A.9.3. Flow. A cross organizational Integrated Process Team (IPT) was tasked to define the
process flow and identify the constraints impeding the flow of the PCRs through the process
machine. The team established Road-to-Goals, gates and sub-gates, defined daily production
and stretch goals, and used constraints based management to increase the process flow. Gates
were defined as Gate 1, New PCR Acceptance, Gate 2, Lead Editor Technical Manual
Information System (TMIS)/Contenta TO Prep/Research, Gate 3, AFLCMC Robins-Integrated
Data for Maintenance (IDM) Prep, Gate 4, Robins-IDM Import, Gate 5, Editing Operations,
Gate 6, ES Pre-Pub Review, and Gate 7 as the Completed Output. The challenges encountered
during the development of the TO Process Machine included initially establishing too many
gates for evaluation and the lack of an automated information tool to extract concise data
points. Lessons learned were to consolidate gates where possible and establish an assertive
automated process to obtain accurate data for each defined gate.
A.9.4. WIP. Through AoP principles and utilizing Little’s Law, the 406 SCMS/GUEE team
was able to identify the 930 AFTO Form 252s across the machine to capture the WIP. There
were set entry/exit criteria for each gate, which ensured accurate transfer of work from one
gate to the next. A collaboration between the TO Manager, Editor, and ES utilizing various
products (AFTO Form 252s, TOs) and tools (Enhanced Technical Information Management
System (ETIMS), TMIS, and Robins-IDM) allowed for a better process flow and ensured that
no gate contained more WIP than necessary.
A.9.5. Constraint Identification. Over the lifecycle of the 406 SCMS/GUEE’s AoP wall walk,
there were three constraints identified. The first constraint encountered was a significant
increase of AFTO Form 252s flowing into Gate 2, Team Lead Technical Manual Information
System (TMIS)/Contenta TO Prep/Research, exceeding the throughput capacity to the next TO
process gate. Once solved, the team found the next constraint to be Gate 3, AFLCMC Robins-
IDM Prep, who fell short in supplying a required amount of TOs, starving the process machine.
Finally, the 406 SCMS/GUEE team discovered that Gate 6, ES Pre-Pub Review, had no
internal TO review process timelines, triggering a delay in the finalization and TO distribution.
A.9.6. Constraint Resolution. An assembled TO team conjointly resolved Gate 2’s constraint
within a one-week timeframe by swiftly executing/transferring workload to the next gate. To
resolve Gate 3’s constraint, the TO team partnered with AFLCMC/LZP at Robins setting an
aggressive delivery schedule. In addition, because the 406 SCMS/GUEE team was able to
quantify and present their issues, Robins was able to bring on additional contract resources to
sufficiently feed the TO Process Machine and meet delivery demands. Gate 6’s constraint
resolution involved an internal/external assessment on the Pre-Pub Review process driving a
leadership directed policy to enhance the response time from the ES community.
A.9.6.1. Results. Utilizing the AoP tools, a TO backlog surge downsized from 930 to 226
PCRs, equating to a 76% decrease in total backlog in 10 months. This implementation
improved the overall catchup timeline by one year. In addition, an external agency turn time
improved from 21 days to 8 days, improving monthly output from 100 PCRs to 230 PCRs per
month. These combined efforts provided a result remedying a projected long term backlog.
The current steady state management of the machine is allowing the team to control the amount
of output despite fluctuations of machine input. The team is now postured to embrace and