Simple AFSO 21 effort to reap big savings for Hanscom

  • Published
  • By Karen Costura
  • Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. (AFPN) --  By eliminating unused phone lines, Hanscom AFB officials are potentially saving more than $200,000 annually using Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st century initiatives.

The 66th Air Base Wing Communication and Information Division and the Electronic Systems Center Plans and Programs office led this AFSO 21 "just do it initiative." 

The initiative uncovered potential savings by identifying and turning in unused telephone lines across the base. 

"Each phone line costs $28 per month, or $336 per year, which adds up quickly to real savings for the organization," said Preskella Gindi, an AFSO 21 team member and program manager for Plans and Programs. "This relatively simple effort allows us to identify and eliminate this wasteful spending and reinvest these funds back into the workplace to improve the workforce's quality of life." 

A continuing effort to identify and reduce waste and produce more efficiencies in the workplace using AFSO 21 resulted in the potential annual savings for the base. With only 60 percent of the organizations responding to date, officials are confident more savings could be realized. 

The ESC and 66th ABW Communications and Informational Division are also establishing tools and repeatable processes that will help maintain the savings, said Ann Markman, ESC's deputy chief information officer. 

Working closely with the ESC Strategic Planning Office to sponsor a telephone Rapid Improvement Event, the RIE group identified process improvements, created an implementation plan and identified team members to take leadership roles in realizing these savings efficiencies, she said. 

"The AFSO 21 campaign is all about identifying ways to streamline daily operations in order to save money and increase efficiency," Ms. Markman said. 

"As we identify telephone-related enhancements and additional improvements, we will quickly implement them into the system, which will mean that Hanscom will save even more money to be put to better use," she said. 

The idea behind RIE teams is to identify new opportunities to leverage all of the ESC capabilities and innovations to find new ways to be "better, faster and cheaper," Ms. Markman said.