CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
Team Charleston will host an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century One-Day Supervisor Awareness training class from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. July 9 to 13 in the Yonkie Auditorium, building 54.
The main purpose of the course is to let supervisors know what to expect when their organization makes the transition to a lean environment and how AFSO 21 affects their organizations.
By now, most people have heard about AFSO 21, and many know something about its concepts and processes.
For the most part, about 50 percent of AFSO 21 can be covered by any Leadership 101 course in companies where good teams are doing their best to improve efficiencies within their organizations.
The difference is that AFSO 21 takes it a few steps further with some tried and true waste-reducing processes like lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints to name a few. There are more than 51 different corporate world 'lean' techniques that can be used to identify and eliminate waste, but many are very specific to the jobs being performed.
The 437th Airlift Wing viewpoint, and that of Air Force AFSO 21 leadership, is that a whole base should not be taught lean concepts at once, especially via computer-based training. Leadership is working on eliminating unneeded ancillary training and CBTs, not creating more.
Charleston AFB plans to make people aware of what AFSO 21 can do by providing the right amount of knowledge to supervisors in one day so supervisors can take the info, condense it into their unit's shorter awareness training, and have teams use these techniques to dramatically help their workplaces.
This free one-day course includes a shorter version of AFSO 21 training and awareness which can take from 30 minutes to two hours depending on how the supervisor wants to present it. Once supervisors know more about the basics of AFSO 21 and how to run events properly, the right people from throughout the wing can be chosen and provided the additional training needed for the particular tasks they will provide training for.
Some groups already know how valuable many of these concepts can be to an organization and, as a result, provided additional training for the troops. Leadership leaves the flexibility up to each group to decide how much training will benefit their organization.
This course also serves the purpose of allowing leaders to look at workplaces a little differently, giving the tools and the mindset of continuous improvement.
The 437th and 315th Airlift Wings plan to offer the leaned down training version of the best of AFSO 21.
Topics that will be discussed include:
The Charleston AFB AFSO 21 Awareness Briefing
Lean Defined
What is a Process?
Waste
How to run an Improvement Event
Pre-event Process Reconnaissance
Pre-event Orientation and Preparation
Improvement Event
Post-Event and Follow-up
5S+1 and video on How to do it Right
Spaghetti Chart and Value Stream Mapping
Theory of Constraints
The Johari Window
Wrap up - Transforming into a Lean Culture
Charleston AFB has set aside July 13 for all upper-level supervisors, squadron commanders and other leadership in the chain of command to attend. People are encouraged to attend the class as their schedule allows.
Send the names of people who would like to attend to Capt. Don Garbade or the 437 AW AFSO 21 e-mail box by July 5 in order to assure availability.