Organization Name/Program Name: Program Leader Name/ Position/Contact information , Phone

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1 Organization Name/Program Name: Program Leader Name/ Position/Contact information , Phone Program Category Program Background: What is this program all about? (No more than one page). Describe: The overarching need for this program History of the program The product that is created by this program Scope of work original & updated Expected deliverables Current status of the program The Boeing Company / Australian Super Hornet Sustainment Joe Veile / Global Services and Support International F/A- 18 Program Manager / joseph.r.veile@boeing.com / Murray Brabrook / Boeing Defence Australia General Manager Integrated Logistics / murray.a.brabrook@boeing.com / (Choose One) o System level Sustainment Throughout the last six years the Australian Super Hornet Team has established a complex sustainment capability in support of the rapid delivery of 24 Super Hornets to Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The Super Hornet acquisitions case was signed in May 2007 and aircraft deliveries to RAAF Base Amberley began in March 2010 and concluded in October The transition from a green field site to sustained aircraft operations within a three year period was challenging but was accomplished on time and within budget. In conjunction with our RAAF partner, the Team, consisting of Boeing s Global Services and Support - Super Hornet Sustainment Team based in the US and Boeing Defence Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Boeing Company, implemented a unique support solution for the Australian Super Hornets where the RAAF is an integrated part of the United States Navy (USN) support system. Integration of the RAAF and USN support systems, security challenges relating to technology release and export control associated with standing up the first International Super Hornet customer, created a very demanding environment. The unique relationship enabled the RAAF squadrons to be treated like two USN squadrons, a key cost and risk mitigation factor associated with the rapid acquisition and stand-up of the Super Hornet. Key considerations for the Commonwealth of Australia (CoA) were to integrate with the USN support infrastructure to meet financial objectives, comply with CoA regulations/policies and meet customer expectations. The result was the development of an agile and responsive support organization that was able to span multiple domains, stakeholders, and support environments to deliver a seamless product to the operational customer. The Boeing sustainment team works as an embedded element of the CoA Systems Program Office (SPO) and 1

2 I. VALUE CREATION = 20 POINTS shares responsibility for complete management of the Super Hornet Weapons System. This contemporary concept of a partnered support environment between Defense and Industry to manage all elements of support can only work through close collaboration, trust, and commitment to shared goals. Value: What is the value, competitive positioning, advantage, and return created by this program to your: Customers National interests, war fighter Company Strength, bottom line, and shareholders Scientific/technical value (particularly for R&D programs) Excellence and Uniqueness: What makes this program unique? Why should this program be awarded the Program Excellence Award? Customer As the integrator of sustainment services, the Boeing Team is responsible to the CoA for ensuring the delivery of operationally available aircraft to the warfighter. Achieving this aim while leveraging the USN support capability required the CoA and Boeing teams to be very closely aligned. An innovative approach has been adopted to reduce duplication and increase communications within the teams by co-locating and integrating the Government and Boeing personnel. The team is considered One Team and has a common vision, goals, and performance expectations within a joint management framework. The value to the customer is a streamlined support capability that minimizes duplication while providing the flexibility to apply the appropriate skills of industry, USN and the RAAF in a combined approach to meeting the readiness requirements of the fleet. Although this approach had some initial issues with responsibility alignment, the integrated One Team environment has now resulted in an efficient system that is exceeding operational requirements. Company The Super Hornet aircraft is the cornerstone of both USN tactical aviation and RAAF Air Defence and Offensive Strike capabilities. As the first international Super Hornet sale, the success of the Australian program is of critical importance to The Boeing Company. The smooth introduction and continued superior support of the Australia Super Hornet s operational capability will contribute to our ability to expand international Super Hornet sales. Scientific/Technical Value The value created with this program is the design and development of an innovative and integrated support model. The support model adopted requires contributions from many dispersed and disparate support capabilities. The Boeing Team needed to bring a diverse set of skills together to provide the breadth of coverage necessary to 2

