ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT, Ala. - Depot Commander Col. S. B. Keller announced May 5, during a segment on The Morning Show, the depot's blackout schedule for transitioning the business system here from the decades-old Standard Depot System to the Army's Logistics Modernization Program. Anniston Army Depot goes live with LMP on Oct. 14, and the blackout schedule is Oct. 1-13.
"We'll shut down our old system, and all of its functions will cease," said Keller. During the 13-day blackout period, the depot will be void of any system to use in its production operations. The exception is ATAAPS, which will be available Oct. 1-9. The depot has a plan to minimize the amount of data to be manually recorded during the blackout.
LMP is an Enterprise Resource Planning tool already in use at other depots like Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas, which was part of LMP's second deployment. The SDS-LMP transition planned for ANAD is part of the third and final LMP deployment.
"We've listened very carefully to previous deployment sites," said Gilda Knighton, business transformation lead, who, along with Director of Production Jeff Simmons, also appeared on the May 5 Morning Show. "The chief lesson we've repeatedly heard is the difficulty in maintaining a normal rate of production during the blackout period."
Knighton explains further: "With no system in place to continue normal production operations, all material would have to be pre-positioned on the shop floor. If the material quantities were overstated, with no system, there would be no way to pull additional material out of the Automated Storage and Retrieval System. If understated, there would be material on the shop floor and not in the inventory records available for use in LMP.
Additionally, all hours worked and all labor and production reporting would have to be kept manually and in sequence. A sister depot had approximately 67,000 lines of data to be input manually in LMP at go-live.
When input, there were over 7,000 errors, and that depot is still trying to recover from the financial effects of those errors."
To avoid experiencing the same difficulties associated with the other depot's production activities, ANAD's LMP Office, General Management for Production Operations and Directorate of Resource Management have developed a blackout activity plan to set the stage for a clean and controlled LMP start-up, said Knighton.
Simmons said a key element to the blackout and to a successful LMP deployment at ANAD is to schedule a maintenance shutdown period during the blackout period.
Typically, the depot shuts down plant operations twice a year - normally around holidays like Fourth of July and Christmas - for preventative maintenance on shop facilities and equipment. This year, however, a unique shutdown schedule will be in place due to LMP's go-live date and the constraints of Stryker workload.
"Stryker workload comes with tight schedules to meet," said Simmons.
Shutdown schedules
Unlike the other direct labor employees in GMPO, all direct labor employees working Stryker programs in cost centers 52B, 52C and 52F are scheduled to shut down operations June 28 through July 5, requiring 36 hours of annual leave. This summertime shutdown for personnel dedicated to Stryker programs will allow for Stryker work to ramp up again in the fall when another reset program begins.
There will be a scheduled shutdown July 2 through 5; however, no leave is required for this period due to an off-Friday and the holiday.
A maintenance shutdown for all GMPO direct labor employees (except Stryker direct labor personnel and deployed civilians) is scheduled for Oct. 4-7, the first week of the blackout period. This will require 36 hours of annual leave. Recognizing that the local public school systems' fall break is the week of Oct. 11-15, liberal leave will be granted to direct labor employees who desire to spend this time with their families. For the direct labor work force present, yearly mandatory training, shop inventories, 6S activities and rehearsal-of-concept drills will be performed. Employees will also be utilized to assist with any LMP go-live readiness events not completed.
"We want to get these shutdown schedules out to everyone so they can plan to take the annual leave that is required during these times that they won't be allowed to come to the industrial complex," said Simmons. "This time is to be used for much-needed, well-deserved rest and relaxation."
"It's the direct labor workforce that drives this LMP train," said Knighton.
The Oct. 4-7 shutdown is an opportunity for indirect employees and shop supervision to collect data for LMP start-up and to clean out inventory baskets and hardware on the shop floor.
"We're moving as much production out of the first quarter of 2010 as we can," said Simmons. "This is so we can aggressively work schedules to minimize workload in October. The team has done an amazing job at laying out this plan."
Social Sharing