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Tuesday, December 4, 2007 - 2:00 PM
The Successful Example of a Production Laser Stripping Facility
The Laser Automated Decoating System (LADS) has been in production operation since 1995. The LADS was the first production laser stripping facility in the DoD. However, during the first four years of operation, even though the LADS met most of the stripping production requirements, the LADS gained the reputation of not being a reliable stripping facility. The reputation was the result of the LADS being off line for a significant amount of time when it went down.
In late 1999, the Air Force defined the new LADS success metric to be operational time and not simply meeting production needs. The goal for operational time was set at 80 percent. Accomplishing the metric required the reformulation of the LADS maintenance approach.
The new maintenance approach was implemented in March of 2001. The success of the new maintenance process is validated by the fact that the LADS operational time has averaged 90 percent since mid 2003 through October 2006.
This presentation/paper will address the following:
· An overview of the LADS facility
· The key details and results of the successful maintenance process
· Production, pollution, and worker injury benefits of the LADS
See more of Coating Removal and Pretreatment II
See more of The 2007 Tri-Service Corrosion Conference (December 3-7, 2007)
See more of The 2007 Tri-Service Corrosion Conference (December 3-7, 2007)