Preliminary Assessment of the Effect of Daily Reporting of HUMS Events on Squadron Maintenance and Logistics

Department of the Navy engineers created the Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) Action Report (CAR) in response to a recent requirement to supplement the MH-60R/S Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics System (IMDS) ground station with a separate daily reporting application. The goal of the CAR was to alert maintainers to events that require immediate maintenance action, as well as those that may be scheduled within a specified number of flight hours, based on the most up-to-date maintenance documentation and thresholds. The CAR was also intended to reduce maintainer burden by centralizing event reporting and providing actionable guidance related to each event. The purpose of this study was to quantify and assess the initial effect of the CAR on maintenance actions and overall squadron readiness. This effect was evaluated using several metrics, specifically Mission Capable (MC) Rate, Non-Mission Capable due to Maintenance – Unscheduled (NMCMU) Rate, and Unscheduled Maintenance Man-Hours per Flight Hour (UMMF). Baseline values were established using data from the two years prior to the introduction of the CAR (May 2012 through April 2014), while current squadron behavior was quantified using the first six months of data after the introduction of the new reports (June through November 2014). Although the combined results amongst the fleet sample showed increases in MC Rate, NMCMU Rate, and UMMF after the new reports were introduced, the response was not consistent amongst the squadrons. Additionally, individual squadron trends for the three metrics investigated carried over from the two-year baseline to the six-month period under the CAR. Given these findings, it is recommended that this evaluation is continued after the CAR has been in use for a longer period of time.