A win for the wing

  • Published
  • By Capt. Andrea Lamoreaux
  • 319th Air Refueling Wing AFSO21 Office
GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Members from around the 319th Air Refueling Wing met from June 18 to 23 to conduct a Rapid Improvement Event on the officer performance report processes.

Team members included Maj. Brian Deutsch, 319 ARW executive officer; Lt. Col. Charles McDaniel, 912th Air Refueling Squadron commander; 1st Lt. William Westendorf, 319th Maintenance Group; 2nd Lt. Nathan Van Loon, 319th Logistics Readiness Squadron; Master Sgt. Thomas Karpinski, 319th Mission Support and Services Squadron; Sarah Bloch, 912 ARS; and Tech. Sgt. Camille Currington, 319th Medical Group.

The team spent five days together and went through training, mapped out the current process and brainstormed an ideal process. From there, they developed action items, metrics and a plan of attack. So what did they discover?

Currently, one OPR takes 776.4 hrs from start to finish, has 19 steps, 58 touches and travels a total distance of 13 miles. They saw a lot of room for improvement and many opportunities to remove waste from the system. So what did they come up with? They are going to start experimenting in the 912 ARS and 319th Communications Squadron with a process that will take 236.8 hours, have 14 steps and touches, and only travel three miles. This is a 70 percent planned improvement over the current process. For more details about this event or if you have any ideas for a future event, please contact the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century office via e-mail at AFSO21@grandforks.af.mil.