Ordering spares.

[Captain Gatso]

I don't know if this is the place to ask this question, however after the day I have had, I guess the stacker type folks are the best ones to answer this. I have been having continuous problems with ordering spares. It's not the stackers fault, however I have been seeing more in the way of Local purchase orders on paperwork and inhability. Is this just a blip, or is it something Airforce wide. It was not so bad up to six months ago. Now it is just getting silly. Is there anything going on?:0

 

[snowball1]

Lots of reasons, one being a large cut in the logistics budget, therefore less items being kept at units/depots.

 

[MrMasher]

Its airforce wide.
Money from the spares budget is being put into the pot to pay for singlies accomodation and council tax rebates..........

Seriously though, the spares situation seems to have become far worse over the past year.
In the seaking world we pay westlands somewhere in the region of £50million to (eventually) supply us with spares not in our supply system. Scandalous whoever backhanded that one. Give me the procurement card FFS!!!!

 

[Norman the Storeman]

Three phrases for you to remember and get used to...

• 
  DSDA Bicester

• Helpdesk

• Purple Gate

Enjoy!

 

[tigger123]

The majority of Tonka spares are now looked after by BAE and trying to get stuff from them is a nightmare! Also dosnt help that in the past people are ordering twenty when they only need one and keeping the spare ones stashed in a locker, thus the IPTs do not recognise a regular consumption and therefor stop procuring them!!

 

[Captain Gatso]

Seems that the situation is not rosey at all, is it. Speaking about ordering items and stashing them in a locker. That was knocked on the head by our bosses a long time ago. However we have been trying to order spares that we consume at a regular rate, and it's just not happening. we used to get them within two days, nowadays it is taking over a week.When we are ordering spares, we are ordering them in large numbers, as we just don;t know when we put another order in for the same item it will arrive for when we need it. It does not look like a very pretty picture at the moment.

 

[stacker1195]

I have almost daily dealings with the IPTs and I've found that nowadays they are more reactive than proactive when it comes to inabilities and diversion orders. Most of them are just as frustrated as we are that it has come to this as it has stemed from the ever decreasing flow of pennies. However, there are some individuals at Wyton who do require an almost constant kick up the backside to get things done.

 

[MrMasher]

I have almost daily dealings with the IPTs and I've found that nowadays they are more reactive than proactive when it comes to inabilities and diversion orders. Most of them are just as frustrated as we are that it has come to this as it has stemed from the ever decreasing flow of pennies. However, there are some individuals at Wyton who do require an almost constant kick up the backside to get things done.

I always found the problem to be you saying "No MrMasher, you cant have it!::

 

[stacker1195]

I always found the problem to be you saying "No MrMasher, you cant have it!::

Yeah, but that was because it was you. DT_Xtremez_31: And it was usually followed by stacker taxis!! DT_Xtremez_43:

Off Topic BTW with your immense techie wage packet surely you could spare some pennies to sponsor a former colleague Off Topic

 

[The Naked Stacker]

Seems that the situation is not rosey at all, is it. Speaking about ordering items and stashing them in a locker. That was knocked on the head by our bosses a long time ago. However we have been trying to order spares that we consume at a regular rate, and it's just not happening. we used to get them within two days, nowadays it is taking over a week.When we are ordering spares, we are ordering them in large numbers, as we just don;t know when we put another order in for the same item it will arrive for when we need it. It does not look like a very pretty picture at the moment.

Blame lean and other associated events. Take all the spares out of the HES to "apparently" make your lives easier.

That being said your procedure of demanding in bulk also screws up USAS as it doesnt create an accurate consumption rate, so you're not doing yourselves any favours there at all.

Supply currently has the worst morale I have ever encountered. Plus the fact that they let any damn moron in the job cant help.

 

[MrMasher]

In our aircraft world we no longer seem to have a centralised spares depot. The supply system just doesnt seem to have our "regular" spares in stock anymore, so we spend an absolute fortune on couriering spares from the manufacturer, not to mention the time penalty in manhours and aircraft availability.

I heard an interesting rumour today and would love for a high ranker to stand up and honestly comment on it.
This snippet apparently came from a WO..........................

Allegedly the supply system/IPT arent providing us with spares as quickly as they should because they want to decrease our aircraft availability status. That way when it goes civvy and it gets completely fecked up, the huge drop in aircraft availability wont be as noticeable.

Left me speechless for a while. In our environment thats playing with peoples lives.::/:

Anyone else heard this?

 

[scooterboy]

Masher,been a stacker myself believe me its almost as frustrating for us.We are there to provide a service to a customer ie the engineers,it is getting more and more dissapointing to have to tell techies that,

1. Nil stock
2. Repair your u/s one
3. Inability

Supply has suffered a lot as have most trades with the constant lack of funds,shortage in manpower very high PVR rates.
If it wasnt for the pension I would PVR myself as would most of my JNCO supply colleagues at my unit.
Morale is low and there is no silver lining on them there clouds.DT_Xtremez_09:

 

[mr_fingle]

Allegedly the supply system/IPT arent providing us with spares as quickly as they should because they want to decrease our aircraft availability status. That way when it goes civvy and it gets completely fecked up, the huge drop in aircraft availability wont be as noticeable.

I regularly deal with a number of IPTs and this certainly isn't true (even though the guys at the sharp end might feel it's true). Despite what it might feel like, the IPTs ARE still output focussed and they ARE on your side. They want the companies to put their money where their mouth is and deliver the goods on time and on spec - but once you sell your soul to the devil, you have to dance to his tune.

What doesn't help is the spiraling costs of these contracts and the spiraling costs of new kit. With lots of money already spent before we even see it, there is little if any financial flex compared with the situation a couple of years ago.

Now what might be happenning is that in order to hold the contractor to their claims, the RAF needs to give them a certain amount of spares - kind of a 'get you in pack'. They might be building up this spares pool so the company can't later claim we didn't give them the 'tools' they needed to meet the contract.

It might also be the contractor 'holding on' to spares to build their own reserve up so that when they get the contract, they can flood the spares in to you and show how great they are.