The Effects of Employing HVM on C-130 Aircraft at WR-ALC to Aircraft Availability

The objective of this research is to evaluate the impact of increasing the labor burn rate, one of the High Velocity Maintenance (HVM) core tenets, and the transition of isochronal aircraft inspections from the field to the depots under the Single Maintenance Concept. This study focuses on depot maintenance data from WR-ALC for AFSOC C-130 aircraft to evaluate HVM effectiveness to improve the on-time delivery rate and increase aircraft availability rates for commanders in the field. Additionally, this project will discuss commercial industry best practices that best achieve higher labor burn rates and the challenges of implementing these practices into the traditional depot maintenance process. In order to quantitatively assess the potential effects of HVM on depot production, this project examines WR-ALC C-130 depot maintenance data from July 2007 to May 2011, and interviews WR-ALC depot personnel in the HVM office and 560 AMXS. During the interviews the full catalog of HVM briefings were also reviewed extending to the inception of the HVM's program at WR-ALC. Moreover, this study utilized a field questionnaire to gather the average aircraft down-days in relation to depot-prep, post-depot, isochronal inspections, and home station checks. With the depot maintenance data and assistance from the WR-ALC and field Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) the labor burn rate tenet and Single Maintenance Concept of HVM are evaluated to assess the effect on reducing C-130 aircraft production flow days, improving on-time aircraft delivery rates, and increasing aircraft availability.