engine module repair shop supervisor with the 436th Maintenance Squadron.

He has served in almost every capacity in the spectrum that encases the word Airman: ¬ active duty, air-reserve technician and civil service. Phillips has worked in four different areas; the isochronal dock, on the flightline with the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, the engine regional repair center and the jet engine module repair shop.

In 2005, he was awarded the Air Force Exceptional Innovator of the Year award for the four Innovative Development through Employee Awareness (IDEA) submissions he made. While most people would be more than happy with the recognition received for those submissions, Phillips kept looking for ways to improve the engine-repair process.

Phillips received another award in the amount of $10,000 for an IDEA submission Oct. 6, 2011, from Col. Mark Camerer, commander of the 436th Airlift Wing in a ceremony at the jet-engine-module-repair shop.

By submitting IDEAs to improve the repair process of TF-39 engines and encouraging others to do the same; Phillips not only receives money, but the peace of mind that those who serve with him will be using an improved and safer process.

"I don't submit IDEAs for the money," said Phillips. "I do it because we don't need an engine disconnecting from a wing because we missed something in inspection. I do it to make everyone associated with aircraft maintenance's job easier."

His latest submission followed the lines of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. In the engine, there are two sections of stationary pieces holding steel-bladed fans. On these stationary pieces, there are specially designed seals protecting the metal called abradable seals. The seals prevent damage from when the fan shifts or the blades expand.

The technical order written for inspecting and repairing the abradable seal did not directly address one part of the stationary piece holding the fan. Because of this, an engine at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., was removed from the plane and completely stripped down and repaired. This operation took five workers 35 days to repair, said Phillips.

Phillip's submission revised the technical order, streamlining the process for repairing the abradable seal. Now, the engine can be repaired on the flightline in one to two hours.

"It costs $3.5 million to take down and repair a TF-39 engine," said Phillips. "If we can avoid the costs of taking down an engine by adding a couple steps to a technical order, why wouldn't we?"

As shop supervisor, he encourages and motivates all of his members to look and notice processes around them, and try to make them better.

"I encourage the IDEA process," said Phillips. "If they see it's not in the technical order, and they think it should be there, then write it down, make it better for the next guy."

On the same day Phillips received his latest award for his IDEA; Tech. Sgt. Matthew Bradley, NCO in charge of the jet-engine-module-repair shop with the 436th MXS won an award worth more than $5,000. He was recognized for improving a process that prevents corrosion on weld spots. Previously, the welds were sanded every year. Now with the new process, they are sanded once, and coated with a new material, which will keep them from ever corroding. This IDEA is expected to save the 436th MXS more than $60,000 a year.

"After this award, I'll keep looking for processes to be fixed," said Bradley.

Overall, Phillips has won more than $40,000 in award money for his IDEA submissions. With submissions still pending, the amount of money the Air Force has saved from the IDEAs of Phillips and his staff will likely be many times more.

"It is critical that we save every nickel in our process," said Phillips. "Don't get frustrated with the IDEA process, it can take a while; it's not about the money."