Fairchild Airmen enhance deployment line, save countless man hours

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Whitney Laine
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. --  As the world modernizes around us, a culture of innovation has swept through the Air Force, encouraging Airmen to enhance nearly every part of our mission. That culture is no different at Fairchild, where a dedicated team of Airmen found ways to save both manpower and time.

Newly implemented Weigh-In-Motion scales expedite cargo deployment functions with a more accurate and efficient process, as part of Team Fairchild’s Continuous Process Improvement efforts.

The need to replace the previously used portable weighing scales became clear to the CPI team after observing logistical delays due to the difficulty in weighing and balancing each cargo shipment.

“Previously, time and manpower were consumed by the tedious tasks of rolling and balancing each item onto individual scales, to then measure dimensions and calculate the center of balance,” said Staff Sgt. Mason Cudd, 92nd Logistics Readiness Squadron small air terminal journeyman.

Now, the WIM scale saves countless hours by collecting necessary data all at once through an advanced system of sensors, dynamic measurement system and data archiving, to name a few. What once required up to four Airmen, now only requires two.

The CPI team is comprised of members from the 92nd Medical Group, 92nd Maintenance Group, 92nd Operations Group and 92nd Mission Support Group, who came together to develop innovations for the CDF line.

“During the CPI meeting, we identified items that created deficiencies in the CDF line” said Tech. Sgt. Eric Reising, 92nd LRS small air terminal NCO in-charge. “Having representatives from the involved areas provided expertise from their fields to improve each moving piece.”

The team found multiple ways to improve the CDF line, including the acquisition of the new scales. This innovation reduces the entire process to be as simple as driving over a plate in the ground to display the weight, dimensions and center of balance in one step.

The efforts of the innovative Airmen within the CPI initiative are linked to important solutions by finding and refining deficient procedures for safety, efficiency and cost savings.