52nd MXG hosts AFSO21 follow-up event Published May 31, 2007 By Ashley Mangin 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office volunteer SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, GERMANY -- Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century is on everyone's minds these days. The Airmen of the 52nd Maintenance Group have been reevaluating their resources to make planning and scheduling sorties a more efficient process. This AFSO21 event is a follow-up to the last event that took place in April. "The event in April 2007 was the venue used to examine the way the 52nd MXG and 52nd Operations Group work together to produce the flying schedule," said 1st Lt. Sean Scruggs, 52nd Component Maintenance Squadron accessories flight commander and 52nd MXG AFSO21 facilitator. "We spent a week drawing from numerous experiences to identify the best method to get the work done. We didn't change the process or the formula, but rather the proximity of the ingredients. Why walk across the room to get something when you could just reach over and have it accessible?" With all of the components involved in making a flight schedule, the team discovered there was a significant amount of needless work going into the process. There was a lot of time spent communicating between the 52nd OG, 52nd MXG, 22nd Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Squadron and 81st Fighter Squadron. The result of the AFSO21 event was the creation of the Long Range Planning Cell and the Operational Cell. The Long Range Planning Cell will begin with the Annual Flying Hour Program and create a monthly program to pass to the Operational Cell. The Ops Cell will then take the monthly program and break it down further into a weekly program to be followed by the fighter squadrons. "The process is fundamentally the same," Lieutenant Scruggs said. "We created a distinct section to deal with long range and short range requirements so that each cell can focus on specific objectives and goals." "The immediate impact [of the event] is that we will now have aircraft maintenance unit schedulers and their pilot counterparts working across from the desk. It means that when information changes, everyone will know it immediately. The amount of phone calls and coordination should be curbed instantly," said Lieutenant Scruggs. The April event uncovered a zero percent product yield, but Lieutenant Scruggs is hopeful that the new cells will help schedule accuracy to go up 20 percent, and that the amount of time to produce a schedule should go down 50 percent from the 373 hours per squadron that it now takes. "The event was a complete success. We created a plan, stuck to the agenda and presented the idea to Col. Tom Feldhausen (52nd Fighter Wing vice commander) who approved and was anxious for the new Scheduling Center to begin operations," said Lieutenant Scruggs. "Anytime you can bring two groups of people into one room and come to a consensus that makes sense for the wing is a successful event." The changes should impact everyone involved. The pilots can relate information to the schedulers with more ease than before. The schedule will be easier to follow in a weekly format by ensuring the aircraft and airspace needed for the sorties will be available for that week. Col. Darryl Roberson, 52nd FW commander, proposed changes to the planning and scheduling process in September. The AFSO21 team has been working diligently to get the changes realized. This is just one of the first steps that Spangdahlem Air Base will make toward the AFSO21 initiative. With an AFSO21 Program Manager, the changes will be made with a more streamlined process which is what AFSO21 is all about. "We are making positive changes that will make life better for the men and women of the 52nd FW," said Chief Master Sgt. Terry Norris, 52nd FW AFSO21 Program Manager.