Finding a better way with AFSO21

  • Published
  • By Capt. Regina Berry
  • 154th Wing Public Affairs
HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii --  AFSO21, at its core, is about leaders identifying processes that are important to fix; it's about mid-level leadership, senior non-commissioned officers, and junior officers working with frontline Airmen to find critical areas that they know can be better, and fix it, said Dr. Ronald C. Ritter, the special assistant for Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century. 

Finding fixes is just what took place last week as Dr. Ritter spent the week at Hickam Air Force Base working with members of the Hawaii Air National Guard to identify processes and procedures within the HIANG that could be improved by using the AFSO21 concept. 

In addition, during the month of September the HIANG will be performing nearly 30 rapid improvement events, which are 3-5 day events that are geared toward using the AFSO21 program to look at a problem or process and figure out how to improve or fix it. 

The goal of the rapid improvement events is to identify wastes and eliminate them.
AFSO21, at its core, is creating the ability to constantly improve the organization," said Dr. Ritter. "And that should be a very normal and natural thing for this Air Force; we've been improving this Air Force ever since we have had one." 

Designed to help the Air Force save money and improve productivity, the AFSO21 self-improvement program came on line in 2006. 

"It's important to try to make AFSO21as mainstream and normal as you possibly can," said Dr. Ritter. 

Our duty as leaders is to create an environment where people can do real value added work, where they can show up and turn a wrench, take care of a patient, be able to do security work, fly an airplane...not waste their time, said Dr. Ritter. 

"Some of the issues being analyzed are aircraft maintenance, energy conservation, support operations, strategic planning, and operations, said Capt. Brian Abrigo, the Hawaii Air National Guard's AFSO21 program director. "We're building a culture for Airman to find opportunities to improve their process, decrease their process time by eliminating waste. 

In January, one of the HIANG KC-135 tankers was the first in the fleet to undergo a "weight loss" examination. According to Master Sgt. Robert Santos, NCOIC flight line maintenance for the 135 tanker, Dr. Ritter found approximately 5000 pounds of material that the KC-135 might be able to do without. 

"We think that the HIANG has been a leader, they stepped up very early over a year ago, and driven very hard on this, we continually look at the HIANG as an example and a leader," said Dr. Ritter.