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Deployment changes urged

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Trinece Houlden
  • 20th Medical Group
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  In one recent week, 14 Airmen assigned to the 20th Fighter Wing undertook a detailed review of the wing's methods for deploying personnel and equipment. 

Under the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century program, this Value Stream Analysis involved Airmen from a variety of organizations within the wing that play a role in the deployment process. The Airmen were placed in one room to discover where the process seemed to be deficient, and determine areas that could be improved. 

A major problem considered was the excessive period of time it took for Airmen and resources to be ready for deployment. 

The team quickly assessed the deployment process. The challenge was beyond what could be tackled in a week's time, so the Airmen chose three specific sub-processes to target: generating aircraft, processing personnel and processing equipment. 

The focus was directed toward individual steps within each procedure to improve the flow, quality and timeliness of the overall deployment process for Shaw. 

The team identified 30 unnecessary or redundant steps within these three areas. The extra steps included multiple verification practices and unnecessary briefings. As the team delved into every step involved in the processes, a recurring theme surfaced. 

Accordingly, the team concluded, "If accountability is present and personnel make sure tasks are completed accurately the first time, every time, a lot of waste can be eliminated, saving countless man hours." 

This and other recommended improvements now being implemented across the wing will produce a more streamlined and standardized readiness function base-wide for a more effective, cost-efficient and time-saving process. 

As the VSA team lead, Major William Smith, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron operations officer, guided the team to reach its goal. 

Major Smith said, "AFSO21 allowed us to critically look at a process we all know and help us develop a more streamlined process, giving back time to our deploying Airmen." 

The recent AFSO21 event on readiness enabled users to dissect and examine the process we use to deploy assets into smaller increments to allow for restructure and improvements. The changes should result in less last-minute preparation time and ultimately increase aircraft and personnel availability.