6th Logistics Readiness Squadron builds partnerships, improves mission effectiveness

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Sarah Ann E. O’Grady-Garvin
  • 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron

Objects, items, increments, stuff, and baggage: cargo goes by many names, but it has one thing in common with every squadron in the wing, and that is the importance it has to the mission success of the 6th Air Mobility Wing’s (AMW) cargo deployment function (CDF).

Every squadron requires and expects their cargo to arrive expediently during a deployment mission, but what many people do not see is the hard work, dedication, and teamwork put forth by the members of the 6th Logistics Readiness Squadron (LRS) and Team MacDill’s Unit Deployment Managers (UDMs) that ensure it arrives in that manner.

Over the past three months, members of the 6th LRS Traffic Management Office and Small Air Terminal sections have worked hand-in-hand to improve Team MacDill’s CDF. The team was tasked with revamping the CDF in order to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the process so it could be sustained throughout the years.

With excellence as the process baseline, the CDF Revamp Team worked together focusing on each sections procedural expertise.

The first step of the continuous process improvement (CPI) was to find the issues with the old CDF process, and understand why there were inefficiencies. After this exploration, the team had a better understanding of the inadequacies of the CDF and through the combined efforts of each member on the team we were able to craft a new process.

After the new process was built, it was tested through a series of in-house squadron exercises to further streamline the steps. The wing UDMs were given an opportunity to bring unit specific cargo to the CDF yard further testing the process created by the CPI Team. After two weeks of trials, the CDF yard had a sustainable process that was then ready to be documented through the creation of lesson plans.

Each deployment work center’s subject matter expert collaborated diligently with one another to produce a sustainable CDF training plan that was both visually appealing and content rich. The men and women of the 6th LRS have constructed a process that has not only created efficiencies, but has also provided an opportunity to build partnerships across the wing.

Although the process has been revamped, our Airmen continue to seek improvements through wing exercises in order to test its capability and capacity.

“Excellence is not a journey, it is a continuous journey that never ends.”- Bryan Tracy