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Smoothing moving PPPO ups game with AFSC Way

  • Published
  • By John Parker
  • Staff Writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The AFSC Way is proven to save money and boost efficiency when managing and sustaining multimillion-dollar aircraft across the Air Force Sustainment Center's three Air Logistics Complexes.

A small office at Tinker Air Force Base, however, recently discovered it can also do wonders for cost-effective customer service when moving military personnel and families from one permanent station to another. 

Tinker's Personal Property Processing Office (PPPO), under the 72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron, applied the Art of the Possible management tools to trim customer appointments from about an hour to 30 minutes or less. The principles also helped the office save over $86,000 so far this fiscal year, with the tally still climbing.

"We've taken that high model of the AFSC Way and brought it all the way down to the section level," said Christopher Fellows, lead traffic management specialist.

The 13-member office in Bldg. 469 handles more than 2,000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves a year for the Department of Defense, making arrangements with commercial moving companies.

Applying AFSC Way "Art of the Possible" tools such as defining the "gates," or key points, of processes, setting a "road to" vision and other techniques, the PPPO re-examined all of its procedures for possible changes.

For example, one of the major gates for the PPPO is when military members or spouses come to Bldg. 469 to start or finish their property shipment. The office gathered data and discovered the average processing time was around 60 minutes.

That allowed PPPO managers and staff to change some procedures and set a measurable goal of 30 minutes to get customers in and out, Fellows said.

"One of the biggest things is leading with the data and not our gut -- where it's 'I feel' that such and such is going on," Fellows said. "Now we can show what's going on."
The data-driven initiative allowed managers to look at existing procedures and devise more efficient ways to get them done while still maintaining quality.

No process is too small to scrutinize. For example, PPPO staff previously wrote appointments booked over the phone into one office ledger. Now each staffer can key the information into online software from their desks.

"That saved us 33 miles a year of unnecessary travel - that walking back and forth," Mr. Fellows said. "One of the biggest things is we're able to segment the process and then just dive deep where it is."

Of the more than $86,000 the office saved through the process, about $60,000 came from the Shipment Reweigh Program, Mr. Fellows said. Moving trucks are weighed when they are full and when empty after arrival. With new data gathering, the PPPO has been finding shipments with a lower weight on arrival than when they disembarked, saving the government money on the per-pound price of loads.

The reweighing savings so far are just from a small sample of shipments, Mr. Fellows said. The office plans to increase the data it collects as part of "continuous process improvement" (CPI), another AFSC Way concept.

Combined with other money-saving changes, "we're estimating completion of getting to $500,000 in savings in fiscal year 2017," Mr. Fellows said. "That's the goal. I fully expect it to be higher."

The AFSC Way overhaul also allowed the PPPO to create its first written guidebook for how each staff process should be done.

"This is why CPI is so important, and having that standard of work," Mr. Fellows said. "From an employee of 20 years to a brand-new person off the street, I can hand it to you and you know what's expected and how to do it. It's 'right results, right way' all the time. And we've got something that's tracking it when it's not."

The office's successful program has been communicated to AFSC Commander Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield and is under consideration to be spread to other military personal property shipping offices, Mr. Fellows said. The PPPO briefed the AFSC base wings (the 72nd Air Base Wing, the 75th at Hill AFB, Utah, and the 78th at Robins AFB, Ga.) at a Council of Colonels meeting earlier this year.

As part of a continuous process, the AFSC Way tools are still evolving and changing the way the PPPO does business.

"What we're striving for is the road to world-class service so everything that we do, everything that we touch, we're integrating into this road to world-class service," Mr. Fellows said.

Moving soon?
The Personal Property Processing Office (formerly TMO) is located in Bldg. 469, Room 1, and is open 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Required shipment counseling is by appointment only. To set up an appointment, or if you have questions, call 739-3059.

Want to Save Time?
Use the Defense Personal Property System prior to your appointment. Visit www.move.mil for more information and step-by-step instructions on how to use DPS (call 800-462-2176 for technical issues). From May to September it's best to plan your move ahead. Pick-up dates may be limited during this time.