Being Creative

Solution for C130 Aircraft Issue Eradicates Defects

The C130, also known as the Super Hercules, has been in production longer than any other aircraft, but it had a defect referred to as oil canning for the last 35 years. The aircraft’s manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, was a new client of Shainin® LLC.

Upon being assigned to solve this issue, decided to use a problem-solving methodology called Red X®. Discovered that the oil canning was caused by non-parallel surfaces joined together by bolts when the forward fuselage was mated to the rest of the plane. The non-parallel condition was an interaction caused by a quarter inch calculation error made when the plane was designed.

A non-disciplined investigation is shown in the left-hand column. It’s inconsistent and causes chaos. A disciplined investigation is shown in the right-hand column. The FACTUAL® process shown in this column is defined by Standard Work – everyone follows a consistent process that yields consistent results when solving complex technical problems. When a dyslexic faces a problem, they create a compensation strategy, which is a gift that can be further defined as a skill. A gift might be a good problem solver while a skill might use a specific methodology.

The vertical axis shows strain, and the horizontal axis shows build sequence. Blue represents the top strain gage locations and readings, while red represents the bottom strain gage locations and readings.

Blue and red strain gauges indicate the skin is in tension and compression respectively. As blue and red readings separate, blue gauges are pulling, and the red gauges are pushing. This put nonuniform stress on the skin and creates an oil can.

Once the error was discovered, a shim was used in the construction of all future planes and the problem was reduced to zero defects. Subsequently selected to lead a Red X® program on the F35 fighter aircraft, which arguably contains some of the most sophisticated technology known to man. Over the next seven years, 65 projects were completed that helped save $1 billion and certified 84 engineers in Red X®.