Sergeant improves process, saves time

Published Aug. 4, 2008
By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Arredondo
437th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. -- An Airman with the 437th Maintenance Squadron Wheel and Tire Shop has helped save man-hours with a better way of cleaning C-17 nose-wheel bolts that need to be inspected.

Tech. Sgt. Eddie Melendez, 437 MXS Wheel and Tire Shop aircraft maintenance craftsman, realized Airmen at the wheel and tire shop were spending too many hours cleaning and preparing the nose bolts to be inspected by the 437 MXS Non-Destructive Inspection Shop.

Airmen at the wheel and tire shop have more than 450 bolts on a weekly basis to be inspected by NDI, usually. To get them ready for inspection, anti-seize graphite has to be removed from the bolts. Anti-seize graphite is a compound that keeps the bolts from seizing up when nuts are screwed on to a bolt.

Before the new process was introduced, the bolts would have to soak in a parts cleaning tank for 60 minutes. After that, 10 minutes would be spent manually cleaning with a wire brush to remove remaining anti-seize from the threads of one set of bolts, or 12 bolts.

In total, the Airmen manually clean about 1,260 bolts, spend more than 200 hours a year cleaning and more than 105 hours waiting for the bolts to be cleaned in the parts washers.

"Our objective was to increase the efficiency of cleaning the bolts," Sergeant Melendez said.

To add to the time spent on cleaning the bolts, if the bolts were not entirely cleaned after being sent to NDI, they could be sent back to the wheel and tire shop for additional cleaning, which would add to the time spent on a set of bolts.

To help with decreasing the time spent on cleaning a set of bolts, Sergeant Melendez devised a way of speeding up the process by using a powered cleaning device to help in cleaning the bolts more efficiently.

Sergeant Melendez decided the best way to create such an item was to use materials readily available and fabricate tools that could help with the process. A powered drill was purchased along with a bolt cleaner that is cylindrical with soft bristles in the middle. He also asked the 437 MXS Fabrication Shop to make a jig, or small platform, with 12 holes and sockets to safely secure the bolts for cleaning.

With items purchased and made, the Airmen now just need to brush off the anti-seize with the bolt cleaner without having to deal with the parts cleaner, and taking less time to do it.

With the new tool and jig, it now takes 1:15 to clean a set of bolts. Because of the thorough cleaning the bolts now receive, it has also cut back on the amount bolts that are returned from NDI due to not be clean enough.

"We set out with one goal in mind: take one task that was both difficult and time-consuming and improve it," Sergeant Melendez said. "What we found was a better way of doing the same job in less time and more efficiently."

Because of the introduction of the new process for cleaning the nose-wheel bolts, one Airman thinks the new process is a great improvement.

"The old process just took so long and it required more than one person to get the bolts cleaned in a reasonable time," said Airman 1st Class Quinton Valentine, 437 MXS Wheel and Tire Shop crew chief. "With the new process, it has cut down the time dramatically. We don't have to use wire brushes and there is no solvent that has to be used."

Because of the change in the way the bolts are prepared for inspection and the affects it has had on Airmen, Tech. Sgt. Lamont Butler, 437 MXS Wheel and Tire Shop section chief, also sees how the improvement has affected the way Airmen are now looking at other areas for improvement.

"This trend has proven to be contagious," Sergeant Butler said. "The Airmen now actually see tangible results from thinking smarter. They are now looking at each shop-related task and brainstorming on how to improve it."