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305th MSG achieves AFSO21 success

  • Published
  • By Airman Rebekah Phy
  • McGuire Public Affairs
MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. --  A milestone in McGuire's AFSO21 efforts has been achieved with the Import Cargo LEAN Initiative in the 305th Mission Support Group.

The 305th MSG recently held a week-long rapid improvement event, led by Capt. Peter Anderson, air freight commander, where a team came together to plan, schedule, test and implement new ideas to improve the processes of import cargo, which is any incoming goods from overseas locations (such as rations or an Airman's personal items).

"The idea of AFSO21 and the LEAN initiatives is to work smarter, not harder," said Ward Abbett, Mainstream Management LEAN consultant assigned here, "And we've achieved that with import cargo thanks to the team's work at the rapid improvement event."

The RIE team was the representative sample of those who would actually do the work, Captain Anderson said.

The RIE began with an in-briefing, LEAN training and mapping the current state of import cargo processes, Mr. Abbett said. Day two moved onto completing the mapping, timing the current processes and evaluating those times.

Day three projected the "ideal" state of things, determined what steps could be eliminated (to save time, extra work and money) or added (for regulations requirements and safety), Mr. Abbett said. The team also began to map the attainable future state, with modifications from the current state.

Day four tested the pilot solutions, diagrammed the facility layout improvements and requested feedback from process owners - those who work in import cargo each day, Mr. Abbett said.

On the last day, the team calculated savings, continued pilot tests, discussed sustainability and established follow-up actions, Captain Anderson said.

The current processes of import cargo were evaluated, and smarter ways to do things were implemented, Captain Anderson said. "The result of this week-long RIE was an annual savings of 23,000 hours and 209 miles of motion," he said.

Other smarter, leaner ideas for large savings in import cargo have also been planned, but not yet tested, Captain Anderson said.

The team of people for the RIE seems to be the reason for such successful results.
"One key was that the team comprised for the RIE was not just officers and senior enlisted - the junior ranking were also involved," Mr. Abbett said. "Some of the best ideas come from the junior Airmen - they have a fresh perspective on things and are able to come up with great ideas."

People wanting to submit an idea to improve a process should contact their unit representative, Mr. Abbett said. If it's an easy-to-implement idea, just do it, he said. If the idea requires several people, a RIE team will work it.