HOLLOMAN AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. –
Imagine needing to go to an auto store for a car part and being told that part is in another shop miles away. This scenario used to happen frequently here for aircraft maintainers needing aircraft parts to keep essential training missions going for F-16 Viper pilots.
Maintainers from the 311th and 314th Fighter Squadrons used to go back and forth from the flight line to the central warehouse to pick up parts. This helps to reduce the time it takes to pick up parts needed to make timely repairs.
Over the past six months, the 49th LRS has been transferring parts from the central warehouse to warehouse five, because warehouse five stores all of the parts needed to keep both the 311th and 314th FS flying.
The transfer has resulted in 1,200 parts being moved to warehouse five, with an expected 300 more being transferred from central storage. These parts in total are valued at over one million dollars.
“We have a lot of our parts at the central warehouse and us being able to transfer these parts really helps both us and the maintainers,” said U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. O'Shea Stankus, 49th LRS aircraft parts store supervisor. “Since we’re closer to their operations we are creating better access to the 311th and 314th FS maintainers.”
Although Airmen from warehouse five have played a significant role in this process, the central warehouse Airmen also have had a major role. They have to go through all of the application codes they have there and gather the ones that belong to warehouse five.
“Months ago we pulled the M14, which is the directory of all the stock numbers on base, and we began to filter them by parts,” said U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joinell Reid, 49th LRS central warehouse technician. “At the beginning of the process, we had about 1,600 parts for the F-16s in our warehouse, now we have about 300 left.”
With the finishing of this transfer, maintainers from the 311th and 314th FS don’t have to go to the central warehouse to pick up the parts necessary to keep the flying mission of Holloman going.
“I used to work with the maintainers and sometimes they couldn’t make it over to the central warehouse for parts,” said Reid. “This whole process increases efficiency making it easier for everyone by decreasing our inventory and making our warehouse more organized.”