33rd FW certifies first Marine AFSO-21 facilitator

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  A Marine recently became certified as a facilitator in the Air Force Smart Operations 21 program continuing to develop an efficient joint environment in the 33rd Fighter Wing.

AFSO-21 is an Air Force effort dedicated to maximize value and minimize waste in all processes. The mission is to establish a community of continuous process improvement that leverages the benefits of the collective experience, expertise, tools, and best practices.

Staff Sgt. James Bentley, a 359th Training Squadron member, became the first Marine trained as a green belt improvement facilitator in the wing and the first certified by Air Force Education and Training Command.

"With the reality of a shrinking force and limited assets, the 33d Fighter Wing is committed to continuous process improvement and the full implementation of the AFSO 21 program," said Lt. Col. Gregg Andreachi, the 33rd FW AFSO 21 master process officer. "CPI offers the tools which can save time, money and manpower by finding the efficiencies in our current processes for our joint forces, partner countries, Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney to usher in the new era with the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II."

Bentley was chosen by his leadership because of his acquisition and logistics experience from his previous assignment and his prior instructor certification in F/A-18 power plants and related systems

"He was specifically chosen for his ability to work difficult problems and find the best solutions," said Andreachi. "He is among the brightest and best."

Bentley successfully completed the 40-hour classroom AFSO 21 course, taught the one hour awareness training to 33rd FW members and participated in the facilitation of three projects to complete his certification training. Bentley said he was familiar with the continuous process improvement program. The Navy and Marine equivalent is called AIRSpeed.

"(SSgt) Bentley truly enhanced the training by adding the Marine perspective," said Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Young, an Air Force facilitator who attended the training with Bentley.

She said how the interaction highlighted aspects that may not otherwise have been brought to the forefront.

"AFSO-21 and AIRSpeed concepts have to be ingrained in our young Marines, Sailors and Airmen straight out of basic training," said Bentley. "I fully understand the importance of keeping procedures lean and every process has the potential to be improved."