3 integrate the support elements together to meet RAAF operational needs. Boeing was able to achieve this by utilizing the skills and experience of the: St Louis based team with experience in USN support F-111 Amberley team members with experience in the Australian support environment CoA teams members with a modern-minded view towards working in an integrated Industry/Gov team, and New recruits with carefully selected skill sets to fill the capability gaps. The integrated team was able to rapidly transition from F- 111 support by utilizing and modifying existing capabilities and processes to establish a certified and capable support system. Excellence and Uniqueness This support program is quite unique in that it is a combination of a vast number of support capabilities, from a full USN like Intermediate level maintenance operated by industry and endorsed under the CoA Airworthiness Regulatory environment to the seamless OEM and USN reach-back, joined together and integrated together by a combined Boeing and CoA support team. This approach was adopted to minimize support costs and ensure continued alignment with the USN fleet configuration. This efficiency comes with significant integration and coordination challenges as all parts of the system (many of which the management team does not have direct control over) must be aligned to meet the shared responsibility of ensuring operational fleet readiness. It became apparent very early in the support program that these challenges could only be solved through an integrated and flexible approach with a shared vision and goals. Not everything in such an approach can be documented in a contract, therefore the relationship relies on trust, execution excellence and open and honest communication at all times. It is for these reasons the program has achieved excellence meeting all customer requirements within an accelerated acquisition environment and a complex and innovative support model. III. ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES/BEST PRACTICES: (HOW DO YOU DO THINGS) = 30 POINTS Strategic: Opportunity Management - The fundamental premise of any opportunity within this program has been focused on ensuring the achievement of 3

4 Describe how your program has identified its operational and business opportunity, and manages this opportunity throughout the program s life cycle. the required level of operational availability and capability of the fleet. We share all potential candidates with our customers and the very first gate in considering any change is to determine whether it is in the best interest of the Australian Super Hornet capability. Strategic: Strategic Supply Chain Integration and Cost Effectiveness Management: - Describe how your program is integrating its supply chain to assure visibility and adapting long-term cost effectiveness up and down the supply chain. Strategic: Operational Integration and Systems Engineering Describe the challenges faced by your program in terms of integrating the system into its operational environment and its impact on systems engineering planning and management. Operational: Planning, Monitoring, and Controlling - Describe your planning and resource allocation processes. How do you monitor and review your program s progress and make corrections to keep the program on track? How have you worked with As a function of the support model, the Super Hornet supply chain is extremely dependent on the performance of the USN supply chain. Maintaining a common configuration with the USN enables the program to participate in the USN Reparable Item Replacement Option (RIRO) process where parts are shared and a central contract with suppliers is utilized to minimize overheads and costs. As the Weapon System Integrator (WSI), we interface with the USN system on behalf of the RAAF and provide performance and requirements information to optimize RAAF stockholding and performance. In addition, we establish local capabilities where possible to minimize dependence on the USN and provide redundancy in the support system beyond that initially envisioned to ensure long term management and cost effectiveness of the provision of parts and repairs. Integration of the RAAF Super Hornet support model is extremely challenging because it involves the infrastructure and policies of two sovereign countries. The Boeing team provides a crucial service to the CoA by integrating Australian operational and regulatory requirements with the USN infrastructure to ensure weapons system readiness while complying with CoA and USN requirements. In order to successfully integrate the total support effort, Boeing became certified as an Authorized Engineering Organization (AEO) and Authorized Maintenance Organization (AMO) authority under the RAAF airworthiness regulatory environment. As the WSI, AEO and AMO, the Boeing team relies on a strong system engineering discipline to translate USN operational, engineering and maintenance policies and practices into CoA compliant material. The planning, monitoring and controlling functions of a diverse program such as Australian Super Hornet Sustainment can only achieve efficiency through complete integration of processes and communications forums. Throughout the past 3 years we have integrated all meetings and reviews across the CoA support personnel, Boeing and our operational customer. This has required a very high degree of trust within the community based on 4

