ASFSO21 success depends on Airmen ideas

Published May 9, 2007
By Tech. Sgt. Brian Jones
39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs

INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century is the Air Force's dedicated effort to maximize value and minimize waste in all of our processes. For this program to be successful, ideas for improvements in work centers have to come from the Airmen most familiar with the unit's practices.

To help Airmen identify AFSO21 projects and guide them through the process, Incirlik has program experts standing by to lend a hand.

"We help organizations on base facilitate any process improvement programs they want to start," said Rachel Arndt, Incirlik AFSO facilitator. "We also teach an AFSO21 familiarization course as part of Customer College and are developing 'Just in Time' training for anyone who gets involved with AFSO21 projects."

There are several different avenues for submitting an AFSO21 idea. Airmen can work through their chain of command, with their unit AFSO21 representative or directly with the base's AFSO21 facilitators. Often, getting over the "this is the way we've always done it" attitude is the first step in initiating a process improvement.

"With AFSO21 people have to ask themselves, 'What have I improved today?' and every idea is worth taking to your supervisor," said Lt. Col. Michael Platt, 39th Mission Support Group deputy commander and Incirlik AFSO21 project officer. "The continuous process improvement of AFSO21 is the culture of our Air Force and Incirlik is leading the way."

Additionally, AFSO21 ideas don't have to be on a grand scale to bring about positive change.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a large project," said Ms. Arndt. "Sometimes smaller processes uncover larger ones."

Col. "Tip" Stinnette, 39th Air Base Wing commander has said that AFSO21 isn't about colonels and chiefs coming up with "good ideas," but rather Airmen telling the Air Force what processes are broken or how they can be improved.

"AFSO21 signifies a shift in our thinking," he said. "It is centered on processes (groups of tasks) rather than tasks alone, which allows us to gain insight into the value, or lack of value, in each task we perform. I am very proud of the processes our Incirlik team has already implemented and I look forward to completing the future AFSO21 events we have planned."

Incirlik officers, Top Three, civilian equivalents and unit AFSO21 representatives will attend a meeting with Maj. Gen. Marc Rogers, U.S. Air Forces in Europe vice commander, May 11 at 2:30 p.m. at the Consolidated Club to discuss AFSO21. The time is subject to change and we will keep you informed.

For more information on AFSO21 or how to bring attention to your ideas, visit the AFSO21 link here.