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6 February 5, 2016
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Airmen powered by innovation, continuous process improvement for 2016, beyond
By Sean McCully
99th Force Support Squadron, CPI program manager will improve the Air Force through cost
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. —
Employees of the Department of Defense,
and more specifically the Air Force, must
be accountable stewards of taxpayer dol-
lars and ensure that the daily work pro-
cesses supporting mission requirements,
tactical and strategic goals, are effective
and ultimately efficient in their execution
and sustainment.
Focusing on innovation, strategic
alignment, problem solving and improv-
ing the way daily work is conducted
will ensure that accountability, through
resource savings and improved mission
performance.
To help Airmen pursue their innova-
tive ideas, align an organization’s mission,
vision, goals and culture with Air Force
core values, solve problems, and become
more effective and efficient with Air Force
resources, the Air Force has established
the Airmen Powered by Innovation and
the Continuous Process Improvement
programs.
The API program supports the sub-
mission, evaluation and implementation
of innovative ideas as well as tracking
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and confirming resulting benefits. API
is a way for Airmen to submit ideas that
savings, quality, productivity, process
improvement and morale.
Ideas are evaluated and if approved for tioned questions then CPI can work for you
implementation and confirmed to have
tangible benefits, intangible benefits or
both, then the submitter may receive a
monetary reward.
API benefits both the Air Force and
Airmen. CPI drives superior performance
and enhances combat capability using
methodologies designed to improve and
or redesign processes, enrich quality in
products and information, and integrate
continuous improvement in day-to-day
operations. It can also help commanders
ensure their organizational actions and
resources align to drive their strategy,
mission and vision.
The third core value of the U.S. Air
Force is “Excellence in All We Do” and
we must ask ourselves, are we excellent
in all we do?
Do our processes effectively support
our internal and external customers? Are
we efficient in our daily work? Are we
spending time on work that provides value
to our customers? Do our organizations
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operate in a lean environment? And finally,
are we developing a sustained passion for
continuous innovation and improvement
that propels us into an enduring, ascending
path of success and performance? If your
answer is no to any or all of the aforemen-
and your organization.
The tools and methodologies of CPI
have been proven in both public and
private sectors to include the Air Force.
One particular approach is called lean
thinking and we can apply it to almost
every daily work process. Lean thinking
examines the value of the work people
accomplish and directly connects it to the
quantity and quality of a particular ser-
vice or product provided to the customer.
It is a business approach that focuses
on value through persistent elimination
of waste thereby allowing for the accelera-
tion in the velocity of processes. Work that process (value stream) from its beginning
provides no customer value is identified
and eliminated, thus reducing process
complexity and allowing for process flow
and resource allocation to value added
activities. This increases capacity without
adding resources or working harder.
Lean thinking has transformed waste-
ful inefficient organizations with unsat-
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isfied employees to productive efficient
organizations with motivated and proud
employees. This transformation can be
difficult for some who are used to do-
ing things the same way for years; it’s a
cultural change within an organization.
Some critics of CPI say, it will not work
in the Air Force because we are service
and not manufacturing based — the Air
Force isn’t a widget making assembly line,
adding a piece to a part every 15 seconds.
Our processes vary, take time and are
complex, are difficult to see, and every
operation has multiple decision points, so
CPI is a waste of our time. This statement
is precisely why CPI can and will work for
the U.S. Air Force.
A couple of tools CPI and lean offers
are Value Stream Mapping and process
mapping. VSM is a lean tool that helps
individuals see and understand the flow
of information or materials through a
through its end (customer receipt).
It’s a method for analyzing the current
state of broken, ineffective and inefficacies
of a process and designing an improved
state. It identifies both value- added and
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