5 your customer to assure Quality and communication without creating non-value reviews and audits that do not fit your program effort? Operational: Supply Chain and Logistics Management -- What processes, tools and relationship-building methods have you used to develop, refine and improve supply chain and stakeholder integration? Please indicate also methods used to analyze/fact-find regarding supplier proposals. This is one of the most imperative needs of our industry please provide specific details and data that assisted you in gauging the effectiveness. Operational: System Integration, Testing & Reviews - Describe the activities and processes used to succeed in your system integration, and testing. How did you conduct system design and technical reviews? What innovations in processes or tools were used to further evolve this capability? Operational: Risk / Opportunity Management Describe the processes used to identify both risks and opportunity and to assure potential for both is addressed effectively Please indicate any the fact that in many situations the information shared is sensitive and would not normally be shared. By adopting this approach we only have one source of status information, one set of priorities, and a combined Configuration Control Board (CCB) to jointly agree and allocate resources to tasks. From a supply chain perspective, the USN is a supplier to the RAAF, however, the nature of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) process is such that no performance guarantees can be made. In managing some initial challenges with terminology and definitions, the team created a metrics and analysis suite that directly utilized USN source data, rather the existing CoA systems, to ensure a common data source and language for communicating issues and priorities. The teams have developed a weekly battle rhythm to coordinate and integrate supply chain activities, from urgent requirements impacting operations to long term strategic initiatives. CoA, USN, Boeing and key suppliers are engaged in the weekly discussions. The system as it applies to this environment is largely the conglomeration of all the support capabilities and organizations contributing to the capability of the platform. Upfront documentation of requirements, clearly defined RAA and a shared vision enabled the support organization to quickly adapt to new requirements and environment changes. The CoA and Boeing used the stand-up period to document requirements through several program plans Configuration Mgmt Plan, Engineering Mgmt Plan, Support Services Mgmt Plan, Supply Support Plan, and Maintenance Mgmt Plan and commercial best practices. The dynamic nature of the support environment and limited experience base upon which to draw from for the initial Australian Super Hornet operations meant the focus of these plans was initially set as an operating framework to enable the processes to mature as the experience and knowledge was developed. Close coordination with the CoA and USN ensured the plans provided smooth integration between organizations. Boeing and the Commonwealth operate a combined Risk, Issue and Opportunity management system. In line with our concept of complete integration, we openly share all challenges and opportunities so that they can be jointly managed. In most cases, the relevant strengths and weaknesses of each organization determine the appropriate allocation of responsibility and in many cases 5

6 forward-leaning processes to support. Team Leadership: Team Culture and Motivation Describe how you created your team spirit and culture, and accomplished entire team integration and individual team member motivation. Given the economic environment and changes in the global marketplace, how did you assure your team changed swiftly and with agility? Team Leadership: Lessons Learned and Knowledge Management Describe how you collect lessons learned and best practices, and how they are shared with your team and company to improve performance. Also how are you capturing expertise and knowledge to assure availability over the life of the program? Team Leadership: Leadership Development How do you develop team s skills and build future leaders Best (& Next) Practices: Identify your program s specific Best Practices that you believe are unique, and could be shared with others and become industry s Next Practices. both organizations need to act in advance of contractual changes to resolve them in a timely manner. Standing up and operating the first Super Hornet International support program provided a ready source of motivation to the entire Team. The establishment of the combined team brought together many cultural differences from other support programs along with the uncertainty of requirements in a new environment. The primary management action in motivating the team and developing a success oriented culture was to remove all uncertainty or confusion in contract scope coverage by constantly communicating an All in message that if the platform needed support then we considered it in scope. In addition, empowering staff to adopt a clean sheet approach to processes and task achievement removed many legacy attitudes based on old support environments. The combined Boeing and CoA Team have set upon a continuous improvement program from the achievement of FOC to embed in the work environment a goal of continually challenging itself to improve and rapidly incorporate lessons learned. This optimization program brings all elements of the local support environment together (all the way to the tactical aircraft operators) to perform value stream mapping exercises across all support processes and document in combined processes. The program is continuing to find and eliminate non-value adding steps and processes to optimize the efficiency of not just the support environment but the complete weapons system. The support organization has been established from the outset as a small and lean organization. A fundamental necessity of such an approach is to ensure decision making authority and expectation is pushed down to the lowest appropriate level. Many of the skill sets were initially digital in nature. However, to continue the development of our combined staff we are cross training personnel, sharing tasks with RAAF counterparts and have recently started recruiting graduates to provide leadership and mentoring opportunities for our leaders while also preparing for future succession. Trust and Communication are the most important elements in establishing and running an integrated, challenging and complex sustainment program. Combining resources from RAAF, US Navy, Boeing US and Boeing Australia created a complete program team but required extensive coordination and a robust battle 6

