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Timely in-process a matter of importance

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Robert Ladson
  • 51st Fighter Wing AFSO21 office
OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  The days of two and three weeks in-processing at Osan Air Base will soon be a thing of the past and for good reason.

With the direction of Col. Mark DeLong, 51st Fighter Wing vice commander, AFSO21 conducted a Rapid Improvement Event on the base in-processing procedures last week.

The ultimate goal of the RIE was to find waste in the in-processing procedures for active duty members and civilians. In addition, the RIE allowed each subject matter expert to look at each step taken and eliminate anything that wasted time or tax-payers dollars.

According to DeLong, the motto here is "Ready to Fight Tonight."

"In order to accomplish our mission of defend, execute and receive, we must have mission ready Airmen and we must have them tonight...not in two weeks," Delong said. "We have a critical need to evaluate the in-processing procedures to give our commanders their Airmen as soon as possible after arrival."

DeLong went on to say, "One of the main goals in any evaluation of a process is to eliminate waste. This Rapid Improvement Event will do just that."

The overall goal of this evaluation will be to take a process that used to take two weeks and reduce it to 48 hours, he said.

For three days, 20 members assigned to Osan put their thinking caps on and at the end of the rapid improvement week an implementation plan was briefed to wing leadership as a guide to follow.

The approved plan will be monitored by the assigned process manager to ensure the direction and plan is fully followed.

The team had good ideas, and everyone realized the RIE would have a positive impact within their organizations.

"From a unit member's point of view the less time spent in-processing helps them feel comfortable with their environment, said Chief Master Sgt. Tamara Olson, 51st Civil Engineer Squadron chief enlisted manager. "I recently arrived at Osan and would have welcomed a shorter timeline for in-processing".

Overall everyone needs to understand why they should care about the base In-processing procedures and why it's important to be ready to fight tonight.

Once the in-process system is in place the timeframe of getting Airmen to their units should have an effect base-wide.