Ideas save money

  • Published
  • By By David R. Hopper
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  Five Team Offutt members recently submitted two ideas for consideration in the Innovative Development through Employee Awareness program with the potential to save Offutt more than $230,000 a year.

Because of the potential fiscal impact on the base the members were awarded more than $18,000 for their ideas.

The IDEA program is an incentive program that promotes process improvement and/or resource savings through ideas submitted by military and civilian employees. This is accomplished by encouraging a better way of doing business and developing employee awareness and participation.

Tech. Sgt. Matt Schnabel, 55th Maintenance Squadron, submitted an idea to replace worn zippers on 12-inch air delivery ducts instead of buying new ducts. That simple suggestion is going to save Offutt more than $52,000 a year. The award for Schnabel's submission was more than $8,000.

"I felt like it was a waste to throw away a $700 duct just because the technical data said there was no repair, and the only thing wrong was a zipper being broke," Schnabel said. "I decided to submit a 107 (approval form) to the item manager so we can locally repair the air duct instead of throwing them away. I got the approval and then decided to submit this to the IDEA Program."

Senior Master Sgt. Gary Self, 45th Reconnaissance Squadron, Senior Master Sgt. Phil Fischer, 38th Reconnaissance Squadron, Senior Master Sgt. Jason Thompson, 343rd Reconnaissance Squadron and Master Sgt. Phil Earsley, Detachment 10, collaborated on a submission that will save Offutt more than $186,000. Their idea was to eliminate the RC-135S/U airborne systems engineer training requirement because of low enrollment and because of jet equipment similarity, training can be conducted in-house. Because of the impact of their submission they were awarded a total of $10,000.

"This was definitely a collective effort," Self said. "We have worked together as squadron superintendents in multiple capacities in support of the Offutt RC-135 program for the past 3 plus years. That relationship and our experience put us in a unique scenario to address issues across four RC-135 platforms. In the case of this IDEA, for it to be successful, there had to be buy in from the Rivet Joint side of the house as well as the Combat Sent and Cobra Ball side."

"In these challenging fiscal times, it is great to see our Airmen coming up with such innovative solutions to save 55th Wing funds for use in other, possibly more vital, areas," said Brig. Gen. Donald Bacon, 55th Wing commander.

"I believe that this IDEA will spur others," Self said. "The word is already getting around concerning this IDEA [submission] and locally there is talk of other options to save the Air Force time and money."

To submit an idea, eligible Department of Defense ID cardholders can log on to the IPDS website at https://ipds.randolph.af.mil/ipds and click on "Start a new IDEA." For more information about the program, contact Stephanie Phillips, Team Offutt IDEA Program manager, at 294-3357.