From Shipwrecks penultimate post on the A-10C
"The program is being pushed on a fast track. You start to do the modifications as you go and you don't have time to sit there and flow out how to best lay it out, so you get a couple of airplanes under your belt and then make changes as you go. It's part of continuous process improvement -- we're always looking for ways to do things better."
As with many new and accelerated programs, there were challenges with parts supportability from vendors as well as maintenance procedures.
To my mind this means aircraft at various modification states going out into the Hog community that will only have to recycle them back so that the earliest ones can be sensibly brought to a common standard. For a while the receiving units will be at sixes and sevens. Are we sure this is better than pushing them out identically modified from the outset?
To add to the challenges, the A-10s lost six production docks to another workload. Additionally, nearly 100 new technicians hired over the past year needed training.
"Our squadron almost doubled in size with the addition of this modification," said Mr. Hoffman. "We had a lot of new people who had never worked in the aircraft business before, so the training curve was pretty steep. A lot of them still have less than a year at the center and they're still learning the weapon system."
Nothing like working with one arm tied behind you and blindfolded! This sounds like a recipe for confusion and with a high potential for mistakes.
"The program is being pushed on a fast track. You start to do the modifications as you go and you don't have time to sit there and flow out how to best lay it out, so you get a couple of airplanes under your belt and then make changes as you go. It's part of continuous process improvement -- we're always looking for ways to do things better."
As with many new and accelerated programs, there were challenges with parts supportability from vendors as well as maintenance procedures.
To my mind this means aircraft at various modification states going out into the Hog community that will only have to recycle them back so that the earliest ones can be sensibly brought to a common standard. For a while the receiving units will be at sixes and sevens. Are we sure this is better than pushing them out identically modified from the outset?
To add to the challenges, the A-10s lost six production docks to another workload. Additionally, nearly 100 new technicians hired over the past year needed training.
"Our squadron almost doubled in size with the addition of this modification," said Mr. Hoffman. "We had a lot of new people who had never worked in the aircraft business before, so the training curve was pretty steep. A lot of them still have less than a year at the center and they're still learning the weapon system."
Nothing like working with one arm tied behind you and blindfolded! This sounds like a recipe for confusion and with a high potential for mistakes.
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