A very insightful post by Jackonicko
It is an unfortunate by-product of the decision to create an agency of what were RNAY/RNAW/MUs that highly trained servicemen became less attractive as a workforce. The reason is simple. You get around 1600 hours per year from a civilian, less than 900 from a serviceman doing the same job, as the latter has other duties. If a customer needs a job done that takes 80 hours, he can have it in two weeks or four weeks, depending who does the job. A simplification, but you get the drift.
Within DARA, workshops with few, if any, servicemen e.g. Almondbank, have for decades been far more efficient than the likes of Sealand and St Athan; having an hourly rate often less than a third of the others’. Even when RNAW, their capacity to make a profit from repayment work (paid work from the civilian sector) was unique in the MoD. They probably think they’ve been dragged down by the creation of DARA. The downside of this however, is that the Services lose their deployable engineering expertise, and the MoD loses flexibility.
Of course, DARA’s effectiveness assumes the IPTs in DLO provision sufficient spares and deliver them to the correct place and on time. Few do. This is compounded by suppliers (who are often DARA’s direct competitors) knowing this, and so have no incentive to deliver. The “just in time” philosophy is only one reason. Complete ignorance of engineering production matters is another. With the formation of DARA, and their own (generous) payscales, IPTs lost their main recruitment base. I never thought I’d see the day where an aircraft PM didn’t recognise a picture of one of his aircraft; but I have now.
Word has it that what BEeagle describes is a precursor to further changes. Sell off part of DARA. Bring another part back into the MoD fold. Close another. And when DLO rejoins with DPA we’ll have turned full circle – only the experience has gone.