Materiel Problems at a Naval Aviation Depot

This Note investigates shortages of repair parts. It uses the TF-30 jet engine as a case study and analyzes the parts shortage using three different measures: delivery time, demand supply profiles, and effect on engine repair. After analyzing data from the Naval Industrial Materiel Management System (NIMMS) and from three inventory control points, the study draws three major conclusions. First, engine days of delay provides a good indication of which parts cause the most trouble. Second, although a few parts cause the most problems (56 out of 2000), the remainder of the problems result from a heterogeneous set of parts. Finally, most of the supply problem seems to be in getting parts from the DoD supply system to the depot. Recommendations address the need to reduce delays in moving parts to the depot from the DoD system, improve procurement at the inventory control point, rectify problems with databases, and integrate information at the wholesale level.