Class offers hands-on approach to 'lean' principles

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lindsey Maurice
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (AFNS) --  Most Air Force members have become familiar with the term "lean" in recent years, the basic concept of improving processes by eliminating waste.

But when it comes to applying lean concepts to their everyday practices, many Airmen are still at a loss.

To better help Airmen here understand lean concepts and how they can apply them to their duty stations, the Air Force Smart Operations 21 office here recently introduced the KanDo Lean class, a first for Air Force installations.

Open to all base members, KanDo Lean is designed in such a way as to allow attendees to receive training in a team-based environment to discover how to remove waste from a simulated process and relate it to what they do every day through active execution and discussion, said Tech. Sgt. Daniel Kauffman, an AFSO21 KanDo Lean instructor.

"To quote Edgar Dale, 'We remember 10 percent of what we hear, 25 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we hear and see, 75 percent of what we do and 90 percent of what we hear, see and do,'" he said. "This course promotes a learning environment that stimulates these three (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) senses."

Sergeant Kauffman said the class was the result of the AFSO21 office staff asking their customers how they could provide AFSO21 methodology training in a manner that would make it easier to learn and apply.

With just three groups having experienced the class so far, the AFSO21 team already has received a lot of positive feedback from attendees.

"The class is an awesome hands-on learning opportunity for Airmen, from supervisors and managers down to technicians," said 1st Lt. Andrew Acer, 31st Communications Squadron, who took the class recently. "It teaches participants how to eliminate waste and inefficiencies from a simple widget-building scenario given in the class.

"These waste-eliminating skills clearly have a much bigger implication when they are applied to real world processes in today's Air Force," the lieutenant said. "Plus, the class is a lot of fun."

Tech. Sgt. Matthew Gililland, 31st Maintenance Operations Squadron, said he took the KanDo Lean class to broaden his AFSO21 skills.

"Many people think that AFSO21 doesn't apply to them or their work center," said Sergeant Gililland. "This class showed that it can help anywhere in the Air Force and isn't just another program that we should take for granted. It showed you that by thinking outside the box, sometimes what seems impossible can be accomplished."

"This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to learn more about lean thinking and removing waste from any process," said Sergeant Kauffman.