For more than a decade, the Navy's Best Manufacturing Practices (BMP) survey process has been a primary avenue for industry and government to present individual and distinctive success stories in management and manufacturing disciplines. For those organizations seeking to advance their overall manufacturing performance, the BMP program has provided validated and documented best practices. These practices, verified on-site by BMP survey team members, have served as a model for improvement in business and industry and as a tool to promote teaming.

In 1995, industry and government representatives discussed the idea of broadening the BMP program's scope to incorporate success stories submitted by industry. The objective was to find an efficient, cost-effective way to share a greater volume of information on the latest technology and business developments. Since the BMP program had a proven approach for sharing success stories, this seemed to be a logical expansion.

The practices in this report were submitted to the BMP Center of Excellence by Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, Ft. Worth, TX as an example of some of the latest developments in the environmental area. They are considered to be best practices or success stories, however, they were not validated by an on-site BMP survey team. Our goal is to help industry and government keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in the business, manufacturing, and environmental communities.

Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems (LMTAS), Ft. Worth, TX, is government-owned and operated by Lockheed Martin as designated Air Force Plant 4. The facility operates with 12,000 employees, occupies 602 acres of land, and has 7 million square feet of buildings, including a mile-long assembly building. Opened in April 1942, LMTAS has produced more than 7,000 airplanes to date ' types B-24, B-32, B-36, B-58, F-111 and F-16. LMTAS' major programs include:

• Design and production of F-16, the world's premier, low-cost, multirole fighter for the USAF. More than 3,500 have been produced worldwide to date, with 1995 production at 70 to 80 worldwide.
  

   

• Development of the FS-X and the principal U.S. subcontractor to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan
  

   

• One-third share of F-22 engineering and manufacturing development program. The F-22, an air superiority fighter, will replace the USAF F-15 and is scheduled for its first flight in 1997.
  

   

• Currently in competition for the Joint Strike Fighter program to develop a new, low cost multirole fighter for the USAF, Navy, Marine Corps and Royal Navy.
  

   

TABLE OF ACRONYMS:
The following acronyms were used in this report:

Background: LMTAS has successfully implemented low vapor pressure solvent blends and a waste cloth management and disposal system in order to eliminate ozone depleting compound emissions in its wipe cleaning operations and still maintain low VOC emissions from its solvent cleaning operations.

Description: In September 1992, LMTAS replaced an 85% CFC-113, 15% VOC blend for wipe operations with a new low vapor pressure solvent and waste cloth management system, eliminating 200+ tons-per-year (typ) of CFC-113 emissions. This implementation additionally decreased VOC emissions such that 1995 VOC emissions from cleaning solvents are 1.8 tons-per-year. The same operations omitted ~45 typ of VOC and ~250 typ CFC-113 in the late 1980s.

Results: The low pressure solvent blends were selected after full-scale laboratory corrosion tests and cleaning performance tests. The solvents have been licensed to Dynamold Solvents and are sold to several aerospace and non-aerospace firms. Cost savings plus cost avoidance have been documented at $0.95 million for 1993 and $1.3 million for 1994. LMTAS management recently estimated the cost savings from the wipe solvent implementation to be $8.2 million for the five-year period of 1992 to 1997.

Four United States of America (USA) patents and three Taiwanese patents have been issued to LMTAS on the DS series solvent formulations and the waste cloth management system. More patent applications (USA and international) are either pending or are being reviewed by the Patent Office.

This technology represents the design of solvent blends that are less toxic than many of the alternatives previously being used, such as MEK, TCA, and various blends of MEK, TCA, and other toxic solvents. The reduced solvent usage and waste cloth management system makes the cleaning solvent 'inherently safer with regard to accident potential.' EPA has recognized this technology as having environmental benefits via several Stratospheric Ozone Protection Awards in 1993 and a Certificate of Recognition for 'Significant Reduction in HAPs,' in 1994. EPA has additionally recognized that the 'technology is applicable to industry and society' via the incentives/requirements to use this technology in the Aerospace NESHAP (August 1995) and the draft Aerospace CTG (September 1995).

