Initiative equals reward

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Carolyn Viss
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  One Dyess noncommissioned officer is $10,000 richer because he followed his instinct and figured out how to save the Air Force more than $95,000 per year. 

Technical Sgt. Julian Alvarado, 7th Logistics Readiness Squadron supply inspector, noticed in September that a hydraulics fluid liquid indicator for the B-1 axel beam positioner, which controls landing gear, kept coming through the shop. Five of the six that had been ordered in fiscal year 2006 had already been sent to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office to be scrapped, but the busy husband and father of two had a better idea. 

"I picked up the part and thought to myself that it looked repairable," he said. 

He started doing research and found out that the part, which cost the Air Force more than $18,400 to replace, could be repaired to meet technical order specifications for about $2,500 in San Antonio. 

"I talked to my (former) supervisor, Master Sgt. Frank Elsen, and he advised me to turn my work into the IDEA program," Sergeant Alvarado said. 

The program, Innovative Development through Employee Awareness, rewards members who come up with innovative ways to save the Air Force money by giving them a percentage of the savings up to $10,000. 

"My good friend, Staff Sgt. David Berryman, has won three times for his ideas, and he pushed me to do it, too," Sergeant Alvarado said. "I didn't think it would be as easy as it was. It was just a matter of taking a little of my time off to do some research." 

Sergeant Elsen, the Air Force repair enhancement program manager, said Sergeant Alvarado is a "prime example" of the kind of person the Air Force needs as it heads to a more lean, less-with-less method of operation. 

"Sergeant Alvarado was the supply liaison at the time he submitted this to the IDEA program, but he did more than just that," Sergeant Elsen said. "He did a lot of work with contractors, researching which vendors could get parts repaired and ordered, and even shipped and returned in good time. He got things done from start to finish. He's an outstanding troop who loved his job and wanted to improve the AFREP program more than anyone else." 

Sergeant Alvarado said he plans to save the money and buy acreage in Abilene when he gets closer to retirement, six years from now.