Last Week Of Practical Training
It was the final week of my summer training at 3BRD. Last week all the project work was completed and the preparation of the report was due. So I started making the report for the projects.
The report making required collection of data about the literature review regarding Six Sigma and Non mandatory spares. It was done with the help of books and internet. But there was nothing available regarding the non mandatory spares so I gathered the information about these items by talking to various officers from ranging from top position to bottom. In addition to this final checking of model, giving explanations of various concepts in the report etc was also done. And after doing all sorts of such things, the report was ready and it was submitted to the BRD.
But other than the report submission, there were a lot of formalities that I have to complete. It included getting clearance from all the departments of the BRD, paying all the dues, meetings with the supervisor etc.
At last I gave a presentation to the officers about my stay at BRD, my experiences and most importantly the work done during the project. I must say that it was a very good presentation both from our side and as well as from the BRD. After all that I got a chance to have photographs with the Mi8, Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters which was what I was wandering for since a long time.
Finally, now I have finished my training. I must say that the last two months were the best experiences of my life. During this period I have learned a lot about helicopters, Indian Air Force, their officers and the life that they live. And we all must Salute them for the dedication, sincerity and hard work that they provide to the country.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Second last week
During the first three days of the week I worked on the project on Non mandatory spares. The data for it was collected last week so I started working on the model that can be used in order to find the cost that has been incurred on these non moving items by using all concepts of time value of money and inflation rate. I tried various things and derived numerous formulas but every time some mistake occur, but finally after trying a lot of things I was able to settle at one formula. Then there were meetings with my supervisor regarding this model, which led to modification of the model.
Then I started working on Six sigma project. It mostly included the learning about the engine, problems that is facing, some preventive measures that can be taken and the remedial solution. During the study I found that is the oil system which is causing most of the problems so I thought over the problem and provided them with an alternative solution.
After this I tried to found out the forecasting that is done at BRD. But to my surprise there was no effort put on this. So I suggested them the most simple and efficient forecasting methods that can be used to forecast the demand so that they know well in advance the exact requirement of material and man power required and thus can plan in accordance with that.
Then I started working on Six sigma project. It mostly included the learning about the engine, problems that is facing, some preventive measures that can be taken and the remedial solution. During the study I found that is the oil system which is causing most of the problems so I thought over the problem and provided them with an alternative solution.
After this I tried to found out the forecasting that is done at BRD. But to my surprise there was no effort put on this. So I suggested them the most simple and efficient forecasting methods that can be used to forecast the demand so that they know well in advance the exact requirement of material and man power required and thus can plan in accordance with that.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Demanding tasks
During the start of this week I completed the task of data collection, which in itself was a huge task. After this I read books on Six sigma in order to learn about its theory and literature. But then I started studying the reports and engine in order to find the defects which are occurring in the engine. I made list of all such defects and their frequency, and then using Microsoft excel worksheet I made the model for finding the sigma level at which each defect is working at present. Once the sigmisation of defects was over, I tried to figure out the various reasons which can be the possible causes of the defects and preventive & remedial measures that can be taken corresponding to the defects.
In regard to the project on Automated replenishment system, there was no material available. So I talked to various officers so as to find the system by which the Planning and provisioning cell of BRD is working. And I was shocked to find that there is not much emphasis put on it, as they simply find the average consumption for last five years which is taken as the demand for current year, known as CAR. The CAR value is multiplied with the number of years for which the stock has to be made out in order to find the overall quantity that is required. Then I tried to find out details about ARS but I was not able to do so. I searched a lot and found that there is a problem regarding the procurement of non moving non mandatory spares. So I talked to officers regarding this after which I decided to abandon my project on ARS and do a project on the Non moving non mandatory spares, which could be very helpful to Air force.
