AFSO 21 improves wash rack ops

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Samuel Flora
  • 20th Maintenance Group
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. (AFNS) --  The group was assembled as part of the Air Force-wide implementation plan for Air Force Smart Operations for the 21 Century.

Washes are part of a corrosion-control process used to extend the life and reliability of Air Force aircraft. Corrosive stuff is deposited onto the aircraft from various sources such as salt particles collected during flights over the ocean.

If left unattended, over time these substances may corrode metal and eventually compromise the structural integrity of the aircraft.

The 10 airmen from the 20th Maintenance Group here represented a mix of specialties and duties. Each person brought a different level of knowledge and experience that shed light and presented new ideas that might otherwise have gone undiscovered.

The goal for the event was to decrease the number of man hours expended and time wasted washing aircraft, thereby reallocating those hours to better use. As a team, the Airmen gained first-hand knowledge used to improve the process by washing an aircraft themselves.

The Airmen then came together, and with help of a trained AFSO 21 facilitator, discussed ways to improve the wash and lube process to gain maximum efficiency.

Concepts proposed by the rapid improvement event team included radical organizational structure modifications, futuristic autonomous washing machines (part of the brain storming process empowering creative thinking), simple schedule alterations and more.

Final decisions to make the change are left up to group and squadron senior leaders. However, events like this provide lower-echelon Airmen a forum to speak their mind and be heard.

AFSO 21 is a system designed to cut waste from a process while enabling it to achieve peak performance capabilities. This system is bringing change, motivating progress and redefining how the Air Force meets its mission in the 21st Century.