An official website of the United States government
Here's how you know
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

An agent of change -- Expert speaks candidly in one-on-one interview and gives Airmen an in-depth look at AFSO 21

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Nicole Langley
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
In a recent interview with Col. Robert Hamm, 436th Maintenance Group commander and self-proclaimed Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century "zealot," I had the opportunity to get an in-depth look at AFSO 21 and the Lean philosophy, as well as a chance to learn about the man who is striving to cut the waste out of processes here at Dover Air Force Base.

In addition to being known and recognized as the Maintenance Group commander, Colonel Hamm has earned quite the reputation around base as the "AFSO 21 Man." A conversation can hardly be had on base about AFSO 21, Lean or anything related to cutting out waste, without Colonel Hamm's name being mentioned.

Colonel Hamm got his start with Lean two and a half years ago when he was working on the Air Mobility Command staff. Retired Gen. John Handy, former AMC commander, requested through then Brig. Gen. Loren Reno, AMC/A4, that Colonel Hamm learn about different practices to make Air Force processes more efficient. One of those practices was Lean. Shortly thereafter, Colonel Hamm found out he was going to be coming to Dover as a group commander, and was instructed to take with him everything he had learned about Lean, in order to help make Dover a model base for Lean in the
C-5 community.

From strategic planning to educating the wing about Lean, Colonel Hamm is a primary AFSO 21 coach on base and is striving to cut the waste out of processes here and ensure Dover AFB is a "Lean" leader for the rest of the Air Force.

Q: Do you have an official AFSO 21 title?
No, Ma'am. I am a Maintenance Group commander, but Lean fits for what we're trying to do today, and so I use it like I would use any other tool in my tool kit.

Q: What year did all of this get started?
2004. We were one of the first organizational units at the wing level to apply it. And that was the whole idea -- to take Lean out of the depots and see if it would work at an Air Force wing. The depots support all Air Force weapons systems and equipment. We have depots at Warner Robins, Ga.; Hill AFB, Utah and Tinker AFB, Okla. Warner Robins manages the C-5 aircraft. Depots started down the Lean trail about a decade ago, and were very successful in improving their key process. We've started to leverage their success at our wings. When we first started Lean - we learned from the depots.

Q: Why is AFSO 21 so important to you?
Well, I will tell you that when (Lt. Gen. Donald Wetekam, AF/Installation and Logistics at the time) said 80 percent of processes were waste, I didn't believe him. So we started talking about, "What do you mean it's waste?" and he said, "Well, how far do your mechanics walk to get to their tools? How far do they walk to get to their benchstock - their supplies? How long are you waiting on things? How much free work do you do in your organization?" As I started thinking about these things, I thought - wow, he's right!
I'm going to tell you, (the people doing the work) know where the waste is. They've had to wait, or they've had to walk or they've had to rework. And here's why: many of the processes that we use in today's Air Force are more than 30 years old. My dad was a mechanic in the Air Force for 21 years. In 1952 he worked on the flightline at Travis AFB. I talk to my dad every Sunday morning, and he'll ask, "How's everything going on the flightline?" and I'll tell him what's happening. And he'll go, "Son, that's the same way we did that in 1952." And I think back on it now. I came into the Air Force in 1975. And I'll tell you that the processes that we use today are the same processes that my dad used in 1952, and I used in 1975 as an Airman.

We're using old processes, but we're doing it with a fraction of the work force. We have got to take the waste out of those processes! We've got to change those processes and adapt those processes to today's Air Force. That's what AFSO21 will do for us.

Q: Could you have imagined 15 - 20 years ago that you would someday be identified as an AFSO 21 guru?
No. No. No. I will tell you this. In the '90s, we all went through the Total Quality Air Force movement. I was a quality Air Force assessor on the AMC Inspector General team, and I never could figure it out. I just stumbled on it. I mean if it hadn't been for the direction of General Reno, General Wetakam's motivation, General Handy sending a note saying let's check this out, I would never have figured this out. Never. Once they pointed me in the right direction and we saw it work, it was easy. It was easy to see Lean, now AFSO 21, is just the right tool at the right time.

