Solving Problems: Innovating Together
People
| Oct 31, 2019, 3:30:00 PM GMT+8
When the Wing Position Light of the F-15SG was faulty, the aircraft had to be grounded and the entire assembly had to be replaced. This entire process took our Air Force Engineers some 48 man-hours. That was when ME3 Ng Yong Yong put his innovative mind to work. He thought that there must be a more efficient way to this, just like changing a faulty light bulb at home.
After months of experimenting together with his team, they realised that the LED bulb can be replaced in-situ, eliminating the need to replace the entire LED Module assembly. This stroke of genius dramatically cut down the process to a mere 3 man-hours and in the process, save about 99% of the original cost of replacing the entire module. This innovative idea had not only enhances operational effectiveness, but also eliminated the need for aircraft towing and thus, increasing the safety aspect of operations.
This simple yet effective tweak to the procedure had such a huge impact not only locally but also on the global stage where the idea was adopted by Boeing and the innovation also made its way into the World Wide F-15 Aircraft Operators' Technical Manual.
For their brilliance, the 'Improving Defect Recovery time for Wing Position Lighting Defect' project team was awarded the MINDEF Innovation Project Award (MIPA) at the MINDEF Innovation Symposium 2019 (IS19). Previously known as the Productivity and Innovation in Daily Efforts (PRIDE) Symposium, the IS19 was held at Singapore University of Technology and Design from 29 - 30 Oct 19.
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