Central storage warehouse provides quality service
By Staff Sgt. Nick Wilson, 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
/ Published July 18, 2013
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --
(Editor's note: This is part one of a three-part series about sections of the 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron Material Management Flight)
Airmen need to be equipped with the right gear to accomplish the mission. That's where Airmen who work in the 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron central storage warehouse come into play.
When shops are in need of parts or equipment they call on these Airmen to provide them with the materials they need in a timely manner. The Airmen are responsible for more than 182,000 items that value approximately $177 million.
"We spend a lot of time performing pulls and put-aways," said Senior Airman Stephanie Shipwash, 509th LRS central storage journeyman. "Pulls are items that shops have ordered to perform maintenance on their aircraft. Put-aways are items the base receives for a certain aircraft."
Shipwash said the shop also provides equipment to shops at other bases, when orders are put into an online system used by Airmen in the central storage career field worldwide.
In addition to parts for aircraft maintenance, the warehouse also houses various items for other shops on base.
"We are actually in control of more than one warehouse," said Airman 1st Class Terrell Grant, 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron central storage journeyman. "We have a classified vault and hazardous vaults. The vaults are separate because some of our hazardous materials have to be set at a certain temperature."
The warehouse also contains numerous types of electrostatic devices, according to Grant.
"Our electrostatic items have to be kept separate from other items because the slightest thing can destroy them, such as static electricity and certain types of metals," Grant said. "So we keep them at least three to five feet away from other items, depending on what type of devices they are."
The central storage Airmen also ensure function checks are performed on different types of equipment as they arrive to the shop.
"We send equipment out to other shops to make sure that they work," Grant said. "You don't want to put a part that doesn't work on a plane and then have something bad happen."
They will also perform function checks on items they've received from other Air Force bases.
"If a package we receive says it was checked by a base in Nebraska, we'll still have someone from the 442nd Fighter Wing or 509th Bomb Wing check it out," said Shipwash.
In addition to checking to ensure items in the warehouse work, central storage Airmen must also perform routine inspections on packages and different types of equipment in their inventory.
"We have databases that we're required to check every day," Shipwash said. "The databases give us pertinent information about incoming and outgoing items. We use that information to keep our shelves up to date, and therefore prevent us from issuing expired equipment."
Checking the databases every day and performing inspections keep central storage Airmen busy throughout all hours of each day.
"We have everything from the biggest types of equipment you can imagine to something as small as a screw," Grant said. "They're all here."