927th leans forward with AFSO 21 Level II certification Published July 7, 2009 By Capt. Shane Huff 927th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, or AFSO 21, is an improvement model customized to the unique environment of the United States Air Force which leverages improvement methods from various sources such as Lean, Six Sigma, Theory of Constraints and Business Process Reengineering. AFSO 21 is a transformational initiative empowering all Airmen to eliminate waste from every end-to-end process. It is about delivery of warfighting capabilities today and tomorrow. As part of their strategic focus on supporting infrastructure, 927th Air Refueling Wing officials recently sent Maj. Bruce M. Winhold to a 12-day AFSO 21 Level II academic course held at The University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education in Knoxville, Tenn. "This was a very intense course," Major Winhold said. "The best Air Force-sponsored training I have received in 25 years of service. Level I trains you how to read AFSO 21 time, Level II teaches you how the watch was made." Later in July, Major Winhold will participate in an immersion program with Boeing in Mesa, Ariz. The application process to be accepted into this program is selective, requiring major command- and Pentagon-level approval. Requirements for Level II certification include completion of the 12-day academic course, solving three Air Force problems, conducting a Level I training class, mentoring two Level I students and completion of a two week immersion with a professional business company. All requirements must be completed within an eight-month timeframe. "The take away for me is how to properly measure our improvements using AFSO 21 tools to identify current-state to future-state progress," said Major Winhold. "I am here to help out the wing anyway I can with the training I have received."