U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Commanding General Maj. Gen. Todd Royar hosted a virtual Value Engineering/ Army Working Capital Fund Investment Program Awards Ceremony Feb. 8 from Bob Jones Auditorium at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
Value engineering is a concept that refers to doing more with less – getting the biggest bang for the buck or getting the maximum benefit while minimizing resources needed to accomplish a feat. The AWCF is a revolving fund used to finance the continuous flow of goods and services to its customers.
“Our programs have been recognized both nationally and internationally,” said Tom Reynolds, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center value engineering and life cycle cost reduction manager. “We consistently field requests from outside organizations for training examples, policies, lessons learned and success stories. A common theme is a highly motivated, well trained and dedicated workforce that not only delivers superior, superior materiel to our warfighters, but also raised, defined and resolved issues using VE and other effective methodologies – mostly without Soldiers even knowing there’s an issue to start with.”
As the keynote speaker, Royar echoed Reynolds’ sentiments and further highlighted accomplishments in VE that resulted in more than $200 million savings across 82 different projects.
“This marks the 23rd year that, as an enterprise, we've been able to exceed the value that was initially set for value engineering projects and be able to recoup some of that … back to the to the Army – truly remarkable,” Royar said.
“As Tom mentioned, it really is about an enterprise-level effect. It's not about one organization or another; it's about the entire enterprise coming together to solve a problem, the AMCOM CG continued. “And in every case, it really was the enterprise having to come together to solve that problem that you were working on.”
“So, at the end of the day, your innovation, your collaboration and your dedication and perseverance are really what made it happen,” he said.
Plaques were presented to directors and program managers of the following organizations that exceeded their VE savings goal for FY20: AMCOM Logistics Center, DEVCOM AvMC, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Short and Intermediate Effectors for Layered Defense Project Office, Strategic & Operational Rockets & Missiles Project Office and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Project Management Office.
Certificates were presented to the following VE coordinators for their respective organizations’ participation and contribution toward the Team Redstone FY20 VE program: Richard Stedham, ALC; Patrick Kelley, DEVCOM AvMC; Alonzo White, SHIELD Project Office; Alvin Gracie, STORM Project Office; and Toni Hamilton-Datcher THAAD Project Office.
AWCF Investment Program certificates were presented to these key Team Redstone personnel for the significant contributions to the program life cycle cost-reduction project in FY20: Robert J. Domitrovich Jr., Apache Attack Helicopter Project Management Office; Daniel Graham, AAH PMO; Sean Gilpin, AAH PMO; and Lisa Alexander, SHIELD Project Office.
“Some of us remember times when value engineering was neither popular nor effective,” Reynolds said. “Many, at the time, thought VE had forever lost its effectiveness and was a waste of time. It was during that time when Mr. Robert Tarquine stepped forward, and using innovation and basic VE principles showed the rest of us that he could not only be effective, but very advantageous to perform as a way of saving money, improving our jobs, and proving the commitment to Soldiers and taxpayers. It’s in that spirit that we offer the Tarquine Award to deserving individuals that show this type of dedication innovation to value engineering.”
Tammy Griffin, DEVCOM AvMC Systems Readiness Directorate liaison engineer at Fort Rucker, Alabama, received this year’s Robert Tarquine Award.
“Her support and dedication to the program as a liaison engineer has significantly contributed to [the organization] regularly meeting and exceeding the entire AvMC VE goal. Additionally, her innovative solutions significantly contributed to the training for our Army aviators.”
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