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AFMC road show introduces way of the future

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  They disputed the claims between perception and reality using their logo, "Think real-time. Think global. Think integrated. Think ECSS" in a two-hour briefing. During a recent two-day Air Force Materiel Command kick-off road show, Expeditionary Combat Support System representatives from AFMC Headquarters said reality is the means to an efficient and thriving future.

On Aug. 16 and 17, personnel from the Enterprise Logistics and Management Support Office introduced a transformation plan to approximately 300 Tinker senior leaders, supervisors and workforce personnel. The message was simple - several capabilities will be standardized throughout the Air Force and the reality of the changes should impact Tinker by 2013.

"The Expeditionary Combat Support System is an attempt to change the environment and processes we use to do our logistics work across the Air Force," said Don Pugh, logistician from the Systems Integration division at AFMC Headquarters. "It's not an AFMC program. It is an Air Force initiative under the Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century effort."

Mr. Pugh said the change is necessary because the Air Force is not working as effectively as it can. It's using outdated processes that were designed to work within a specific organization, on a local level. But, with the ever-changing environment and technological advances, the Air Force needs more. It needs a worldwide enterprise system.

Mr. Pugh cited examples in which the current system has failed the Air Force. In the past, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in deployed Readiness Spares Packages and because no one can check a standardized computer system, some of those parts going overseas are unknown. Also, nuclear fuses were shipped to Taiwan, when they shouldn't have been. Lastly, the Air Force is dinged by auditors for having too many unused spare parts, leading to the debate of why more money for spare parts should be issued if the parts the Air Force currently has aren't being used.

Mr. Pugh said ECSS could solve these issues. In all three instances, the support system could offer communication, discipline, control and education. People will talk to one another, see the same information on their computer screens regardless where in the world they are located and will know the proper processes to accomplish tasks.

The first step to instituting ECSS is Release 1 Fielding, a process of integration that was used at the vehicle management motor pool at Hanscom Air Force Base, Ma. There, ECSS was and will be introduced in four stages that began in July 2010 and will conclude in March 2012. Though it is a small sector of Air Force operations, Mr. Pugh said they have seen worthwhile results including the amount of time it takes to check in a vehicle. A process which used to take an hour, now takes 15 minutes.

Although Tinker won't experience, first-hand, the benefits of ECSS until 2013, Mr. Pugh said that is an advantage.

"In this case, being last is good," Mr. Pugh said, "because any mistakes we're going to make, we're going to try and get them all worked out before we ever get here."

For more information about ECSS, call Mary Littleton at 739-3342 or Brad Stahlman at 739-2011. Or, email them at Tinker.ELMSO@tinker.af.mil.