Many people within Air Force Materiel Command associate toolboxes with maintenance-oriented jobs. However, with the renewed emphasis on continuous improvement, more people are turning to their “Lean” toolbox.

This toolbox contains various Lean improvement tools that are part of Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. AFSO21, as it is more commonly known, is an overarching strategy to improve how the Air Force accomplishes daily tasks. Its goal is to make processes more standardized, effective and efficient. 

The Vibration Monitoring and Analysis industry has tremendous applications given the developments in other mechanical and electro-mechanical industries that subsequently require better testing and condition monitoring systems. Hence, there is a need to develop more advanced vibration monitoring tools that are cost-effective and more efficient, adapting to the changes in these other industries, both generic and specific.

Company hopes its efficiency and expertise will help it attract its rivals as clients for its work

By Mark Skertic
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 25, 2006

TULSA—A little more than year ago, when Carmine Romano wanted to add workers or take them off a line at American Airlines’ aircraft maintenance base in Tulsa, he ordered it and it was done. As vice president of the base, those decisions were his alone.

But not anymore.

“I tried to run the business effectively, and he’d come in and chew my butt,” Romano said, pointing to union president Dennis Burchette sitting next to him.

Burchette’s response? “He’d make a business decision without taking into effect the people and things I was dealing with.”

It was the classic management-labor conflict at the world’s largest commercial carrier, played out with grievances, complaints and bad feelings simmering on both sides.

That has changed during the last year as management and labor have found a new reason to work together: American Airlines’ plan to turn its maintenance facilities into profit centers.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

Multiple Enhancements Along with a New Material Management Module Extend Value of Configuration-Driven MRO for Organizations Maintaining High Value Capital Equipment

PLANO, Texas and LONDON – UGS Corp., a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced the latest release of Teamcenter for MRO, the set of Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) capabilities within the UGS Teamcenter solution, the world’s most widely used PLM software portfolio.