Planning, control, and production are functional management responsibilities assigned to the maintenance officer. The maintenance officer and subordinate officers provide the direction and guidance essential for subordinate divisions to implement and comply with all local and higher authority maintenance policies and technical directives. The maintenance officer estimates and programs facilities, equipment, manpower, and training requirements.
In the standard organization, the following subordinate officers assist the maintenance officer in the management of the department:
The assistant maintenance officer supervises the activities of the staff divisions; namely, the quality assurance/analysis division and the maintenance administrative section.
The maintenance/material control officer exercises direct supervision over the production divisions; namely, the aircraft, avionics/armament, and line divisions.
Various aircraft maintenance division and branch officers organize and manage their respective divisions and branches.
The organization for maintenance departments provides firm lines of authority from the maintenance officer to the personnel accomplishing the work for which the department is responsible. The term department is used in this training manual (TRAMAN) as a general term that applies to all aircraft maintenance activities having a department head.
All major segments of the department reporting directly to the department head are called divisions. Divisions are subdivided into branches. (In cases of maintenance activities assigned as divisions to other departments, the term division, designating the next echelon, is used in place of department. Branches become sections, and sections become units.)
Organizational maintenance activities are the main users and operators of naval aircraft. Therefore, most of their maintenance tasks involve the day-to-day support of their own operations. Organizational maintenance activities are composed of maintenance managers, who manage the activity; staff divisions, which perform support-type functions for the production divisions; and maintenance managers and production divisions, which actually perform the various maintenance tasks.
Figure 1-1 is an organizational chart of a typical organizational-level maintenance department. The numbers shown in the various blocks are work center codes. Work center codes are used in the maintenance data system, which is an important part of the NAMP. Work center codes are necessary for recording and reporting work done, since data processing computer methods are used for these purposes. Typical work centers are maintenance control, quality assurance/analysis division, the airframes branch of the aircraft division, and the electronics branch of the aviation/armament division.
In an organizational maintenance activity, staff divisions provide services and support for the production divisions. They correlate the accomplishments and progress of the production divisions. Together, the staff divisions give the maintenance officer a consolidated view of the current status of the maintenance picture.
A discussion of some of the more important functions of the staff divisions, especially those to which you, as an AZ, might be assigned, is contained in the following paragraphs. A more detailed discussion of these divisions and their responsibilities is contained in the NAMP.
The staff divisions in organizational maintenance activities are quality assurance/analysis and maintenance administration.
QUALITY ASSURANCE/ANALYSIS DIVISION. - The basic concept of quality assurance is the prevention of the occurrence of defects. This concept includes all events from the start of the maintenance operation to its completion, and it is the responsibility of all personnel. Achievement of quality assurance depends upon prevention, knowledge, and special skills.
Prevention is based upon the principle that it is necessary to preclude maintenance failures. This principle extends to the safety of personnel, the maintenance of equipment, and the entire maintenance effort. Prevention is concerned with the regulation of events, rather than being regulated by them.
Knowledge is derived from factual information. It introduces data collection and analysis as a means of acquiring this knowledge.
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