USAFE hosts AFSO21 Process Council

  • Published
  • By Tech Sgt. Corey Clements
  • U.S. Air Forces in Europe Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (USAFENS) --  The first Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century Process Council (AFSO21) held outside of the Washington D.C. area was hosted by U.S. Air Forces in Europe here on Dec. 10 and 11.

The Process Council's goal is to intergrate and guide the transformation of the Air Force's governing, core and enabling processes in order to improve combat capability. In addition, the Council ensures the culture, organizational structures, investments, and other resources are aligned to institutionalize continuous process improvement as a way of life for all Airmen. 

Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General T. Michael Moseley kicked off the Council with a round-table discussion with commanders and general officers of each major command, Air Force smart operations experts, and other Air Staff officials.

"Our next big move for AFSO21 is to more quickly see and act upon improvement opportunities across the Air Force," said General Moseley. "In many cases, we don't know what we know regarding opportunities for improvement. There are hundreds of millions of dollars worth of savings we could capitalize on from ideas already identified."

This is one important reason for the quarterly Process Council performance review meetings.

"One of AFSO21's great successes is the determined engagement of our most senior leaders, as exemplified in their regular discussions on progress through the Process Council to share results," added General Moseley.

Other discussion included the training progress of Air Force senior leaders and infusing AFSO21 problem solving tools and methods into professional military education, and most importantly, integrating those successful results in like processes throughout the Air Force.

"2008 is the year of integration," said Lt Col Brou Gautier, SAF Smart Operations Integration and Communications Division Chief. "Integration is concerned with piecing together all the different AFSO21 work across the Air Force. It makes sure that before Airmen start a project they can look through our database of knowledge to determine if they have to start from scratch or see if someone has been down that path before and start at a 40% to 60% or better solution."

The database can be found on the Air Force Portal's AFSO21 Community of Practice  knowledge area where several USAFE AFSO21 initiatives are showcased.

Hosting the quarterly performance review at Ramstein afforded the Air Force's most senior leaders the opportunity to "go and see" the progress USAFE made and the challenges they have encountered so far along their continuous process improvement journey. Several USAFE wing commanders briefed their AFSO21 initiatives to the Process Council.

"The reason we came to USAFE first [to do the quarterly Process Council meeting outside of D.C.] is because you guys are leading the way," said Dr. Ronald Ritter, Special Assistant to the SECAF for Smart Operations. "Other places in the Air Force are doing absolutely fantastic work, but this is one of the very important 'beach-heads' for us...you've stepped out, paved the way, and made an example."

Secretary Wynne and the MAJCOM generals had a chance to see some of the AFSO21 initiatives first hand by visiting three sites in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.

The 435th Air Base Wing's vehicle maintenance process applied lean initiatives to their processes  and saved 49,398 walking miles between work centers annually, 15,900 man hours annually and a cost avoidance of $8 million for construction of a new maintenance facility.

The 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron vehicle registration office applied transactional AFSO21 principles and cut customer processing time from an average of 51 minutes to 18 minutes, which translates to approximately 21,600 hours eliminated for KMC members completing the registration process.

Not to be out done, the 86th Maintenance Group propeller repair shop reduced C-130 propeller repair time from 35 days to 5 days, eliminating $11.9 million worth of asset backlog and saved $1.3 million in shipping costs to stateside repair shops. Consequently, the shop earned the Air Force Best Practice at the 2006 Chief of Staff Excellence Awards.

Continuing in that stride, the group also created a mobile debrief truck that reduced aircrew debrief time 66 percent, from 90 minutes to 30 minutes.

Including several other AFSO21 initiatives throughout USAFE, the command has saved more than $4 million and racked up $35 million in cost avoidance. Most importantly, the program expects similar savings each year for the next five years, according to officials.

Secretary Wynne expressed his thanks to USAFE for their innovation and for hosting the Process Council.

"What you brought is innovation and you've shown the Process Council that it can be done in a very disciplined and regular manner," he said.

"You've shown that the innovation of Airmen should be appreciated across our Air Force and there's no better way than to go and see what has been happening both here at Ramstein and throughout the U.S. Air Forces in Europe command," the Secretary said.