7 rhythm. Building a strong bond of trust through constant communication enables each team to respond quickly in support of warfighter needs without fear of penalty from other teams. Our approach created a culture of One Team and for the Team to succeed all stakeholders embraced a common vision and goals. Features such as co-location of team members, early definition and documentation of plans and RAA enabled open and honest communication between the teams. From these achievements we generated trust and we believe this is the most unique best practice we have achieved. IV. ADAPTING TO COMPLEXITY: (HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH YOUR PROGRAM S UNIQUE COMPLEXITIES) = 20 POINTS Identify the Program s Market Uncertainty level How new is your product to your market and users, based on the definitions below. Then describe how you deal and address this specific uncertainty: - Derivative an improvement of an existing product/system. Identify the Program s Technological Uncertainty using the definitions below. Then describe how you deal and address this uncertainty: - Medium Technology: existing technology modified to meet new design requirements Identify the level of your System Complexity using the definitions below. Then explain how you are dealing with this level of complexity: - An Assembly performing a single function. In establishing a support capability, we have derived many processes and support methodologies from existing support models; however, the approach of integrating so completely with the US Navy is new to the Australian environment. This resulted in a degree of performance uncertainty as the combined CoA and Boeing teams devise a support model that traded risk to effectiveness with cost efficiencies of combined support. To deal with this uncertainty required clearly defined Responsibilities, Authorities and Accountabilities as well as well documented procedures, a clear and combined operating rhythm and a shared vision and goals. The technology employed on a Super Hornet is very advanced and the RAAF are still early in their operational life cycle with the Super Hornet. A major challenge the program faces is understanding the technology (particularly with export restrictions in place) and then representing requests for change to the US Navy as the RAAF mature in their operational life cycle. The local team members have a high degree of understanding customer context, but they may be restricted by knowledge or release restrictions. To deal with this uncertainty and complexity, the local sustainment team works very closely with their US based counterparts and employs a rigorous systems engineering process to manage current and future technological impacts. The system complexity is one of an array. The support environment is very intricate and dynamic as it extends to multiple organizations and teams, both government and industry, across two separate countries. The systems in this context are the tools/information systems, processes, skills and capabilities of each support elements in the array of teams required to deliver a complete support capability to a modern 7

8 - A Sub-system fitting within a larger system. - A System a collection of subsystems performing multiple functions. - An Array a System of Systems ; a widely dispersed collection of systems serving a common mission. Identify the Pace and Urgency of your team s effort using the definitions below. Then describe how you deal with the program s pace requirements: - Time Critical there is an absolute and criticalto-success deadline. Other Complexities & Uncertainties - Describe other complexities and unknown factors faced by this program and how you addressed them. fighter aircraft. This is further broken down into a collection of both direct commercial and government-to-government activities which must weld together for seamless support. To deal with this complexity, the combined CoA and Boeing teams have structured a hub and spoke operating model where the Logistics Management Unit directs all sustainment activities. The need for centralized management and utilizing industry to help lead was a real paradigm shift. Furthermore, the inputs and outputs of each support capability have had to be clearly defined and regulated to ensure all members have a clear understanding of responsibilities and to ensure that each element s endeavours are serving the common mission. The pace and urgency of this support environment can vary quite significantly. For some tasks the criticality is immediate (aircraft about to launch with an engineering issue) and others require long and careful planning and consideration (capability upgrades). To manage these tasks all support domains operate a visual task board that employs Lean task management processes to manage Work in Progress. This is an efficiency measure but also a method of constantly reprioritising tasks based on changing operational requirements. A regular Boardwalk is conducted with all team members to brief activities and status. The boardwalks also include operational customer representatives to ensure correct prioritization. The prime complexity of this program is the integration of a wide variety of support capabilities to provide a coordinated sustainment solution to meet RAAF requirements. The USN, CoA and Boeing have developed a strong relationship over time that has enabled the team to work within a joint program framework to manage support. An extensive battle rhythm is integrated across all support domains and includes daily, weekly and monthly meetings at all levels within the organizations. The combined team realized very early in this process that this entire premise was underpinned by trust. This trust developed through the planning process and a shared common vision and goals were key factors in overcoming the differences of two communities with a common language and uncommon systems. V. METRICS (HOW DO YOU MEASURE PROGRAM S PERFORMANCE) = 30 POINTS (Note: We are not looking for $ results, but the relative percentage achieved. In particular indicate what specific metrics and data you are using that drive the program beyond standard measures of schedule, budget, and performance, and which have contributed to your program s focus and its success.) Customer - How do you measure the impact of The program established a joint performance management framework to manage and direct the program. It was realized 8

