Photo By Master Sgt. Steph Sawyer | (From left to right) SynapseMX CEO, Shane Ballman, SynapseMX program and project...... read more read more
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PORTLAND, Ore.--The 142nd Wing stands at the threshold of a transformative era. In late March, Justin Tims, National Guard Bureau/A4, aircraft policy manager, visited the wing and presented an innovation poised to revolutionize maintenance operations across the Air National Guard (ANG) to leaders of the 142nd Maintenance Group. EQuAD (Enhanced Quality Assurance Development) software aims to overhaul aircraft maintenance quality assurance (QA) by streamlining workflows, enhancing efficiency, and bolstering the ANG’s mission to maintain a premiere fighting force.
The concept of EQuAD came as an answer to several issues aircraft maintenance quality assurance professionals across the Guard have been facing for years, including Tims, who previously worked in QA at the 164th Airlift Wing in Memphis, Tennessee.
Many of these issues stem from software which all of the Air Force is mandated to use. This software is known as LEAP (Logistics Evaluation Assurance Program) and was initially developed for supply QA, then converted so maintenance could also use it. LEAP has proven, however, not to be the ideal platform for the purposes of maintenance QA, Tims explained.
“Because you have all these different flying wings, and unlike logistics where they’re doing maybe four or five inspections a month, maintenance is doing tens of thousands, so it really bogs down the system,” said Tims.
In addition to dealing with a lagging system and rolling blackouts, LEAP also makes it difficult for users to aggregate and analyze data. The program lacks the internal mechanisms for generating reports. Because of this, users must export raw data and run analytics, an arduous and time-consuming task, and one that requires a specific skill set.
“It’s very cumbersome, very technical,” explained Tims.
Another known issue with LEAP is that it’s possible, even probable, that data can be skewed. For example, if one unit is using a line item that is capitalized, and another unit is using a line item that is the same thing, but isn’t capitalized, data is going to be off because those two things don’t correlate in the system.
This presents a big problem when leadership is trying to make decisions based on the data that is pulled from this system.
“I want to use resources the best I can…the best way to do that is to look at data,” said Tims. “But [with] the limitations on the system, you’re really making guesses because the data is just not good.”
The idea for EQuAD came about as a result of Tims’ want for a solution to the problems LEAP presented, and making a connection to SynapseMX through Chief Master Sgt. Powell Crider, then with AFWERX, in 2021.
AFWERX is the innovation arm for the Department of the Air Force (DAF). As such, its goal is to seek out solutions to some of the biggest challenges the DAF is facing through technological advances and innovations from small businesses and start-ups.
SynapseMX was founded by its CEO, Shane Ballman in 2015 to solve issues with commercial airline maintenance. Powell had heard about some programs that Ballman was working on and thought they had the potential to work for QA purposes in aircraft maintenance.
Tims has been working with SynapseMX to develop EQuAD, a solution to the ANG’s aircraft maintenance QA challenges, for 9 months.
EQuAD aims to be easy and intuitive to access and use. One of the program’s key concepts, explained by SynapseMX program and project manager, Jacqueline Hoffman, is to make it possible for maintainers to access the platform and enter data while they’re on the flight line, in front of an aircraft.
“One of the big themes is around data governance and ensuring that the data being collected is consistently being collected out in the field,” explained Hoffman. “What that will do is give visibility to the process for the commanders, for the chiefs, for the supervisors to be able to make rapid decisions.”
The EQuAD system is designed to be used on a phone, tablet, or desktop. For gathering sensitive information, there’s a checkpoint for supervisors to review and approve inputs for release on the platform.
In the vein of better enabling leadership to make well informed decisions, EQuAD has the ability to run analytics for users, reducing the possibility of human error and time spent on the platform, allowing maintainers to focus on doing their jobs, and supervising and training their Airmen.
“I think a lot of MAJCOMS (Major Commands) see the benefit of what we’re trying to do,” said Tims. “We’re building something very Guard centric, but if that ends up being something other MAJCOMS want to use, I think we will definitely be able to go that route as well.”
Tims and his team plan to have a minimal viable product available by July of this year. The product will then roll out to three test units: the 142nd Wing in Portland, Oregon, the 165th Airlift Wing in Savannah, Georgia, and the 134th Air Refueling Wing in Knoxville, Tennessee.
These three units will run EQuAD and LEAP simultaneously while in the testing phase. The goal is to fully implement EQuAD at these three units by the next calendar year, and by 2027, change the policy for the entire ANG and implement the program at all flying units.
Tims emphasized that at the heart of the project is the goal to enhance the ANG’s mission capabilities and efficiency through a more supportive and conducive platform.
“That’s what this project is,” said Tims. “To get us a lot more lethal, a lot more agile, to use that big data that we have in a way that’s understandable [so] commanders can make these data-driven decisions.”
| Date Taken: | 04.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.21.2025 12:29 |
| Story ID: | 495762 |
| Location: | PORTLAND AIR GUARD STATION, OREGON, US |
| Web Views: | 31 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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