Q: In addition to commanding the MXG, what are your AFSO 21 responsibilities?
I sit as a member of the wing steering committee that Col. Sam Cox, 436th Airlift Wing commander, chairs. I chair the group AFSO21 steering committee. Under that charter, I'm responsible for strategic planning for the group and laying out the continuous process improvement plan for the group. One of the differences of AFSO 21 today and Total Quality Air Force is that AMC has given us three objectives. They call them "breakthrough objectives." These are the things that we want to concentrate on over the next five years. From those objectives, AMC gave us what they call annual enterprise improvement priorities. They said, "Alright, you guys build a wing plan that will help us achieve these strategic objectives." We are in the process right now at the wing and at the group level of doing that. So all the group commanders are all active members in the strategic planning for how we're going to implement AFSO 21 in the wing.

Now, I will also tell you that because of the way we're implementing it in the MXG, all of my officers and all of my chiefs are qualified to teach a one-day Lean introductory course.

If (Lean teams) come to me, and they say, "We want this" or "We need this," it's up to me to find the resources to make that a reality.

Q: What is the difference between AFSO 21 and Total Quality Management?
Another difference between AFSO 21 and Total Quality Air Force was that Quality Air Force was big on benchmarking. Go out to the best organization you can find and see how they're doing and copy them. If you do that, you'll never get any better than the person you just benchmarked off of. With AFSO 21 and Lean, you're not competing against them, you're competing against perfection.

Q: How long will it take the Air Force to master the Lean philosophy?
People come to see what we're doing, but we recognize that we're just babies at it. We're just starting out. We've been at it two years. It took Toyota 45 years to get here. Here's the deal; it may take somebody like Toyota 45 years, but I don't expect that it'll take somebody like the U.S. Air Force near that long. You know why? Because of our people. We are highly disciplined, highly motivated, we are very, very smart. Everybody - from Airmen all the way up through the highest ranking officer in our Air Force. We are a very intelligent organization. We are great. We are not average people. We are extraordinary people. And once we set our mind to something, this Air Force starts to move. It won't take us 45 years.

Q: Was there any particular period in your career that best prepared you for your current responsibilities - for embracing this new philosophy?
Everybody is a product of their experiences ... When I enlisted in the Air Force, I was a young kid who wanted to make a difference. I remember as a two striper, I walked into a chief's office where I worked, and I had an idea. The chief looked at me like I was nuts. He said, "If I want to know anything from you Airman Hamm, I will let you know. Just get back to work." For two or three days I was pretty disappointed. That chief didn't want to hear it. That's the difference between the Air Force that I came into 31 years ago and the Air Force of today. I embrace Lean because the processes belong to the people doing the work everyday. If you go into any of my chiefs' offices now with an idea or a different way of doing business, you're going to find that there's a whole different perspective than there was 31 years ago with that chief master sergeant.

I'd like to think that a lot of things prepared me for today. I don't know. We're all a product of our experiences. But isn't it interesting that after 30 years, I still remember that chief throwing me out of his office because I had an idea. Lean is exactly the opposite. People come up with ideas, and we find ways to implement them. Good ideas come from everywhere - whether you're wearing one stripe on your arm or whether you're an O-6.

Q: Have you implemented Lean thinking into your personal life?
One piece of advice - I tell (everyone). Never go home and try to "lean" out your wife's kitchen. Do not do it! I tried it once. To be honest with you, it was just a joke one day ... (I was asking her) "Why do we do this that way? Here, take some waste out of the process ..." It was not good. I'll never make that mistake again!

Q: Do you have a timeline to accomplish AFSO 21 tasks at Dover?
We know that we will do about 12 events this year, all tied to those objectives (from AMC). So that's the only timeline that we have. We know that annually we set up an improvement plan and it's probably going to have about 12 events. There will probably be about 12 training opportunities for the four-day course, and then we do the one-day course every day. My personal goals are the same as any maintenance group commander. I want to run a safe operation where nobody gets hurt and we don't tear anything up, and meet AMC's mission. That's it. AFSO 21 is just a tool. It's just one of the tools.

