Date of Award

3-14-2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Department

Department of Operational Sciences

First Advisor

Alan W. Johnson, PhD.

Abstract

The Air Force faces significant fiscal challenges in the coming years. The aircraft maintenance depot activities at Ogden ALC, Oklahoma City ALC and Warner-Robins ALC face complex operating environments due to the diversity of aircraft or mission design series (MDS) maintained by each depot and the variability of maintenance requirements for each MDS. Further complicating their operations is the variability of maintenance actions required from one aircraft to another within each MDS and a highly specialized workforce that has inherent inflexibility to compensate for the workload variability. Air Force Materiel Command is reviewing maintenance personnel multi-skilling as a method to efficiently absorb the variability of workload and maintenance requirements between aircraft. This research conducts an objective analysis of the F-22 Heavy Maintenance Modification Program by building a discrete event simulation in ARENA 14? and performing a series of designed experiments. The study analyzes whether using a multi-skilled (flexible) workforce will have an impact on productivity of depot maintenance personnel through simulation of several multi-skilling policies. The research shows that multi-skilling policies can significantly outperform overtime-based production timelines at less cost, even if individual skill proficiencies decline.

AFIT Designator

AFIT-ENS-14-M-28

DTIC Accession Number

ADA600918

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