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Rank: Member
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Location: Texas
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How many of you use a Tool Inventory Control Program for each individual technician's toolbox as well as shop owned tools? Please describe the program you use, the cost, and how effective you think it is.
Jack Tunnell 214-683-5428 http://www.twisted-wrench.com/jack@twisted-wrench.com
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Nothing that sporty here! Just shadow boards, foam, color coded work bolts, etc.
Safety is a learned behavior...Learn to be safer at the Learning Center found on FAASafety.gov
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Rank: Member
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Joined: 6/11/2009
Posts: 11
Points: 33
Location: Texas
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So how do use those tool shadow-boards, foam cutouts, and work bolts? Do you use those to inventory all shop and technician tools before any aircraft leaves your facility? The reason for the question is this is becoming an IS-BAO / SMS hot button. Like so many things, there is no industry standard except to rely on the memory, and attention span of the tired, distracted technician. Compliance with this issue as a real program is a very hard thing. I have a MACsimizer with two end boxes that is 11 feet long and it is so full that if I had to do foam cutouts, I would need two more boxes just like it. I don't know of a cost effective method of tool control. I understand all the "what would you pay now" scenarios but they are statistically negligible. Especially given that 83% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Jack Tunnell 214-683-5428 http://www.twisted-wrench.com/jack@twisted-wrench.com
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Joined: 9/2/2008
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Location: Ozark, Mo
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Unfortunately tool control requires space, and aircraft mechanics are probably the most restrictive to options. As Captainkirk (another of our great members here) once called his first toolbox the Craftsman Skyscraper with a stack of boxes, and myself with which was called an apartment complex, these boxes are hard to move around with aircraft. My "Apartment Complex" was foamed in and consisted of 3 Craftsman Lower Cabinets (two standard 26" wides on one side, and a 40" wide on the back side), 2 top chests on top of the 26" wide cabinets, a Craftsman 40" wide hutch on top of the 40" wide lower cabinet, and 2 each Craftsman hang-on cabinets (one on each side of the 40" cabinet). But working around Learjets and King Airs proved to tight for the complex to operate, so I moved into a 57" wide 28" deep MATCO main Cabinet, with Snap-on 30" deep 8 drawer hang-on cabinets with my 2 Craftsman hang-on cabinets hanging behind the side cabinets. My toolbox is set up to be foamed but I was laid off before I orf=dered the $1200 worth of toolbox foam to shadow my tools. I am a firm believer in tool control and the foaming of the toolboxes, many a time in the military I seen it keep from launching a aircraft with a tool on board.
And like in your situation I have worked with mechanics that in fact have a box the size of yours packed full of tools and the only way they know something is missing is when they go to use it again. I realized that the biggest difference between military aviation tool control and civilian tool cntrol is the aircraft. In the military you are usually set up to work 1 to maybe a max of 4 type of aircraft and each specialty has their own set of tools specific to the aircraft they work. In the civilian aviation world as an A&P mechanic you are those different specialist and a crew chief all rolled into one as well as you can work any number of different aircraft that might taxi up to your aircraft.
Some of this I think can be allivated by a shop who has the specialty tools controlled in a tool room and uses a chit system to check out those tools. That way the A&P mechanic could focus just on the basic tools and his/her own custom made tools.
Just my 2 cents worth on tool control.
Join in and Be Heard,
Mike
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Twisted wrote:So how do use those tool shadow-boards, foam cutouts, and work bolts? Do you use those to inventory all shop and technician tools before any aircraft leaves your facility?
The reason for the question is this is becoming an IS-BAO / SMS hot button. Like so many things, there is no industry standard except to rely on the memory, and attention span of the tired, distracted technician.
Compliance with this issue as a real program is a very hard thing. I have a MACsimizer with two end boxes that is 11 feet long and it is so full that if I had to do foam cutouts, I would need two more boxes just like it.
I don't know of a cost effective method of tool control. I understand all the "what would you pay now" scenarios but they are statistically negligible. Especially given that 83% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
The tool shadow-boards and foam cutouts take care of the special tools and equipment, so inventory and tool control is easy. Toolboxes are another story. There are no easy answers for a shop that does a wide variety of maintenance tasks on different aircraft types.
Safety is a learned behavior...Learn to be safer at the Learning Center found on FAASafety.gov
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Rank: Advanced Member
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Location: Ozark, Mo
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The closest I think you could go is like we had at Crestview Aerospace and that is a crewchief box which is aircraft specific set up an example is a crewchief C-130 (L382) box has the specifics for an L382. But you have specialist boxes (Electrical/environmental, Guidence and Control, Hydraulics, and sheetmetal) are set up as common boxes that can be used on about any aircraft (in general) with anything that might be needed specifically being stored in the tool room.
Like you said how you would handle that environment with mechanics having their own tools would be the hard part....... Plus tool control foam is not cheap. For my War Wagon it would cost me $1200 to foam it with very little tool foam left over. Who pays for the toolbox foam..... becomes a sticky issue. The other option is the company setting up the specialty boxes and the mechanic "chits" out the type of box they needs for the day. that way the boxes can be tool control foamed and you don't have to worry about forking over $1200 to do a mechanics box and he leaves the company a month or two later.
Join in and Be Heard,
Mike
Join in and Be Heard.
Are you a pofessional or are you just here for the paycheck?
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