NAESU management of engineering and technical services

Abstract

This research reports the views of Engineering and Technical Specialists (ETS or techreps) and their customers. The views were gathered from a variety of locations using group interviews and questionnaires. The questionnaires asked techreps to rate the Importance of various activities and the Time Spent on them. The customer questionnaire rated the Importance and Value Added of the activities. Although the focus is on the Naval Aviation Engineering Service Unit (NAESU), it also includes data from the Army, Air Force, and Navy Fleet. Techreps' principal activities relate to on-the-job training, classroom training, and maintenance advice and assistance. There are distinct differences between the priority and time spent on various activities by techreps from the four service groups. Customers, operations and maintenance personnel at various levels, believe techreps are essential to enable military personnel to operate and maintain the equipment assigned to their units. Both techreps and customers state that the need for techreps results from deficiencies in military training, assignment practices, lack of experienced personnel, inadequate technical data, parts shortages, sophistication of equipment, and other systemic problems. Techreps help compensate for mismatches in the overall logistics system. The report concludes with recommendations designed to improve the overall management of techreps.