AFSC units strive for greatness through weekly meetings, collaborative effort

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The motivational phrase, "Art of the Possible" is soaring to new heights within the Air Force Sustainment Center. Each Friday morning, representatives from the major commands, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Defense Logistics Agency and AFSC units, including Logistics Operations, collaborate via videoconference to discuss the current status of aircraft and engines from a parts perspective.

Hosted by the Logistics Operations Center, 635th Supply Chain Operations Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., managers, weapon system teams and MAJCOM customers discuss issues and have opportunities to ask questions, asl well as offer feedback based on the data. They also discuss reasons for work-arounds such as weather, which may be a cause for a work delay.

While proving to be a benefit for the various organizations, the weekly operations summary also directly meets AFSC Strategic Goal No. 1, "Continue to strengthen sustainment processes and accountability for the nuclear enterprise," and three, "Be a reliable, agile and responsive organization focused on achieving the 'Art of the Possible.'" The Art of the Possible is defined as reaching beyond today's limitations, challenging each other to achieve world record results, and refusing to settle for marginal improvements.

"These operations summary meetings are important for the fact that we're giving live information to the customer about what's going on with the supply chain and that is key," said Col. Hilary Feaster, commander of the Logistics Operations Center executed within the 635th SCOW. "What's nice is we're getting the data from those agencies that are doing the direct work. We can address the issues immediately and do a deep dive that you might not necessarily get by reading an overview of what's going on. Here, you can ask follow-up questions and delve more deeply into the issues."

George Swinehart, deputy director for the 735th Supply Chain Operations Group at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., agreed, elaborating on the unique aspect of the meetings.

"This forum is a way of us telling our boss about our supply chain failures," he said. "We don't come in and tell him about our success stories. The parts we talk about are 3 to 5 percent of the issues where we failed the customer. This is one of those rare chances where you have to put in front of your boss your failures, tell him why you feel it is failing and how to fix the failure."

On March 1, approximately 40 individuals from seven locations discussed the status of the CV-22 Osprey, A-10 Thunderbolt II, B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, F-15 C/D Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the InterContinental Ballistic Missile.

At present, the majority of the meetings are spent discussing past issues. Col. Kevin Gaudette, commander of the 635th Supply Chain Operations Group at Scott AFB, said he hopes in the future, more time is spent forecasting potential issues.

"We have to be reactive in certain circumstances, but proactive is much better than reactive," said Mark Hawley, 635th SCOW vice director.

Col. Jeffrey Sick, AFSC Logistics deputy director, said he looks forward to seeing the content presented in the operations summary evolve to include the whole supply chain enterprise.

"In the future, we will look to including more detail in regard to the support of Contractor Logistics Support systems as well as other classes of supply as we expand the mission of the AFSC, war reserve material and basic expeditionary airfield resources for instance," he said. "Our intent is to provide our customers and leadership with a forum that covers the full spectrum logistics support activities for our Air Force, not just aircraft and support equipment, but all classes of supply, the Art of the Possible, if you will."

While the AFSC is a relatively new center, these meetings have been in place since 2009 as a part of the standup of the former Air Force Global Logistics Support Center.

AFSC units strive for greatness through weekly meetings, collaborative effort

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  The motivational phrase, "Art of the Possible" is soaring to new heights within the Air Force Sustainment Center. Each Friday morning, representatives from the major commands, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Defense Logistics Agency and AFSC units, including Logistics Operations, collaborate via videoconference to discuss the current status of aircraft and engines from a parts perspective.

Hosted by the Logistics Operations Center, 635th Supply Chain Operations Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., managers, weapon system teams and MAJCOM customers discuss issues and have opportunities to ask questions, asl well as offer feedback based on the data. They also discuss reasons for work-arounds such as weather, which may be a cause for a work delay.

While proving to be a benefit for the various organizations, the weekly operations summary also directly meets AFSC Strategic Goal No. 1, "Continue to strengthen sustainment processes and accountability for the nuclear enterprise," and three, "Be a reliable, agile and responsive organization focused on achieving the 'Art of the Possible.'" The Art of the Possible is defined as reaching beyond today's limitations, challenging each other to achieve world record results, and refusing to settle for marginal improvements.

"These operations summary meetings are important for the fact that we're giving live information to the customer about what's going on with the supply chain and that is key," said Col. Hilary Feaster, commander of the Logistics Operations Center executed within the 635th SCOW. "What's nice is we're getting the data from those agencies that are doing the direct work. We can address the issues immediately and do a deep dive that you might not necessarily get by reading an overview of what's going on. Here, you can ask follow-up questions and delve more deeply into the issues."

George Swinehart, deputy director for the 735th Supply Chain Operations Group at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., agreed, elaborating on the unique aspect of the meetings.

"This forum is a way of us telling our boss about our supply chain failures," he said. "We don't come in and tell him about our success stories. The parts we talk about are 3 to 5 percent of the issues where we failed the customer. This is one of those rare chances where you have to put in front of your boss your failures, tell him why you feel it is failing and how to fix the failure."

On March 1, approximately 40 individuals from seven locations discussed the status of the CV-22 Osprey, A-10 Thunderbolt II, B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, F-15 C/D Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon and the InterContinental Ballistic Missile.

At present, the majority of the meetings are spent discussing past issues. Col. Kevin Gaudette, commander of the 635th Supply Chain Operations Group at Scott AFB, said he hopes in the future, more time is spent forecasting potential issues.

"We have to be reactive in certain circumstances, but proactive is much better than reactive," said Mark Hawley, 635th SCOW vice director.

Col. Jeffrey Sick, AFSC Logistics deputy director, said he looks forward to seeing the content presented in the operations summary evolve to include the whole supply chain enterprise.

"In the future, we will look to including more detail in regard to the support of Contractor Logistics Support systems as well as other classes of supply as we expand the mission of the AFSC, war reserve material and basic expeditionary airfield resources for instance," he said. "Our intent is to provide our customers and leadership with a forum that covers the full spectrum logistics support activities for our Air Force, not just aircraft and support equipment, but all classes of supply, the Art of the Possible, if you will."

While the AFSC is a relatively new center, these meetings have been in place since 2009 as a part of the standup of the former Air Force Global Logistics Support Center.