In regard to the project on Automated replenishment system, there was no material available. So I talked to various officers so as to find the system by which the Planning and provisioning cell of BRD is working. And I was shocked to find that there is not much emphasis put on it, as they simply find the average consumption for last five years which is taken as the demand for current year, known as CAR. The CAR value is multiplied with the number of years for which the stock has to be made out in order to find the overall quantity that is required. Then I tried to find out details about ARS but I was not able to do so. I searched a lot and found that there is a problem regarding the procurement of non moving non mandatory spares. So I talked to officers regarding this after which I decided to abandon my project on ARS and do a project on the Non moving non mandatory spares, which could be very helpful to Air force.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
The real work begins
Week 5
Start of Project Work
After a month of observations of different departments of the BRD, now begins the era of the project work. The last week saw meetings with AOC R.K Srivastava and Group Captain M.F Alam, both meetings aiming at the betterment of the start & consequent working of projects. And both officers wish me luck for my project. I had an option of five projects but only three of them were feasible as other two involves software programming. These 3 projects were ‘Six sigma analysis of the AI-20 engine’, ‘Fatigue analysis of aircraft’ and ‘Modernization of the Flushing Rig’. Out of these I choose the first project.
My project is basically to find the defects that are occurring in the engine, their frequency and the Sigma level at which the engine division is working. After this I had to suggest some measures to improve the current system prevailing here. After deciding about the project I had a meeting with Wg Cdr S.Shukla and Gp Cpt S Singh. I must say that, of all the officers that I have met here, I found Gp Cpt S Singh the most intelligent & practical of all of them. He is the men who has a lot of knowledge and wants to improve each & every system to the best possible. He gave two lectures regarding my project, its need & requirement and on Six sigma. After all this introduction & briefing of the project, I started working on it. The initial part involves collection of a lot of data from various places and this itself is an enormous task. Most of the data has been collected and I had started working on the project.
Another thing to mention is that I was very much interested in doing some project on industrial engineering, so I talked to WC A Bharti and Gp Cpt Alam. They guided me to talk to Grp Cpt Y Sathe. I had a meeting with him and he suggested me to do a project on the provisioning of ARS (Automated Replenishment System), which is the most important & fast moving part of the helicopter. I had asked the provisioning division to provide me the data for last 5 to 10 years and they asked me to wait as it will take around 2 to 3 days.
I am very much enthusiastic about my projects and will work to my best potential to do the projects as efficiently & effectively as possible. And I also hope that my projects will benefit to 3BRD & IAF and thus to my country.
Start of Project Work
After a month of observations of different departments of the BRD, now begins the era of the project work. The last week saw meetings with AOC R.K Srivastava and Group Captain M.F Alam, both meetings aiming at the betterment of the start & consequent working of projects. And both officers wish me luck for my project. I had an option of five projects but only three of them were feasible as other two involves software programming. These 3 projects were ‘Six sigma analysis of the AI-20 engine’, ‘Fatigue analysis of aircraft’ and ‘Modernization of the Flushing Rig’. Out of these I choose the first project.
My project is basically to find the defects that are occurring in the engine, their frequency and the Sigma level at which the engine division is working. After this I had to suggest some measures to improve the current system prevailing here. After deciding about the project I had a meeting with Wg Cdr S.Shukla and Gp Cpt S Singh. I must say that, of all the officers that I have met here, I found Gp Cpt S Singh the most intelligent & practical of all of them. He is the men who has a lot of knowledge and wants to improve each & every system to the best possible. He gave two lectures regarding my project, its need & requirement and on Six sigma. After all this introduction & briefing of the project, I started working on it. The initial part involves collection of a lot of data from various places and this itself is an enormous task. Most of the data has been collected and I had started working on the project.
Another thing to mention is that I was very much interested in doing some project on industrial engineering, so I talked to WC A Bharti and Gp Cpt Alam. They guided me to talk to Grp Cpt Y Sathe. I had a meeting with him and he suggested me to do a project on the provisioning of ARS (Automated Replenishment System), which is the most important & fast moving part of the helicopter. I had asked the provisioning division to provide me the data for last 5 to 10 years and they asked me to wait as it will take around 2 to 3 days.