For further information about this item, please contact:

Tony Phillips
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems
P.O. Box 748
Mail Zone 2852
Fort Worth, TX 76101-0748
Phone: (817) 777-3758
Fax: (817) 777-4254
E-Mail: Phlltlab@smtpgate.1mtas.lmco.com
Website: http://www.lmtas.com

Background: Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems (LMTAS) was the first aerospace company to implement innovative aqueous cleaning technology for cleaning tubing and honeycomb core. Tubing is used in the aerospace industry for transferring pressurized oxygen within an aerospace vehicle. Honeycomb core is used in the aerospace industry for producing bonded structural parts. Both applications require that the parts meet stringent cleanliness requirements. These requirements were previously met by using cold cleaning and/or vapor degreasing with chlorinated solvents. These solvents included 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and trichloroethylene (TCE). These chlorinated solvents are toxic and TCA is an ozone depleting compound.

Description: The use of chlorinated solvents posed a threat to the environment because they were commonly released into the air during cleaning operations and because the likelihood of a spill during their use was significant.

Results: These solvents were successfully replaced with aqueous cleaning technology. Implementation of aqueous cleaning technology at LMTAS has eliminated approximately 360 tons of air emissions per year and has resulted in a cost savings of $490K per year. In addition to replacing chlorinated solvents with innovative aqueous cleaning technology, LMTAS has also explored the use of environmentally safe methods for quantifying surface contaminants on parts cleaned by various cleaning technologies. Traditionally, extraction with CFC-113 followed by gravimetric or FTIR analysis has been used for quantifying surface contaminants. The use of CFC-113 is undesirable due to its ozone depleting potential. LMTAS has demonstrated the usefulness of carbon dioxide coulometry for determining the amount of residue remaining on a surface after cleaning and has used this technique for comparing the cleaning effectiveness of various cleaning technologies.

In summary, replacements of chlorinated solvent cleaning operations with aqueous cleaning operations offer the following benefit:

1. A reduction in the toxicity of the cleaning compounds used.

2. A reduction in the real and potential threat to the environment.

3. A significant cost savings due to the lower disposal costs associated with aqueous cleaning agents.

4. The required cleanliness levels can be easily achieved with aqueous cleaning (as verified by chemical analysis and mechanical testing). Novel analytical methods for cleanliness were demonstrated that use no hazardous solvents.

5. The aqueous cleaning technology can be (and has been) readily transferred to other facilities and industry sectors.

For further information about this item, please contact:

Tom Woodrow
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems
P.O. Box 748
Mail Zone 2852
Fort Worth, TX 76101-0748
Phone: (817) 777-4479
Fax: (817) 777-2115
e-mail: tawoodrow@lmtas.lmco.com
Website: http://www.lmtas.com

Background: Technical Orders (T.O.s) are maintenance and repair instruction books for military weapon systems. They reference the use of products containing hazardous chemicals, many of which are ozone-depleting compounds (ODCs). Due to the 1996 phaseout of Class I ODCs, it became necessary to identify replacement products for those T.O. materials containing Class I ODCs. The study involved a review of each T.O. to identify all chemicals or chemical products, analysis of each product to find the ones containing Class I ODCs, testing of candidates replacements, and incorporation of the verified replacements in the appropriate T.O.s.

Description: Over two thousand F-16 T.O.s were reviewed, leading to appropriate 900 referenced chemicals. Of these products, 66 were found to contain one or more Class I ODCs. This encompassed a wide range of products, including release agents, adhesion promoters, antiseize compounds, circuit refrigerants, retaining compound primers, greases, corrosion preventive compounds, coatings, and cleaning solvents. Replacement candidates were identified on an application-by-application basis. In some cases, lab testing was performed. Others required only shop trials for verification, or were simply incorporated after a thorough engineering study of issues such as functionability, material compatibility, economics, and health/safety.

Results: The replacements were incorporated into the T.O.s during 1996, and procurement data was provided to the inventory managers at applicable field units. The program was considered extremely successful, providing ODC-free maintenance and repair instructions for the 3500 plus F-16s currently active in domestic bases as well as bases around the world.

For further information about this item, please contact:

C.J. (Jerry) Brown
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems
P.O. Box 748
Mail Zone 2852
Fort Worth, TX 76101-0748
Phone: (817) 777-2150
Fax: (817) 777-4254
e-mail: CJBrown@lmtas.lmco.com
Website: http://www.lmtas.com