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Ever since its conception, Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, otherwise known as AFSO21, has voiced one central theme: “commit to improvement.”
AFSO21 strengthens the ability of every Airman to improve mission performance by providing a means to identify and eliminate waste that exists in our everyday processes. The acronym DOWN TIME, which stands for defects, overproduction, waiting, non-standard, transportation, intellect, motion and excess inventory, was coined to identify the eight types of waste that may exist within a process or task.
“The mandate from Chief Master Sgt. (Robert) Hughes, 86th LRS Materiel Management flight chief, was simple,” said Tech. Sgt. Matthew Kostos, NCOIC/IPE. “As a storage and issue facility we should focus our efforts on eliminating excess inventory and returning underutilized facilities back to the 86th Airlift Wing.”
Marching orders in hand, Sergeant Kostos and his team of professionals set about doing just that.
“Two buildings located on the backside of the flight line immediately came to mind,” Sergeant Kostos said. “They had become storage dumps for expired chemical warfare defense equipment leftover from as far back as the closures of Bitburg and Rhein-Main air bases.”
Tech. Sgt. Tracey Grove, assistant NCOIC/IPE, said the process was actually simple.
“We inventoried and packed the items, coordinated with HQ USAFE/A4R on proper disposition, and finally arranged movement with the 86th LRS Distribution Flight for pickup and transportation,” he said.
However simple it sounds, the final numbers are staggering: 63,846 assets, 218 pallets, 89,000 pounds of excess gear properly disposed of and returned to the states for redistribution as training assets to all services and 5,280 square feet of storage space returned to the 86th AW for reutilization.
“Other benefits have also been realized from this initiative,” Chief Hughes said. “We save work hours because we no longer inventory unneeded gear, we save resources from traveling back and forth between warehouses, and equipment once utilized to maintain the unneeded stock can now be relocated to our main warehouse.”
For the 86th LRS/IPE section, this was just the first step in a continuous improvement process. Chief Hughes said actions are already in motion that will result in vacating two additional buildings and the eventual consolidation of four warehouses into one.
“Finding improvements takes time, a little effort and not everything can be changed. Most processes exist for a sound reason. However, adopting AFSO21 as a continuing, consistent, persistent, ongoing and enduring process, improvements can be achieved,” Sergeant Kostos said. “The end result is a product that better supports the missions of the 86th AW, USAFE and the Air Force overall.”
(Courtesy of 86th Logistics Readiness Squadron)
