Ellsworth increases AFSO 21 capabilities Published Aug. 6, 2009 By 2nd Lt. Amy Neeves 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. -- As part of its strategic focus on improving Ellsworth's infrastructure, the 28th Bomb Wing recently increased its Air Force Smart Operations of the 21st Century program by certifying two new facilitators. The AFSO 21 program was established to help sustain an improving environment where all Airmen and civilians are consistently and actively following procedures to eliminate waste. These procedures can be as simple as organizing a person's work space or cutting down the time it takes to work through a problem. Currently there are four AFSO level 1 trained facilitators at Ellsworth. "Facilitators are leaders of [AFSO 21] teams working to find a better system for these particular problems," said Tech. Sgt. John Jessen, 28th Bomb Wing AFSO 21 trainer. "Increasing the number AFSO 21 facilitators at Ellsworth has increased capabilities by 100%." The main purpose of the AFSO 21 program is to work smarter with the resources provided, said Rita Dupres, 28th Civil Engineer Squadron strategic advisor and AFSO 21 level 1 certified facilitator. Ms. Dupres has been a level 1 facilitator since April 2009 and has been involved with the program for more than three years. Some of the projects for the 28 CES Ms. Dupres has worked on include asset management, which involves reorganizing files and records management programs, improvements at Asset Management and the 28 CES, as well as finding a way to better organize each person's workspace help reduce the effort, time and materials it takes to get the job done. One way Ms. Dupres has helped reduce workspace for Asset Management and 28 CES is by going through 55 years of paper files for and transferring them to electronic files. Master Sgt. Eric Nelson, 37th Aircraft Maintenance Unit specialist section chief, is also a level 1 certified facilitator. Sergeant Nelson's AFSO 21 projects have consisted of cannibalization, which is where one aircraft's parts are used to fix other aircraft. He has also been involved with refurbishing the B-1B Lancer, which entails inspections, cleaning and touching up paint on B-1s. This process occurs every 18 months and, with the help of the AFSO 21 program he helped implement, has been reduced down from a ten day process to a seven day process, said Sergeant Nelson. Despite these improvements, Sergeant Nelson admits its difficult to help servicemembers accept the AFSO 21 program. "[AFSO 21] is all about long-range benefits, so it's hard to convince people it's a good thing," said Sergeant Nelson. "A lot of people are hesitant to jump on board with AFSO 21 because of other programs the Air Force has tried in the past, but they shouldn't be discouraged if they don't see a huge change right away." Ms. Dupres also states the benefits of AFSO 21 despite the possible criticism. "The Air Force has had to cut both manpower and money and it's harder to accomplish the job," Ms. Dupres said. "We need to get opinions and brainstorm ideas, and AFSO 21 is all about finding a better way to work with less." Ellsworth's AFSO 21 facilitators plan on incorporating more changes for Ellsworth including a rapid improvement event directed at how the 28th Bomb Wing schedules and identifies requirements for wing exercises. Air Combat Command will also provide a two-day, eight step Observe, Orient, Decide and Act Loop problem-solving course on base in late August (OODA Loop is the Air Force model for problem solving). To get involved with the Ellsworth AFSO 21 program or for more information contact the 28th Bomb Wing AFSO 21 office at (605) 385-5711 or (605) 385-5640.