Original Date: 05/08/1995
Revision Date: 01/18/2007

McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA)-St. Louis conducts field visits/site surveys for early assessment of customer locations and facilities for the placement of weapon systems. These surveys are also conducted to determine customer needs and to assess field performance after the weapon system is fielded. The assessment of these visits is included in the Logistics Support Analysis (LSA) documentation.

The survey process is structured using a systems engineering approach. Contract data requirements form the basis for system inputs, and the transformation is made through LSA program planning and management. Mission and support system definition is the result of this process.

Data obtained from the visits is used in life cycle cost analysis; design-to-cost efforts; reliability, maintainability, and availability analysis; and the development of training requirements. In addition, all weapon system requirements determined as a result of site visits are tied into the overall program schedule to ensure all requirements are accounted for.

MDA-St. Louis has participated in several benchmarking efforts including the Price Waterhouse 2000 Project, the Aerospace Industries Association LSA Benchmark, and internal Total Quality Management System evaluations. Applications of this site survey process, along with the use of skilled logisticians, has earned MDA-St. Louis high marks in the LSA process.

Another feature of MDA-St. Louis’ LSA success is attributed to the development and use of Customer Contact Plans. These plans identify annually scheduled visits and locations. This permits a free flow of communication prior to field visits and allows each site time to prepare both the site for the visit, as well as documentation in relationship to the needs and requirements. All contacts with the customer are summarized in a dedicated database for traceability and follow-on efforts.

The success of MDA-St. Louis’ field visits is measured through a number of corporate metrics which include quality, delivery schedule, and customer response time. Results include a 75% to 95% increase in quality and scheduled deliveries. MDA-St. Louis has improved on its response time goal of 24 hours, with an average of only two hours. Over the past three years, MDA-St. Louis has made substantial changes in its LSA process in skill requirements and the automation environment.

For more information see the Point of Contact for this survey.