LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Langley's communications Airmen are completing a Rapid Improvement Event to streamline the flow of work orders the 1st Communications Squadron receives daily.
"The Communication Focal Point processes approximately 150 tickets per week, approximately 800 per month, along with 250 calls daily," said 1st Lt. Andrew Levy, CFP officer-in-charge. "The RIE will make it easier to facilitate Langley and ease our customers, allowing more time to do more work."
Capt. Robert Ellis III, 1st CS Client Service Center chief, and his team constructed an elaborate road map of the current trouble ticket workflow as well as the proposed new, leaner flow chart. They discovered that 86 percent of the current process adds no value to customers and can be eliminated.
"Using this chart, we can see the problem areas and work to cut them out of the process," said Captain Ellis. "We use input from all shops involved to further discover flow stoppers."
Work orders, known as "trouble tickets" are generated by the 1st CS team in response to requests to repair electronics and computer systems at different units around base. Ideally, requests come in to the squadron's CFP and receive a ticket number. Afterwards, an assigned technician begins diagnosing and repairing the problem.
Unfortunately, the process hasn't worked as efficiently as it could, with several impedances inhibiting communications Airmen from managing the volume of tickets effectively.
As a follow on to the event, inspectors will imbed with communications Airmen in the CFP to observe the daily processes, looking for problems in the system and correcting errors immediately.
"The focus of this RIE is to find, isolate and remove disconnect points to help streamline the flow of work through the shop," said Captain Ellis. "Also, we can standardize the process to prevent future waste and maintain efficiency."
The RIE is an initiative from the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, a program created by senior Air Force leadership to institutionalize process improvement in operations to save valuable time, resources and money.