IDEA program offers financial rewards Published April 23, 2008 OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- Nine individuals who saved the Air Force 14.7 million were recognized April 8 at the Pentagon. Seven individuals won Air Force Productivity Excellence Awards and two won Air Force Exceptional Innovator Awards. Lt. Gen. Richard Y. Newton III, Air Force deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and service, presented plaques to the winners for their money-saving improvements to the Air Force. "Innovation and increased productivity are essential in today's Air Force," General Newton said. "Like the men and women who served before us, these award winners found ways to make sure they leave our Air Force a better organization for the generation of Airmen to follow." The Air Force Productivity Excellence Award recognizes individual Airmen and small groups who make substantial improvements in productivity. These improvements come as ideas through the Innovative Development through Employee Awareness, or IDEA program, special acts and other management initiatives. Although Offutt team members did not garner Air Force level awards, they recently received cash awards for submitting their ideas on how to improve Air Force policies and procedures. This year, 59 ideas from Offutt team members were submitted and approved through the IDEA program, paying out a total of $93,649 and saving the Air Force over 989 thousand dollars. Master Sgt. Bruce Spangler, 55th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron E-4B jet engine craftsman, was awarded $19,050 for two ideas. His first idea was to develop procedures to replace faulty differential pressure indicator buttons. His idea enables technicians to repair the actual problem rather than replace the entire integrated driver generator. He also developed procedures to give technicians the authority to flush the generator for minor problems. This prevents unnecessary generator replacement. His ideas saved the Air Force $204,758. Dan Schreck, 55th Maintenance Squadron component repair chief, was awarded $9,800. His idea absorbed the workload from six military positions in the 55th MXS radio frequency/multiplexing work center into the 55th MXS component repair section. His idea saved the Air Force $408,563. Darlon Rohlff, 55th MXS electronics mechanic and Robert Norman, 55th MXS electronics mechanic, were awarded $3,072 each. Their idea was to repair high speed fans for the high power amplifier for the Air Force satellite communication locally. Their idea saved the Air Force $39,630. Mr. Rohlff, Mr. Norman and Mr. Schreck were also awarded $1,054 each. Their idea was to allow a submitter permission to replace faulty capacitors on the motherboard on the central processing unit of the bench reconfigurable automatic tester. Their idea saved the Air Force $19,756. Staff Sgt. Timothy Wildes, 55th AMXS hydraulics specialist, was awarded $10,000 for his idea to repair the E-4B handrail cable on the air stairs locally instead of sending them to an off base facility. His idea saved the Air Force $87,854. Staff Sgt. Eric Kent, 55th AMXS quality assurance inspector, was awarded $4,953 for his idea to add procedures for installing the main landing gear door release handle for the E-4B to the technical order. His idea prevents costly mishaps and saved the Air Force $31,682. Staff Sgt. Kent and Tech. Sgt. Raymond LeBlanc, 55th AMXS crew chief, were awarded $3,822 each. Their idea was to rewrite procedures to install and remove the E-4B spoiler locks. Their idea prevents costly damage to aircraft and saved the Air Force $49,637. Master Sgt. Michael Menard, 55th AMXS specialist section chief, and Tech. Sgt. Michael Przytulski, 55th AMXS instructor aircraft electrical and environmental systems, were awarded $5,000 each. Their idea was to have the cadmium plating for the E-4B done in-house instead of having a contractor do it. Their ideas saved the Air Force $76,405. Staff Sgt. Brian Kluball, 55th AMXS communication and navigation inspector, was awarded $4,748 for two ideas. His first idea was to replace the ultra high frequency ARC-171 radio system high power amplifier mount assembly vanaxial cooling fan instead of refurbishing it. He also suggested the deletion of the 24 month time change requirement for the E-4B secure and non-secure local area network global uninterruptible power supply batteries to reduce procurement costs and save inspection time. His ideas saved the Air Force $27,644. People who want to save the Air Force money while possibly adding a little cash to their wallets can submit an idea to the IDEA program, by logging on to https://ipds.csd.disa.mil.