MARINES CORPS LOGISTICS BASE BARSTOW, Calif. --
Restoring a classic automobile to its original showroom condition is no easy task, but when compared to restoring or rebuilding a battle-torn M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank it's like a Sunday drive.
Just ask the folks at Cost Work Center 725, Maintenance Center Barstow, who perform this enormous task daily.
When purchasing a classic automobile the new owner already knows that this is going to be a time-consuming project, but it belongs to them and they can take as much time as needed.
Not the same can be said for the M1A1 rebuild. Here the CWC 725 folks are performing the work for paying customers, so time and quality of work is essential.
"One vehicle takes (an average of 237days for to) rebuild," revealed Frank Alston, M1A1 project manager, CWC 725, MCB. "Our negotiated time with our customer is 140 days; our internal time (at this point is 237) days."
However, according to Alston, the Maintenance Center is constantly looking for any improvements, either through resource management, scheduling or part requirements, they can use to reduce that time.
Some of the improvements are already underway with the Maintenance Center's recent changes initiated by its commander, Col. Rob Gerlaugh.
"(The changes) have enabled us to produce our equipment more efficiently because now we see what we have in queue,' we see what the next day's work is, and we're able to execute that more efficiently," said Alston.
When talking about his "queue," Alston is referring to an (organized, forward staging) area for work-in-progress or WIP; these are (parts and sub-assemblies) scheduled to be worked. In past years it wasn't that way. Instead, vehicle after vehicle would be disassembled and parts would pile up, items Alston calls Code F parts or repairable items.
"It's much easier for (our M1A1 team) to make our production goals because we are working on what (we) need to be working, rather than working indiscriminately on it all in the holding areas," he said.
When tackling a classic auto rebuild the same basic principle applies. There must be organization to the process; otherwise some critical parts may come up missing or mis-applied.
As with any project there has to be a starting point. In the case of the M1A1 it's a receipt inspection, which is the first phase of what Alston refers to as a specified overhaul and repair or "SOAR."
After the inspection is completed, disassembly of the vehicle begins.
"Once the vehicle is totally disassembled, all the component (parts) go into storage," said Alston. "What happens to the vehicle (hull) next is that it gets steam cleaned and blasted to the bare metal."
The hull, now stripped to the bare metal, is sent to the welding shop where it is inspected for cracks and anything that appears to be abnormal. The shop will fix the cracks then verify they have been repaired through nondestructive testing or dye penetrate. Cracks and abnormalities welded, the hull is moved to the paint shop where it is given a new coat of paint on the exterior and interior.
"In communicating with our customer, cracks in the hulls were of particular concern because these tanks are getting old," said Alston. "They drafted a Statement of Work (SOW) for the specified overhaul and repair, and basically that gives the customer as close to a rebuilt tank as possible without incurring the total cost of a rebuild."
The SOW specifies that the tank get blasted down to the bare metal, repair all the welds, give it a new base coat of paint, and remove the electrical harnesses from the vehicle. The line replaceable units, what Alston calls LRUs, are cleaned and tested for thermal damage, corrosion and run across a test bench and put back into service.
"We replace all the engines with a (newly rebuilt) Fort Riley engine, which is warranted for one year after it is released from the depot to the fleet," Alston explained. "We rebuild the X-11003B transmission and put new NBC filters in then reassemble the tank from the ground up.
"We do some things in the turret (such as) the elevation mechanism and the traversing mechanism. So we're really close to a zero miles tank for the Marine Corps without incurring the cost (of one)."
Once the hull is returned from the welding shop and paint booth, the reassembly begins with tapping out the boltholes and installing new bolts. The next item in the rebuild is installing new rubber so the fuel cells and fire suppression system can be replaced; the rubber resembles sound deadening material installed in a car.
From there the hull goes to the suspension station to have the road arms installed. This is one of the items that receive a thorough inspection, but no new paint until the final stages of the rebuild. Instead these items fall under inspect and repair only as required (IRON) where they receive new bearings, seals and caps and are then reinstalled on the vehicle.
"This is where it becomes very critical that we have those items (the road arms) processed because between the time the hull goes through the system - repaired, cleaned and painted - we want those products that we've been staging back here," Alston explained.
"That's why coordination is very critical between scheduling things into the shop at the right time and having the right people working on the right things at the right time, and get them back here in time to support the build process."
The electrical and hydraulics components are next followed by the driver's seat, hatch and the driver's compartment components. One thing the product manager emphasized was while the hull is being rebuilt, the turret is going through the same process. The idea is to have both parts completed about the same time.
"Once we get this all put together we'll put it through vigorous testing to ensure we have the best product," said Alston. "We'll put it through several different phases of inspections. We do in-process inspections by certified product inspectors, which are my leaders and myself. We're often audited on those processes by a quality assurance inspector.
"Then we'll do cost work center final inspections to make sure we're trying to fill the customer's requirements by his statement of work, and then we'll pass that off to our quality control folks who will do a division final inspection."
According to Alston, the quality control people are the customer's representative, their eyes and ears on the floor. The QC folks are going to be as critical as possible to make sure the Maintenance Center does not put out a product that does not meet the customer's full expectations.
"Part of that will be road testing the vehicle, testing all the systems, such as NBC, checking the fire control system, the communication systems, optical system, electrical and hydraulics," he said. "All will be tested fully to ensure that we've met all the customer's requirements."
When the entire process is completed the customer is notified that the product is ready for pickup. The customer, along with Maintenance Center product inspectors, will perform a receipt inspection where there the customer will give his product a thorough look before accepting the vehicle.
When rebuilding a classic automobile, time doesn't matter and not as many people get involved with the process unless parts are farmed out for work, as is the case with some parts of the M1A1. Unless the classic is being restored for an auto show not too many people will give the car a thorough inspection as the finished tank receives, but as Alston reveals there is a lot more involvement than what is alluded to so far and another reason for the M1A1 line's progress.
"Most people look at the depot and they look at the people that actually work on the line," he said. They don't see the support behind the shop floor control, the planners and expeditors, who go in and troubleshoot and find those hard-to-get parts, working overtime early in the morning and late at night.
"Everybody thinks about the guy standing out in the sun doing this but there are a lot of people behind the scene that support this process, and without them we just couldn't make it. It just wouldn't happen."