Blade Facility Expansion and Dynamic Component Repair Facility MCA Support 

Army depot operations have not historically been an investment priority for DoD authorities. As demand for remanufacturing support of heavily utilized rotor wing aircraft and components has nearly quadrupled over the past five years, commercial sources have struggled to meet these field demands. As a result, depots have been called upon to fill the gap, and DoD reinvestment in depot operations is increasing substantially, both for facilities expansions and equipment.

Under the Blade Facility and Dynamic Component MCA (Military Construction Army) Support program, KBSI is assisting Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) in Corpus Christi, Texas in providing the Army, Navy, Air Force, as well as each service’s reserve units, the maximum support for the dollars invested in their facilities. CCAD is already the premier rotor-wing remanufacture and testing facility in the United States. In the Blade Facility expansion program, MCA dollars will be utilized to increase effective production floor space by more than 115% and increase production capability by more than 160% for the UH-60 main and tail rotor blades used in the H-60 Black Hawk, Sea Hawk, and Pave Hawk fleets. In addition, this facility will support AH-64 and CH-47 rotor blades and establish an organic capability for other potential DoD blade requirements. Most critically, this facility will more than double the depot’s capability to support Category III repairs for UH-60 blades.  Category III is the most in depth, extensive, and economical repair process for these blades, and reflects an emphasis on returning these components to service and minimizing loss to the fleet.

The second phase of this effort supports the initial planning and construction phase of major facility enhancements for CCAD. When implemented, these expansions will provide more than 1.1 million square-feet of modern facilities and infrastructure to support a broad range of rotor-wing aircraft, engines, transmissions, and components. This effort will be geared at creating a comprehensive plan for meeting all current required product support and for meeting expected increases while maintaining the core capabilities that define the depot mission. The plan will also provide for the adaptability necessary to meet the demands of dynamically shifting operational requirements. Operations will be designed to utilize critical chain program management (CCPM) based on Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (TOC) for resource production lines, as well as to establish focused product family lines. This facility will support the more than $2.5 billion of MRO activities at CCAD.

Capital Equipment Planning, Procurement and Justification

KBSI has provided support to Corpus Christi Army Depot (CCAD) in Corpus Christi, Texas for the past five years. CCAD is already the premier rotor-wing remanufacture and testing facility in the United States, and currently conducts over $2.5B in MRO activities annually. CCAD is undergoing a major reinvestment process to meet significant increases in field demand for rotor-wing LRUs and components in support of the multiple engagements in which U.S. forces are involved.

Over the past two years, KBSI has completed economic analyses and justification that will secure more than $130M in facilities improvements and $47M in CIP equipment for the FY09 through FY11 CIP cycles. KBSI has developed a systematic approach for completing these justifications for approval through depot-level, AMCOM, and AMC reviews and approvals. KBSI has a 100% success rate in package approvals during the last five years, and more than a 95% first-pass approval record in our support efforts.

KBSI also supports MCA and CIP planning through detailed resource analysis in determining how best to allocate limited capital to address capacity and capability limitations for current demands, forecasting equipment obsolescence and replacement, and for developing short-term and long-term capital investment plans. The end result is providing the depot DoD customers with the most effective return for their facility investments and increased MRO commodity production.

Dynamic Component Rebuild Facility (DCRF) and Building 8 Replacement MCA Support

In this initiative, part of CCAD's ongoing Sustainment Physics Services (CSPS) program, KBSI is providing engineering and technical effort for the initial planning, architecture and engineering (A&E) coordination, and process and equipment identification for the Dynamic Component Rebuild Facility and Power Train (Building 8 Replacement) Facility Military Construction Army (MCA) efforts. KBSI is working with CCAD to improve facilities designs while also reducing the impact to current production during the construction and transition periods.

As part of this initiative, KBSI is providing research support to help CCAD determine the needed equipment types for the initial and final planning, A&E phases, and construction of facilities and also providing process analysis of pre-construction activities. Process analyses are also being performed to investigate whether prospective equipment/ processes will meet the capability and capacity needs of the Dynamic Component Rebuild requirements and to examine the feasibility of alternatives. KBSI is also developing economic analyses and preparing procurement packages for the facility and equipment.