MARINE CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. -- Whether it is the quiet purr of a high performance million dollar luxury vehicle, the roar of a muscular motorcycle or the rumble of a Light Armored Vehicle, the sound of a finely tuned engine is something that both men and women enjoy hearing.
Producing such engines is the job of Maintenance Center Barstow's Cost Work Center 711, the engine shop.
"Our mission is to, of course, supply our Marines by getting engines and power packs (an engine and transmission combined) back to Marines in the field in a timely matter, with the highest quality possible and under cost," said Paul Gallegos, supervisor, CWC 711.
The shop offers services to the Fleet Marine Force and Secondary Depot Repairables on anything from turbo chargers, crank and cam shafts to a complete engine overhaul. With the ability to rebuild and produce its own engine heads, water and oil pumps, air compressors, fuel injectors and other various parts, the shop can quickly turn over a finished product.
Depending on the type of engine or power pack to be repaired and the statement of work from the owner, the employees of CWC 711 can complete a job anywhere from 10 to 300 hours, said Gallegos.
"What really hinders us though is our dependence on parts," he said. "What helps us out is the shop floor control, who get our parts in a timely matter so we can build the engines and power packs," Gallegos said. "The parts personnel work hard to insure this happens. They are one of the big keys to our accomplishments."
The process begins with the statement of work and a job plan, the asset will either be an (I.R.O.A.N.) inspect repair only as necessary, tune-up and replacing various parts. Power packs are integrated and prepared for a spin test. Engines are completely disassembled and reassembled, Gallegos said. After the build is complete, the asset will be hooked up to a dynamometer machine, or a spin test area which tests the engine or power pack under the conditions it will be put under when installed in a vehicle.
"After the build, we test the asset on a dynamometer at 110 percent," he said. "This is because if it fails, let it fail here and not out in the field. It is very important to give a quality finished piece of equipment back to the fleet and to all of our customers," he explained.
If the engine meets all specifications on the "dynamometer" test machine, it will either go to the paint shop then back to the shop for integration or to final inspection.
"We put safety first above all things, if an employee gets hurt and can't do their job it hurts not only the employee from the injury they received, but all the way to our customer who depends on us to get that piece of equipment back to them," he said.
"We here at CWC 711 have created an atmosphere where everyone enjoys coming to work and taking pride in their work. Most employees here at the maintenance center, in some way or another, contribute their efforts to our success from fabricating hoses for our power packs to painting our engines and a whole lot in between."
Gallegos contributes the success of the shop to the 44 employees who work for him.
"We have a really good group of people pulling together," he said. "What we do is build engines, and every project is very important."
The work produced by the 44 employees in the engine shop, keeps the Corps' vehicles running and will continue to do so with the quality products the shop builds.