Q: What advice do you have for Airmen at Dover who are trying to "lean" processes around base?
Well, first off, you've got to learn the basics. So go to the one-day course. It's offered every day, five days a week. Once you learn the basics, go back to your shop and practice. After about four or five months of working in your shop with what you learned in the basic course, get on a couple of teams, rapid improvement events - do a couple little things in your shop, then go to the four-day course. Then you go back to your shop and you do more events. After that, if you like it and you get good at it, a good group commander, or a smart group commander is going to take advantage of your enthusiasm and your knowledge, and you're going to go and see how it's done in industry and throughout the DoD. Every group is going to want a Continuous Process Improvement office, so if you get really good at it - you like it, (maybe you can work there).

Also, read! If there was only one book, it would be "Lean Thinking" by James Womack and Daniel Jones.

Q: Are you an AFSO 21 leader to the other group commanders at Dover?
Colonel Cox is leading this at Dover - hands down - and the group commanders are following his lead. All of them. What we have been able to do in the MXG because we got started a little early is we've been able to provide some training and we've been able to provide some facilitators.

Q: Is the average Airman advised to be constantly looking for ways to improve and perfect processes or should this just be done by Lean professionals?
Any Airman can make a difference. As a matter of fact, most of the improvements that have been made in this group over the past two years have been (the ideas of) Airmen who turn wrenches everyday. Not by guys like me, not by the commanders or the operations officers, but by the people turning wrenches. That's where the improvements are taking place. Beautiful thing about Lean ... (the workers) own those processes.

Q: Are maintenance units the prime AFSO 21 targets?
No. No, AFSO 21 can be done anywhere. Anywhere there's waste, that's a target.

Q: We've heard that there is great support for AFSO 21 among senior Air Force leadership. How would you rate the level of buy-in among Airmen Air Force-wide?
That's hard to say. Here's what I do know - most of the Airmen go in apprehensive. But from what I've been able to see, every Airman that has been able to participate in an event has come out a believer. I think that most of the senior leaders know what's coming, a smaller number of senior leaders know how to apply it, but again - once an Airman does it, they come out a believer. The more people that participate in events, the more buy-in we'll have across the Air Force

Q: How does Dover rate among other bases in implementing Lean initiatives?
Every indication I've got, at the wing level, we're probably leading the Air Force.

Q: To support that, how many processes to date, have been "leaned" on base?
Approximately two dozen processes since 2004.

Q: What kind of pressure do you feel to make AFSO 21 a success here at Dover?
The only pressure I feel to make AFSO 21 work, is to make us more efficient, and more effective as an organization. That's it. I just know in my heart from watching this, if we will stay on this track, it will make life in the workplace so much better for (those working) out here. I've already seen fewer 12-hour shifts; I've already seen cleaner, brighter, better shops; I've already seen the excitement and the enthusiasm that comes from taking charge of their processes.

Q: What is the hardest part of Lean?
The hardest part of Lean is not Lean, it is culture. It is changing the way an organization thinks.

Q: Would you like to continue on in the Air Force for some time?
Oh, absolutely. Yes, Ma'am. Absolutely. I could stay for the 38-year mark. I'm at 31. It'll be a sad day when I leave the Air Force. It's a great organization.

Q: What type of impression do you hope to leave at Dover AFB?
There are a thousand things running through my mind right now. The impact that any group commander ever wants to leave, is that they leave the place better than they found it. That's something that we all strive to do, but that's almost too simple. You want to leave the place better than you found it, that's for sure, but you also want to leave the place better for the people who work here. I guess that's the more complicated piece of it. You want this place to be a better place for people to work than it was when you came here. That's the bottom line.

Q: Do you have any final words about AFSO 21 that you would like Airmen to remember?
There's a big fear across the Air Force that this is going to go away - that AFSO 21 is just a fad. It's not. They may change the name, but taking waste out of our processes, that's a tool that we'll keep forever. You've got to learn to see (waste) and then you've got to learn to remove it, and then it will just keep going and going. It's not going to go away.