Photo By Samantha Morse | Chris Smith, left, airframes mechanic, and Todd Baker, right, H-1 production...... read more read more
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION CHERRY POINT, N.C. – Fleet Readiness Center East (FRCE) leads the way with an enterprise-wide electronic work order (EWO) initiative set to streamline the aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul documentation and inspection processes across Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers (COMFRC).
After seven months of development, FRCE became the first Fleet Readiness Center to go live with the system Jan. 14 upon induction of an UH-1Y Venom at the depot’s detachment onboard Marine Corps Air Station New River in Jacksonville.
The system serves as a central digital repository that stores detailed work documentation. It organizes each step of the maintenance, repair and overhaul process, providing easy access to aircraft maintenance inspection plans and instructions all in one place. Every task, operation and process performed at the depot has an associated work order that artisans use as a guide while maintaining aircraft.
Business support specialist Wesley Crocker, who also serves as the electronic work package manager and Enterprise Functional Group quality subject matter expert, said the system will make the depot’s operations more efficient.
“The work orders the artisans use when maintaining aircraft are all on paper,” said Crocker. “What we have now is a digital version of the work orders within a program that is easily accessible, has a convenient search function, and houses inspection plans and quality call points. It’s making operations more sustainable and efficient.”
While at FRCE, aircraft undergo many quality inspections to ensure they meet the highest safety and performance standards. Each aircraft platform has designated stages within the maintenance process that require inspections. These inspection stages, known as quality call points, are identified by a physical stamp on the work order. Cylest Ebron, Enterprise Functional Group lead, said the EWO program makes quality inspections more consistent and trackable.
“The printed out paper work orders would often have all sorts of handwritten marks, stamps and tabs stuck all over it, which can be confusing,” said Ebron. “Our engineers and quality personnel have gone through and added every quality call point into the system, 394 to be exact, and they are more detailed than they ever were on the paper version. There’s even a notes section that allows us to pass information from one shift to the next, which is so helpful because there isn’t a dedicated area for notes on the paper work orders.”
Crocker emphasized that the EWO system will save a substantial amount of money and increase efficiency.
“To give you an idea of how much paper we were using, the equipment specialists, engineers and quality personnel worked together to convert 114 maintenance procedures from paper to digital for the electronic work order system for the AH-1Z and UH-1Y aircraft,” said Crocker. “Each maintenance procedure can contain up to 100 operations, all of which were previously printed out on work orders. It roughly saves about 1,000 pieces of paper per induction. Once we get the system fully implemented for each aircraft platform we service, we will be saving about 75,000 pieces of paper per year.”
Eric Macey, AH-1Z and UH-1Y work lead at the depot’s New River detachment, said having every work order and instruction organized into a central location within the digital environment has been beneficial.
“I was having to track anywhere between 1,200 to 1,500 paper work orders at any given time to make sure everything gets done as we move from one phase to another,” said Macey. “Tracking that many work orders is never easy, especially when they are often moved or passed from person to person. The electronic system makes it all very simple for me to just go in there and flag anything that has not been completed yet. We don’t have to worry about losing anything, missing steps or getting oil or other substances on the paperwork while performing maintenance.”
Macey said the system is saving artisans time by streamlining processes, improving functionality and increasing capabilities.
“Artisans were having to sign off on the paper work orders three to four times for documentation purposes,” said Macey. “Now, they can go in and electrically stamp it one time and it’s done. Not only that, but we also no longer waste time searching through different binders, folders and workspaces for work orders or other documents. It’s all right there in the system. No more waiting for new documents. No more delays.”
Crocker said the program’s search function saves a significant amount of time in situations where specific information from past maintenance events needs to be recalled.
“Let’s say someone in calibration discovers a torque wrench is out of tolerance; we would go through the work orders and find every single aircraft, component or part that wrench has touched,” said Crocker. “Without electronic work orders, this could take months.
“Whereas now, with the electronic work order system, we could just type in that torque wrench number into the database and within seconds, the system would show us everything it has been used on,” he continued. “It will save time and manpower and allow us to get a message out to the fleet immediately, if needed.”
Crocker said even if network connectivity is disrupted, the content stored in the EWO system is still available for usage.
“Another great thing about this program is, if for some reason the system goes down, we can still go in and print a report off that has all the information we need to continue operations,” said Crocker. “We’re not losing anything. Even if we can’t work in the system, we will still have the paper that says what has been done and by whom, and what still needs to be done before we can get an aircraft back to the fleet.”
FRCE engineers, compliance and quality personnel and production employees have been working together to convert work orders for each aircraft platform serviced by the depot into the EWO system since early 2024, with plans to be fully implemented by the end of fiscal year 2026, according to Crocker.
“The electronic work order system has been live in the components world at FRC East for about five years now,” said Crocker. “Aircraft are a completely different animal, though. It’s a much larger task with more moving parts than components. For us to have converted two separate aircraft platforms into the system within a seven-month time frame is almost unheard of. There have been instances where it’s taken seven months to convert a single component.”
The EWO initiative is in the process of being established across COMFRC’s three largest aircraft maintenance depots: FRCE, FRC Southeast and FRC Southwest. Crocker said though FRCE was the first to go live with the system, the three depots have been collaborating throughout its development.
“Each depot is developing its own maintenance procedures and quality inspection plans that coordinate with the platforms we service, since we don’t all service the same aircraft,” said Crocker. “We have been working together, meeting weekly to bounce ideas off each other, share insights, and come up with solutions. It’s been very beneficial because we’ve been able to help the other depots, and they’ve been able to help us.”
Crocker said the implementation of this system is not only going to benefit FRCE’s operations, but also the fleet.
As a former Marine, I understand the critical importance of having quality, combat-ready aircraft,” said Crocker. “This system will help us maintain that standard for the fleet. It not only increases accountability but also makes everything trackable, which is exactly what we need.”
FRCE is North Carolina's largest maintenance, repair, overhaul and technical services provider, with more than 4,000 civilian, military and contract workers. Its annual revenue exceeds $1 billion. The depot provides service to the fleet while functioning as an integral part of the greater U.S. Navy; Naval Air Systems Command; and Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.24.2025 07:18 |
| Story ID: | 493542 |
| Location: | CHERRY POINT, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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