I am very much enthusiastic about my projects and will work to my best potential to do the projects as efficiently & effectively as possible. And I also hope that my projects will benefit to 3BRD & IAF and thus to my country.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
End of the 1 month learning process
Week 4 at 3BRD
Continuing from where I left last week, I had visit to general engineering squadron, Indigenisation squadron and QAS (quality assurance squadron).
In GES I visited the remaining bays which were left in the last week, some of which are Rubber bay, rubber testing lab, CNC wire cut machine etc. Rubber testing lab has all the facilities for testing properties of rubber such as elongation, tensile strength, compressive strength and hardness. The lab also has facilities for testing tensile & compressive strength and other properties of metals also. Various machines used for this purpose are universal testing machine, hardness tester etc.
After this I visited Indigenization cell which is the most important part of 3BRD as well as Indian air force. This cell is associated with indigenizing as many parts of the helicopters and aircrafts as much as possible. ISC of 3BRD has indigenized around 13000 different parts of the helicopter whereas IAF has indigenized around one million parts. But to everyone’s disappointment all these are simple & single parts and ISC has not been able to made any complete system. At present they are working to make the complete Fire extinguishing system and if they are able to do this then it will be a major achievement in the history of IAF.QAS is associated with the testing and maintaining the quality standards of all the tools, machines & services used & provided in 3BRD. It maintains check on the preventive maintenance that is carried out in the BRD. It does various work, from dimensional check to micrometry check. There are offices and labs for quality check in every department
Continuing from where I left last week, I had visit to general engineering squadron, Indigenisation squadron and QAS (quality assurance squadron).
In GES I visited the remaining bays which were left in the last week, some of which are Rubber bay, rubber testing lab, CNC wire cut machine etc. Rubber testing lab has all the facilities for testing properties of rubber such as elongation, tensile strength, compressive strength and hardness. The lab also has facilities for testing tensile & compressive strength and other properties of metals also. Various machines used for this purpose are universal testing machine, hardness tester etc.
After this I visited Indigenization cell which is the most important part of 3BRD as well as Indian air force. This cell is associated with indigenizing as many parts of the helicopters and aircrafts as much as possible. ISC of 3BRD has indigenized around 13000 different parts of the helicopter whereas IAF has indigenized around one million parts. But to everyone’s disappointment all these are simple & single parts and ISC has not been able to made any complete system. At present they are working to make the complete Fire extinguishing system and if they are able to do this then it will be a major achievement in the history of IAF.QAS is associated with the testing and maintaining the quality standards of all the tools, machines & services used & provided in 3BRD. It maintains check on the preventive maintenance that is carried out in the BRD. It does various work, from dimensional check to micrometry check. There are offices and labs for quality check in every department
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Exploring the departments
Three weeks have passed and the last week was same as previous two weeks in terms of both the hectic schedule as well as learning experience. It was devoted to the Engine component repair system (ECRS), General engineering section (GES) and Central scientific instrument organization (CSIO).
I had already learnt about the helicopters engines and now it was the time to know about the overhauling of the engine of Mi8 & AN32. I went to the ECRS lab where this was done. There I met with Sq Ldr Kuldeep who showed me different bays and told me everything about the overhauling of the engine which basically has 19 components.
He told me about the importance and need of an engineer in this section as some sort of innovative ideas are required here. I also saw the Jig made by HAL and used for the testing of the engine under simulated conditions for various parameters. There were some Jigs which have been brought from Russia in 1960’s and are still working in good conditions.
After this I went to the GES which is considered to be the heart of the BRD. It has seven bays-Heat Treatment and Welding Shop, Machine Shop, Organic Shop, Fastener Shop, Rubber Seal Bay, Ratable Bay and Sheet Metal Bay. This section was very interesting as it was related to my field and I learned a lot about the manufacturing of various components of the helicopter. There were many CNC machines such as EDM machine, Milling machine etc. The welding shop has facility for Magnesium welding also. Rubber bay was the most interesting one and in this bay the rubber seals are made. But still there are some bays in GES which are not yet explored and I will do that in the next week.
