Ellsworth’s manpower office took the next step in educating Airmen on base to become facilitators in the Continuous Process Improvement program.

CPI is the strategic and incremental refinement of the way servicemembers, Department of Defense civilians and contractors perform tasks to accomplish the Air Force mission to fly, fight and win in air, space and cyberspace.

This process is broken up into three courses: the first is a day long and referred as the “yellow-belt” course, followed by the five-day course known as the “green-belt” course, and finally, there is the two-week long “black-belt” course at Maxwell AFB, Alabama.

“The Green Belt Practitioner Class teaches the Air Force’s Eight Step Problem Solving process,” said Jeff VanCuren, the wing process manager for CPI assigned to the 28th Force Support Squadron. “It is a repetitive approach which reflects continuous improvement and revisits how work is performed and how it can be further improved.”

The manpower office recently held the first “green-belt” course and graduated five Airmen on March 30, 2017, inside the 28th Logistics Readiness Squadron Deployment Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D.

Unit leadership will hand select individuals to receive additional Green or Black Belt training and work with the 28th Bomb Wing manpower office to facilitate events.

“The program is almost being stood up from scratch,” said VanCuren. “It isn’t brand new for Ellsworth, but since the Air Force Instruction [38-401] came out last April, we are trying to get this program stood-up in accordance to the new AFI.”

The idea behind CPI is for an office to identify a problem and have the ability to work together for a solution to continuously increase the efficiency of the workplace.

“We don’t know what happens on the inside of someone’s office,” said Tech. Sgt. Ty Orr, a manpower analyst assigned to the 28th Force Support Squadron manpower office. “However, the tools we teach allow Airmen to go back to their office and work to develop a team that solves any issues they might have.”

These improvements are centered around the Air Force mission specifically to maintain the capabilities the Air Force delivers in air, space and cyberspace.

The Air Force is now implementing this across all functional areas. Employing CPI methodologies amplifies operational effectiveness with efficient processes that enhance mission capabilities.

“CPI will create cost-savings, time-savings and overall mission accomplishments,” said VanCuren. “CPI can help commanders achieve their goals and increase their mission’s effectiveness.”