9 your program on your customer and your customer s satisfaction? Include a description of your metrics, as well as numerical evidence. Performance - How do you measure your program s performance in traditional terms such as schedule, budget, requirements, and business results? very early in the program that documented contractual Key Performance Indicators (KPI)s and System Health Indicators (SHI)s were inadequate to meet the RAAF s operational requirements. It was also realized that the immaturity of this new environment and its rapid evolution was always going to outpace any contractual changes in the initial periods. Furthermore, the understanding and allocation of all discrete responsibilities was still being developed, resulting in difficulties in aligning contractual responsibilities at a complete weapons system level. The result (as a function of the trust generated on the program) was the development of a joint performance management framework and philosophy that is aligned and focused on meeting the operational customer s needs without exception. A monthly review is now conducted between the CoA, the Boeing support team and the Operational Wing to review 10 key program elements including Fleet availability, Engineering, Supply, Maintenance, Safety, Training and others. Leading metrics including backlog, supply chain performance and forecast availability aligned with the Wing s activity schedule have been identified and are tracked to address problems jointly. Ultimately, the complete support team is focused on the one metric of Aircraft Availability. The CoA also provides a biannual scorecard of contractual performance. Our most recent assessment achieved 3 Outstanding and 4 Good ratings and is among the best results issued by the CoA. The previous section described how the sustainment team has re-focused efforts on meeting the highest level achievement metrics to support the operational requirements. To achieve this, many other metrics are also gathered and analyzed as part of the joint operating rhythm. These include sub-system metrics within each domain (Engineering, Logistics, Training, Operations and Maintenance) to help understand deficiencies and focus attention on areas for improvement. Additionally, each organization (RAAF and Boeing) manage their own traditional business metrics. The key factor within this environment is that to the greatest extent possible these reviews are conducted jointly to continue to embed trust in the environment but also to share in challenges and opportunities. Metrics (good and bad) are shared across all elements of the support environment aligned with the combined operating rhythm to engage all team members to focus on meeting the high level aims of the program. Joint management reviews are attended by all stakeholders on a monthly basis and a very direct and focused approach is adopted in addressing issues. The Boeing Team has been highly successful in working with 9

10 Preparing the Future - How do you measure and assess the long-term contribution of your program to the corporation/organization? Team - How do you measure and assess the impact of your program on your team development and employee satisfaction? Unique Metrics - Describe any unique metrics you are using to measure your program s progress and how do you focus it for outstanding success. the RAAF to stand up and sustain aircraft operations for the Super Hornet quickly and in a cost effective manner. The Boeing Team focused on customer requirements and expectations, highlighting the value Boeing can bring to the RAAF and future Super Hornet customers. Our strong performance has positioned Boeing to be extremely competitive for follow-on sustainment contracts and for increased scope of work for the RAAF Super Hornets. The effectiveness of the RAAF Super Hornet sustainment model has made it an ideal template for other international customers. Our performance provides a visible example to other potential customers of the Boeing Team s ability to assist them with standing up and sustaining aircraft operations in a cost effective manner. Team development and employee satisfaction are considered extremely important factors in any aircraft sustainment environment. The management team conducts monthly communication sessions and yearly employee climate surveys where specific actions are followed through to completion based on the results. The entire program tries to view all successes as joint success as we constantly communicate that we are all One Team providing the Air Combat power of the Australian Defense Force. Therefore, success of the platform in a deployment or operation is shared and relates heavily to employee satisfaction. Voluntary resignation has been almost zero over the past four years and visitors constantly comment on the high degree of engagement observed within the teams. The environment in which we operate makes this level of engagement somewhat easier we focus our employees on achieving operational availability and as we work next to our operational customer, we receive direct feedback on success every time an aircraft takes off outside the window. The program employs two unique methodologies related to metrics. The first is a joint management framework and approach with the customer. Together the RAAF and Boeing have established a core set of metrics across all support elements and review them regularly. The joint approach ensures a shared dedication to the success of the program. The second methodology is a unique proactive approach to monitoring trending degraders. Tools and processes have been established to review items before they have an impact on fleet operations. The One Team addresses the items together, developing the optimal response. 10