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SOUTHWEST ASIA: When Lt. Col. Anthony Krawietz, the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron commander, charged incoming troops to think smarter and leaner, a group of aerial porters took it to heart.
“One of the first things we looked at was how C-17 (Globemaster III) tires were palletized,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Key, a Texas Air National Guardsman deployed from Carswell Air Force Base. “We knew there was a way we could do this 'smarter' but it took a good week for us to figure it out.”
Sergeant Key and 11 other Airmen pack and load C-17 tires for shipment to the United States where the tire manufacturer refurbishes them for continued use. On average the 8th EAMS aerial porters ship 114 tires a month.
The “old” way of palletizing C-17 tires was shipping four per pallet. The single pallet method, which had been used since the 8th EAMS set up shop in Southwest Asia, required four pallets with two skids each to hold 12 main tires and four nose tires. The main tires each weigh 485 pounds and the nose tires weigh 265 pounds.
The aerial porters knew there was a better way to go about business, but the solution wasn't immediately obvious.
“It was a matter of trial and error,” said Senior Airman Jayson Steelman, an aerial porter assigned to the Mighty 8th. “We did the math, measured the skids and looked at several different options, and finally figured out a better way to load these tires.”
Airman Steelman, who also is a member of the Texas Air National Guard, said a standard aircraft pallet is about seven inches too small to stack four wooden tire pallets side by side. So the team experimented with some alternative configurations. They hit the jackpot when they realized they could make up for the lost space by utilizing space provided by aircraft pallet couplers. By bridging the skids over the coupler gap of two “married” pallets, they doubled the aircraft pallet load.
The new configuration uses eight skids on two coupled pallets holding 16 tires. With the old process, this shipment would have required four pallets to ship the same number of tires. With two fewer pallets, the aerial porters save on scarce aircraft space, and save on the cost of shipping pallets and tiedown equipment. Every 16 tires shipped represents a savings of $2,064.
“If we continue to average 114 tires a month, it will add up to $14,706 every 30 days,” said Colonel Krawietz. “In addition, pallet space requirements and ramp workload decreases by 50 percent with the new configuration.”
Capt. Stanley Medykowski, the 8th EAMS freight section officer in charge, said the change represents a growing trend in the AOR.
“We're continuously trying to improve our operations in an austere environment,” said Captain Medykowski. “And it's all the better when we save the taxpayers' money.”