There was also a special visit to CSIO which is a part of CSIR (central scientific instrument research). It is the body for the design & development of defense related instrument. Here firstly I went to the Environment Monitoring Control Division where I learned about various instruments used for measuring environmental pollution. Some of them are Smoke density meter, Turbidity meter, high volume sampler, Chemilumiscent tester for nitrogen oxides, Sulphur dioxide analyzer, CO analyzer, Infrared gas analyzer etc. After this I went to the research lab where I saw HUD (Head-up-display) which is used in fighter aircrafts. HUD is the most important instrument developed by CSIO and it has caused a revolution in the whole world.
To conclude I would say that it was one more productive week at IAF-3BRD and I have learned a lot. And now only one more week of observational training is left after which I will start my project. And I hope that this week would give me all the information and knowledge about the 3BRD which I haven’t got till now.
I had already learnt about the helicopters engines and now it was the time to know about the overhauling of the engine of Mi8 & AN32. I went to the ECRS lab where this was done. There I met with Sq Ldr Kuldeep who showed me different bays and told me everything about the overhauling of the engine which basically has 19 components.
He told me about the importance and need of an engineer in this section as some sort of innovative ideas are required here. I also saw the Jig made by HAL and used for the testing of the engine under simulated conditions for various parameters. There were some Jigs which have been brought from Russia in 1960’s and are still working in good conditions.
After this I went to the GES which is considered to be the heart of the BRD. It has seven bays-Heat Treatment and Welding Shop, Machine Shop, Organic Shop, Fastener Shop, Rubber Seal Bay, Ratable Bay and Sheet Metal Bay. This section was very interesting as it was related to my field and I learned a lot about the manufacturing of various components of the helicopter. There were many CNC machines such as EDM machine, Milling machine etc. The welding shop has facility for Magnesium welding also. Rubber bay was the most interesting one and in this bay the rubber seals are made. But still there are some bays in GES which are not yet explored and I will do that in the next week.
There was also a special visit to CSIO which is a part of CSIR (central scientific instrument research). It is the body for the design & development of defense related instrument. Here firstly I went to the Environment Monitoring Control Division where I learned about various instruments used for measuring environmental pollution. Some of them are Smoke density meter, Turbidity meter, high volume sampler, Chemilumiscent tester for nitrogen oxides, Sulphur dioxide analyzer, CO analyzer, Infrared gas analyzer etc. After this I went to the research lab where I saw HUD (Head-up-display) which is used in fighter aircrafts. HUD is the most important instrument developed by CSIO and it has caused a revolution in the whole world.
To conclude I would say that it was one more productive week at IAF-3BRD and I have learned a lot. And now only one more week of observational training is left after which I will start my project. And I hope that this week would give me all the information and knowledge about the 3BRD which I haven’t got till now.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
The beginning of exploration in to the IAF
The first week was over and within no time the second week started with a new warrant officer accompanying us. He was a totally different person as compared to the previous officer and was very strict in regard to rules and discipline.
The week started with a presentation by wing Cdr (retd.) DP Sabharwal, who is currently a member of aeronautical society of aircraft. The presentation was on the topic of Maintenance. He told us about the types of maintenance, their importance & its role in the Indian Air Force. And it was boring and I could not find anything relevant in that presentation.
This week was mainly associated with the study of Airframe and the engine & its components. Some important components of the airframe are Blades & their honeycomb structure, Stabilizer, Tail skid, Main & Tail rotor, Night vision, Missile sight etc. The other part was the engine which itself is a vast topic. I learned about the working of the engine and also gained a lot of knowledge about its components such as fuel system, APU (auxiliary power unit), fuel injectors & igniters, FDS (flexible driving shaft) etc.
I also visited the machine shop, welding & abradable coating bay which were good but I was already familiar with the machines and processes used here. Heavy duty lathe, Vertical machining centre, Jig boring machine, centreless grinding machine and few other machines were there in the machine shop whereas TIG welding, Vacuum TIG welding, plasma spraying, 20Bar & KNA coating etc were there in the welding shop.
