Change in the air

Published July 17, 2009
By Howdy Stout
Tinker Public Affairs

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- A new Mission Control Center has become the focal point of Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center's Enterprise Transformation efforts.

The MCC, stood up earlier this summer and drives process improvement activities across the air logistics center. The MCC coordinates Rapid Improvement Events, tracks metrics and provides training. In addition, it serves as a clearinghouse of information, keeping senior leaders as well as the work force informed about efforts to reduce waste by improving processes.

"The Mission Control Center is a tool of Enterprise Transformation," explained Stacia Franks, interim chief of the MCC. "It exists to track and provide support to process improvement events across the center."

The MCC is the brainchild of OC-ALC Commander Maj. Gen. David Gillett and will likely serve as the model for the Air Force's two other air logistics centers.

"General Gillett stood up the Mission Control Center to take our transformation to the next level by building on the success we have already achieved, the experience of our proven process improvement experts and the expertise of our world-class work force," said Ms. Franks. "Taking such a comprehensive, tactical approach will drive us to provide improved warfighter support and meet our strategic goals."

The ALC's strategic goals for the upcoming fiscal year are meeting the demand for improved aircraft availability, improving mission support and readiness, developing people, and improving depot productivity. Facing growing warfighter demands and fewer resources, the ALC has to become more efficient at what it does to remain competitive.

"We are being asked to do more with diminishing resources and process improvement is the way that's going to happen," Ms. Franks. "The changes we make now and in the immediate future will posture the ALC for long-term success and sustainability."

And although OC-ALC calls it Enterprise Transformation, it's simply an old idea with a new name.

"This isn't a new program but rather the evolution of something we have always done," said Ms. Franks. "For as long as this depot has existed, our work force has figured out innovative ways to do their jobs better, to make their processes more efficient."

However, much of the recent transformation efforts have been isolated rather than center or even service-wide. That's where the MCC comes in.

The MCC will tackle transformation from a center perspective, helping to facilitate collaboration of all stakeholders on process improvement events that cross organizational boundaries.

Instead of limiting participation on Rapid Improvement Events to the organization that chartered the activity, representatives from the Air Base Wing, Aircraft Sustainment Wing, Maintenance Wing, Home and Staff Offices, Defense Logistics Agency and Global Logistics Supply Center would also participate on the team as appropriate.

"When we hold a Rapid Improvement Event to improve a process, we need all of the relevant and impacted subject matter experts at the table," Ms. Franks said. "Once we have the right people in the room, talking to each other and dissecting the process from beginning to end, we can find real solutions to the problems that are identified."

Although OC-ALC has utilized Lean, Six Sigma, 6S, and other process improvement tools for several years and achieved significant improvement in some areas, lessons learned in process improvements were not always shared or benchmarked by other organizations.

"We have to break through the barriers that sometimes exist between the different wings and work together to achieve the common mission and strategic goals of the center," Ms. Franks said. "So often what happens in one wing has a direct impact on what happens in another, and if we work together, the results will be far-reaching."

Sharing information is vital. Currently, senior leaders and top-level stakeholders meet for a weekly, 30-minute stand-up meeting to review transformation events and activities.

"The weekly stand-ups help keep leadership focused on achieving the strategic goals by providing a current view of where we are, where we want to be and what we are doing to get there," she said. "Such transparency also allows the senior leaders to identify activities that could impact their individual organizations as well as events that they may personally want to participate in."

The sharing of information continues to the shop floor level, where the work force will be able to see what is happening in process improvement, who is participating, goals and timelines. Information will also be shared online through the Enterprise Transformation Library. This openness about transformation is essential to the Center's success.

"Not only do we want all levels of the work force to know what is going on across the center regarding transformation," Ms Franks said, "but we also want to get as many people as possible actively participating on Rapid Improvement Event teams. Our work force has a wealth of knowledge that we need to tap into, and securing their participation is vital to our transformation."

With the enthusiastic commitment of senior leadership and the support of the work force, Ms. Franks says the MCC is simply the next logical step in the ALC's quest to do things better and posture the center for the future.

"Senior leadership is committed to making our Enterprise Transformation successful, and now we have to earn that same level of commitment from our entire work force," she says. "The MCC will help make this a team effort."