The commander of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Maj. Gen. Todd Royar, recognized innovation and collaboration at this year’s Value Engineering/ Army Working Capital Fund Investment Program Awards Ceremony, Feb. 25 at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Value Engineering is used to analyze supplies, services, buildings and systems to achieve the best result, speed delivery, and enhance the performance of the equipment and services provided to U.S. forces, while reducing costs.
The VE awards recognize Team Redstone employees’ efforts that resulted in cost savings or cost avoidances, quality improvements, or efficiencies to the Department of Defense. In FY21, the Team Redstone VE program claimed $213 million in savings and cost avoidances on 78 completed VE projects.
“We consistently field requests from outside organizations for training examples, policies, lessons learned and success stories,” said Tom Reynolds, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center value engineering and life cycle cost reduction manager. “A common theme [in these awards] is a highly motivated, well-trained and dedicated workforce that not only delivers materiel to our warfighters, but also raised, defined and resolved issues using VE and other effective methodologies to resolve issues – mostly without Soldiers even knowing there’s an issue.
While each award was initiated by an individual and led by an individual, it took a group of people to coordinate to make this successful, Royar said during the ceremony. [Because of] the complexity of our weapons systems and complexity of what we do for the nation, each individual and organization rely on others to make sure they get the job done. It is a team effort and often those teams cross organizational boundaries.
“This is an opportunity to recognize some absolutely fantastic individuals and fantastic organizations who have done some fantastic work,” Royar said. “Every one of these projects was initiated by an individual. They were not paid extra for it. They did not get time off for it. They did not get anything else besides a ‘job well done.’ It is their passion and motivation upon identifying an issue that ultimately makes a difference to the warfighter.”
Plaques were presented to directors and program managers of the following organizations that exceeded their VE savings goal for FY21: AMCOM Logistics Center, Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation and Missile Center, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Integrated Fires Mission Command Project Office, Strategic and Operational Rockets and Missiles Project Office, Tactical Aviation and Ground Munitions Project Office, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Project Office and X-Band Radar Program Office.
Certificates were presented to the following VE coordinators for their respective organizations’ participation and contribution toward the Team Redstone FY21 VE program: Richard Stedham, ALC; Patrick Kelley, DEVCOM AvMC; Katrick Jemison-Groce, IFMC; Alvin Gracie, STORM Project Office; Jordan White and Jennie Wilkinson, TAGM Project Office; Toni Hamilton-Datcher, THAAD Project Office; Rosalind Walker, UAS Project Office; and Stuart Rogers, XBR Project Office.
AWCF Investment Program certificates were presented to key Team Redstone personnel for their significant contributions to the program life cycle cost-reduction project in FY21: Gabriel (Wynn) Knowles, Apache Attack Helicopter Project Management Office, for the Radar Electronics Unit Circuit Card Assembly Project; Tim White, Aviation Ground Support Equipment Product Directorate, received certificates for both the Flexible Engine Diagnostic System Exhaust Tail Pipe Assembly Project and the FEDS Electric Starter Quick Disconnect Project; Christopher Cousins, Aviation Turbine Engine Project Office, for the CH47 Hydro-Mechanical Assembly Improvement Project; Jason Bardis, Cargo Helicopters Project Office, for the CH47 Swashplate TBO Extension Project; Stephanie Riley, Cargo Helicopters Project Office, for the Electronic Standby Instrument System Integration Project; Lisa Alexander, SHIELD Project Office, for both the Patriot Modular Integrated Digital Operator Control System Communication Interface Unit Project and the Avenger Fire Control Computer Redesign Project; and Barry Thrower, TAGM Project Office, for both the Improved Bradley Acquisition System’s visible/near-infrared power supply circuit card assembly project and the TOW Boresight Prism Repair Project.
“Awards and savings are very important, but more important is the impact these projects have on our Soldiers’ lives,” Royar said. “As you know, the things we build are very, very expensive, but they’re not luxury items. They are items that our Soldiers literally bet their lives and missions on every single day, in wartime and in peacetime. This year, completing all the projects we did had a tremendous impact on their lives and their ability to do the mission.”
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