Then I went to TETTRA (Technical Type Training school), where everybody from technicians to engineers to pilots and the senior most officers are trained in fighter aircrafts including Mig-27 & 29. I was told about the redundancy, aviation & maintenance aspects of aviation. I attended a presentation on Mig29 which told me about the features, engine, geometry and other parameters of the aircraft I also had privilege to see the model of Mig29 and also various missiles. The construction details of the ejection seat were also told to me.
Now second week of our training is also over and there is still a lot more to learn.
The week started with a presentation by wing Cdr (retd.) DP Sabharwal, who is currently a member of aeronautical society of aircraft. The presentation was on the topic of Maintenance. He told us about the types of maintenance, their importance & its role in the Indian Air Force. And it was boring and I could not find anything relevant in that presentation.
This week was mainly associated with the study of Airframe and the engine & its components. Some important components of the airframe are Blades & their honeycomb structure, Stabilizer, Tail skid, Main & Tail rotor, Night vision, Missile sight etc. The other part was the engine which itself is a vast topic. I learned about the working of the engine and also gained a lot of knowledge about its components such as fuel system, APU (auxiliary power unit), fuel injectors & igniters, FDS (flexible driving shaft) etc.
I also visited the machine shop, welding & abradable coating bay which were good but I was already familiar with the machines and processes used here. Heavy duty lathe, Vertical machining centre, Jig boring machine, centreless grinding machine and few other machines were there in the machine shop whereas TIG welding, Vacuum TIG welding, plasma spraying, 20Bar & KNA coating etc were there in the welding shop.
Then I went to TETTRA (Technical Type Training school), where everybody from technicians to engineers to pilots and the senior most officers are trained in fighter aircrafts including Mig-27 & 29. I was told about the redundancy, aviation & maintenance aspects of aviation. I attended a presentation on Mig29 which told me about the features, engine, geometry and other parameters of the aircraft I also had privilege to see the model of Mig29 and also various missiles. The construction details of the ejection seat were also told to me.
Now second week of our training is also over and there is still a lot more to learn.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The journey begins
Training in Indian air Force, sounds quite interesting. And since the day when I knew that I would be doing my training in IAF Chandigarh, I was excited, waiting for the day to come because there are fighter aircrafts, radars etc.(as previously known) at this place and secondly the beautiful city Chandigarh.
The majors were over, some grades were out & some yet to be displayed and in all these events the long waited day finally came when I reached 3BRD(Base Repair Depot) on 14th May 2006 after a long and nice seven hour journey with a lot of enthusiasm, excitation and expectation. I was allotted a twin sharing room. My room partner was manoj singhal. After having lunch & a nice sleep we went to explore the city and for our disappointment found that the city goes to sleep around 8:00p.m. We are a total of 9 students- 4 from IIT Bombay doing their B.Tech in Aerospace engineering and 5 from IIT Delhi(including me) doing our B.Tech in mechanical engineering except me as I am from Production & Industrial engineering.
To tell you something about 3BRD I must say that it’s a maintenance depot where overhauling(assembly & disassembly) and testing & servicing of helicopters(basically Mi8 & Mi17 i.e. cargo and not the fighter aircraft) is being done. Assembly of Mi35 helicopters which come in knockout condition from Russia is also done. I can’t tell anything more about the technical aspects as I am working in a defense organization and I have to abide by its rule of not leaking the secrets out of the camp area.
Training started from the next day, which was basically related to the introduction to IAF, 3BRD and Officers officiating our training. The presentations & lectures told us about the history of IAF, its structure, branches, packages etc. and most importantly the security rules & regulations and the dress code that I have to strictly follow. There was a meeting with AOC(Air officer commanding) R.K srivastava relating to the training and basically for a formal introduction. But I still did not know that what my training is all about except the fact that it was divided into two parts, the first half been the Observational training for a period of 4 weeks and in the later half I have to do a project.
