Al's Garage saves Air Force money, aircraft downtime

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Eric Bolt
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  In today's Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century mindset, thinking outside of the box is not only encouraged, it is necessary. Al Weatherbee, Air Force Engineering and Technical Service senior equipment propulsion specialist, did just that when he created the B-1 residual parts stockpile more commonly know as Al's garage.

The acquisition of B-1 parts has become an issue over the past few years leading to extended, unscheduled aircraft downtime, said Senior Master Sgt. Donald Small, 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron production superintendent. Supplying Ellsworth and B-1s around the globe with parts from Al's Garage has helped reduce some of that downtime.

"Al's garage is a collection of B-1 parts that were originally spread out across the country at separate bases," Mr. Weatherbee said. "Consolidating the parts in one location allowed the Air Force to better utilize the supply."

I started to research and organize stockpiles of parts in the summer of 2002, Mr. Weatherbee said. From the moment the first part arrived, Al's garage was open and offering parts to any organization that had a need to repair a B-1.

400 crates were shipped to Ellsworth in the years that followed the opening of the garage. Upon receiving the crates, each part was sorted, documented and logged into a database.

Organizing thousands of individual parts was a huge undertaking, Mr. Weatherbee said. It would not have been possible without the help of Tech. Sgt. Ernie Clark and Staff Sgt. Mike Timmer, both 28th AMXS crew chiefs, Senior Airman Candace Thomas, 28th AMXS combat oriented supply organization journeyman, and Matthew Borden, Logistics Readiness Squadron materials identifier. This team of outstanding individuals ensured that Al's Garage would be successful, organized and operational.

"It took the better part of two years to manage the organization of Al's Garage," Mr. Borden said. "The crates were a mess when we received them. The hardest part was identifying what parts were usable and what parts were not."

The use of residual parts in Al's Garage has helped maintainers locate parts without having new parts manufactured on many occasions, which adds a considerable amount of time to the replacement process.

"Al's Garage has supplied Ellsworth's B-1s with countless hard-to-find parts," Sergeant Small said. "The process of writing contracts and procuring parts takes a long time. The use of Al's Garage saves us from grounding an aircraft while we wait for parts."

"Since the creation of Al's Garage, maintainers have pulled roughly $4 million in assets out of the Ellsworth residual parts warehouse," Mr. Weatherbee said.

The consolidation of B-1 parts saved Air Force funding upon creation and continues to save the Air Force money each time a part is pulled out to repair a B-1.

"I foresee the use of parts from Al's Garage as long as the B-1s are flying," Mr. Weatherbee said. "I hope the hard work of a few helps many for years to come."