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Show 2 Hilltop Times June 1, 1995 S"-- 17 if "i H 1 - I Yates says Hill 'doing things just right' the F-2- or 2 C-1- 7 programs would have by Frances Kosakowsky to be curtailed. Prior to his retirement, the commander of the Air Force Materiel Command, Gen. Ronald W. Yates, is visiting each of the 13 AFMC bases. In an interview at Hill Friday, he had several things to say about the future of the AFMC and about Hill in particular. "We don't want to do that. What we want to do is downsize in place and consolidate ourselves and do a better job on our technical repair centers," Yates said. He said that would mean that workloads would be switched around, but he didn't want anybody misled. "If we keep the five facilities open, there will be Editor Hill's outlook "Hill is doing things just right," he said. "I don't think that here at Hill you should be in a panic mode. You can't take anything for granted which you haven't but the base and the community have done very well with BRAC (Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission)." He said that based on the evaluations that have been done. Hill is a Tier 1 base. "That 's as good as you can do! By any objective measure, you're at the top of the ALCs (air logistics centers)." Yates said he hoped this would be the last round of base closures, but that downsizing was a long way from being finished. He said. "BRAC is an ax that's been hanging over our heads for five years and it seems like only yesterday we were in the same spot. However, I think Hill is going to do very well this round." Current challenges The said there were challenges general to maintaining a healthy command and that the BRAC process was central to most of them. Closing one or two air logistics centers Yates said the Air Force recommendation not to close any ALC, but instead to downsize all of them, sprang from the fact that it would be very expensive to close any of the centers. "Frankly, if you take money to close an ALC, that money has to either come out of force structure, or readiness, or modernization," he said. "Most people think we've got about as small a force as we can stand and still meet our combat requirements. And. as we know, readiness is a hot issue now and people aren't willing to take any more out of readiness funding. So if we were to close an ALC the funds would have to come from modernization and that would mean that Yates said. He said that anytime a workload was shifted, people thought the switch was related to BRAC, "so we just called a halt to it until the BRAC decisions have been announced. Then when lowest level. Centralization is just not the way to go.' "In the first place our business is complex. Even people in our business don't understand our business and there are lots of people in Congress and industry who are offering remedies and I wish we could have time to explain the business to them. This is a complex business and one has to make thoughtful decisions about it," Yates said. we know where the consolidations are going to occur, we will look at the technical repair centers and compare those amongst the services to see which technical repair centers will be kept open for each kind downsizing in the facilities Hill - of technical repair," he said. Major accomplishments as AFMC commander "That's Yates said there was major progress 66 included. And, furthermore, I don't want anybody to be under not to say We can't become despondent albecause we continue to face these you'll ways get after all, as many down one,to challenges continue to challenges as we've faced, as depressing as it is, as old as it gets, we've won every time. lose people here, we 99--- the impression that we're not going to are," ; he . Commands , Air Fwca Material Command said. he said. "I e being discussed and Integrated Weapon System He said this is one of Management the greatest successes. "It's very re- think people saw how well positioned Hill is to handle that workload," Yates said. As an example, he said he thought BRAC was reconsidering the Maverick missile workload that went from Hill to Letterkenny Army Depot in Pennsylvania. Metrics "We've finally formed a metrics culture where we try to measure what we do, and that's important," he said. Science and technology programs "Refocusing our science and technology and coming up with a new process where we are much more focused on the users is a major step forward. Three or four years ago, no user of any using command had ever heard of any of our science and technology programs, and now they are very conversant with them, they sponsor them, they talk with us and they vote on their priorities. That says we're more culturally aligned with our customers," Yates said. "We're not through with any of these by any stretch, but we've made a lot of progress." Centralization of military support services Yates said all the services would fight centralization of support services. "Most people who favor centralization are grossly out of touch with what's going on in the modern business world." he said. "Every management book you pick up today talks about decentralization and empowerment at the patron. Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the Ogden Air Logistics Center Public Affairs Office staff. Bldg. 1102. Room 118, Ext. 77321. unless otherwise indicated, all photos are U.S. Air r i rurre jjnuios. ' ' j - Hill AFB Editorial ftr ?T P!C6.?dLn Urb" Orndorff B.ll Franc. Ko.okow.ky Jo.r, DIf ' Joy 3 1 See Yate$, page 4. - Global Power and Reach for America. " -- Commoner, .....Chi.f Su. B.rk ,idi,riolJ . Lpn w-; rH call th oditor. Staff: OO-AL- C Director, Public Affair, of Intornal Information Editor Sfotf wrjt(r, "Around dV el.., 9 I m. Monday, w..h of ' 1 ; CALL, 394-965- 5 said. Will the BRAC process continue? Yates hopes this is the last round of closure actions. "If a depot is closed (through the BRAC process) it will take care of our excess capacity; however, if a depot is not closed then we're going to have to downsize on all our bases in both people and facilities." he said. The appearance of advertisements in this publication including inserts or .supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Department of the Air Force or MorMedia. Inc. of the products or services advertised Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex. national origin, age. marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or TO PLACE AN ADVERTISEMENT warding to me now. I have weapon system managers coming in who are living and breathing support for their programs. Under IWSM. the programs are being managed very well at depots and I think we're well along on that," Yates think the BRAC I , 13 is going to happen in the future and it could happen maybe a year from now. "The issue on tactical missiles is still "Air Force people building the world's most respected Air and Space Force Published by MorMedia, Inc.. a private firm in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force, under exclusive written contract with Hill AFB. This commercial enterprise Air Force newspaper is an authorized publicatibn for members of the, U.S, military, services. Contents of the Hilltop Times are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. government, the Department of Defense or the Department of the Air Force. could that's what re- ductions in force that are ongoing at our ALCs, and at all of the installations in the Air Force, not just ALCs." He added that AFMC manpower reductions have only been worked through fiscal 1996. At present the manpower studies indicate that the command has to lose 10,000 more civilian positions. He said the reason the forecasts don't go beyond 1996 is that everything hinges on the BRAC decisions and all the services are awaiting the outcome. He said base closure will significantly affect the way things will be handled and the decisions which need to be made. Depot productive overcapacity A command-widstudy showed that AFMC depots had nearly twice the productive capacity necessary to support existing forces and this is what is driving the need to reduce civilian positions throughout the command. Yates said that reductions so far have only reduced its manpower by 13 percent. "The reductions are not over by any means," he said. B Interservicing Inter servicing has been put on hold for nearly a year, Hilltop Times the idea is to see how much you lication," "Clearly, we have but tenure as commander. Formation of AFMC The formation of the command (merging the Air Force Logistic Command and Air Force Systems Command) was a major accomplishment, Yates said. "We brought two different cultures together and formed a new culture that's gone faster and better than I ever thought it would." he reduce dup- Gen. Ronald W. Yates said. just made in some important areas during his th. Hill" h.m., .port, publication, clauifiod f",bllto'io"- - .rli- - , .a-,- "i . , (OGDEN) OR 532 7774 (SALT LAKE CITYf ii 'S l I 1 |