After all the introduction the observational training started and now I had to visit various labs, hangers etc where the overhauling & servicing of various components & subcomponents is being done and was supposed to understand the working. The various places that I visited are Mi8, Mi17, Mi35 hangers and Avionics lab(which include instrument, fuel components, communication, fire equipments and many other labs).It was a totally new experience and I must appreciate that I have learned a lot about various components & system of the flying machine such as engine, transmission system, communication system etc. I should also tell you that I had a dream of sitting in the cockpit(on pilot seat) and this dream was fulfilled here giving me a lot of satisfaction and joy. And the feelings that I had while standing on the roof of the helicopter are not possible to describe in words, it was just an out of world experience. For your information Mi35, the only combat helicopter is wonderful both from outside & inside and it can carry a lot of arms & ammunitions to destroy the enemy.
But there are some problems that I am facing. The most important is the food that I can’t eat due to the lehson put in it which causes disorder in my stomach and make me to barf. And another is the transportation problem. As IAF can’t provide us vehicle and we don’t have it, so if I had to go to market then I have to walk for many kilometers in order to reach to bus stop and even after this I am not sure whether I would get the desired bus or not.
To conclude I would say that this one week was full of new experiences and knowledge. I have learnt a lot just in one week only and hope to learn a lot more in the future. And I will give my best to explore this place and gain as much knowledge as possible from here so as to make the best possible use of this opportunity.
The majors were over, some grades were out & some yet to be displayed and in all these events the long waited day finally came when I reached 3BRD(Base Repair Depot) on 14th May 2006 after a long and nice seven hour journey with a lot of enthusiasm, excitation and expectation. I was allotted a twin sharing room. My room partner was manoj singhal. After having lunch & a nice sleep we went to explore the city and for our disappointment found that the city goes to sleep around 8:00p.m. We are a total of 9 students- 4 from IIT Bombay doing their B.Tech in Aerospace engineering and 5 from IIT Delhi(including me) doing our B.Tech in mechanical engineering except me as I am from Production & Industrial engineering.
To tell you something about 3BRD I must say that it’s a maintenance depot where overhauling(assembly & disassembly) and testing & servicing of helicopters(basically Mi8 & Mi17 i.e. cargo and not the fighter aircraft) is being done. Assembly of Mi35 helicopters which come in knockout condition from Russia is also done. I can’t tell anything more about the technical aspects as I am working in a defense organization and I have to abide by its rule of not leaking the secrets out of the camp area.
Training started from the next day, which was basically related to the introduction to IAF, 3BRD and Officers officiating our training. The presentations & lectures told us about the history of IAF, its structure, branches, packages etc. and most importantly the security rules & regulations and the dress code that I have to strictly follow. There was a meeting with AOC(Air officer commanding) R.K srivastava relating to the training and basically for a formal introduction. But I still did not know that what my training is all about except the fact that it was divided into two parts, the first half been the Observational training for a period of 4 weeks and in the later half I have to do a project.
After all the introduction the observational training started and now I had to visit various labs, hangers etc where the overhauling & servicing of various components & subcomponents is being done and was supposed to understand the working. The various places that I visited are Mi8, Mi17, Mi35 hangers and Avionics lab(which include instrument, fuel components, communication, fire equipments and many other labs).It was a totally new experience and I must appreciate that I have learned a lot about various components & system of the flying machine such as engine, transmission system, communication system etc. I should also tell you that I had a dream of sitting in the cockpit(on pilot seat) and this dream was fulfilled here giving me a lot of satisfaction and joy. And the feelings that I had while standing on the roof of the helicopter are not possible to describe in words, it was just an out of world experience. For your information Mi35, the only combat helicopter is wonderful both from outside & inside and it can carry a lot of arms & ammunitions to destroy the enemy.
But there are some problems that I am facing. The most important is the food that I can’t eat due to the lehson put in it which causes disorder in my stomach and make me to barf. And another is the transportation problem. As IAF can’t provide us vehicle and we don’t have it, so if I had to go to market then I have to walk for many kilometers in order to reach to bus stop and even after this I am not sure whether I would get the desired bus or not.
To conclude I would say that this one week was full of new experiences and knowledge. I have learnt a lot just in one week only and hope to learn a lot more in the future. And I will give my best to explore this place and gain as much knowledge as possible from here so as to make the best possible use of this opportunity.
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