(2) commanders, down to and including squadron level, are provided with prompt and frequent on-the-spot guidance and assistance on matter pertaining to personnel utilization and training; (3) individuals are properly classified and are utilized in accordance with training received; (4) training is geared to meet valid requirements and conducted in accordance with the program guidance directive; (5) maximum upgrading of qualified personnel is being accomplished; (6) personnel statistics accurately reflect the personnel inventory; and (7) commanders and personnel officers are provided with an objective analysis of personnel utilization within each command echelon. Management Policy Changes Management policy changes during calendar year 1956 resulted in accomplishments that provided more effective organizational structure, enhanced operational efficiency, and effected improvements in manpower conservation techniques. A partial listing of achievements in the management policy area is as follows: Project Wringout.-"Wringout" is a project which was initiated in January 1956 to narrow the widening gap between programed manpower requirements and goal personnel strengths. The project objective is to determine those missions, units, and activities of the Air Force that can be reduced or deleted in order to effect personnel and monetary savings. This is being accomplished by a critical examination of the missions of all Air Force units and compiling a listing in priority order of their essentiality to the accomplishment of the Air Force mission. Thus, under austere manning of the Air Force as a whole, those units that contribute the least to the combat mission lend themselves to greatest vulnerability for deletion or reduction. To date, manpower savings achieved through the operation of Project Wringout approximate 13,000 spaces. Some examples of gains realized through Project Wringout include (1) Elimination of Flight Service. Responsibilities formerly performed by Flight Service, one of the five subcommands of Military Air Transport Service, have been assigned to Airway and Communications Service. This action resulted in the elimination of a subheadquarters plus savings of equipment and personnel estimated at $250,000 a year. (2) Reorganization of Air Rescue Service. A saving of over 1,000 manpower spaces was realized by deleting 4 Air Rescue Service group headquarters and 9 Air Rescue Service squadrons. (3) Air Force Security Services. A reorganization achieved a reduction of approximately 250 spaces. (4) The Hawaiian complex. The reduction of the Air Force Hawaiian complex to include placing Johnston Island on a standby basis resulted in the reduction of over 300 manpower spaces. (5) Air resupply groups. Reorganization of Air resupply groups. in Europe and the Far East amounts to the reduction of requirements by approximately 1,300 spaces. (6) Deactivation of the 2,900th Air Depot Wing. As a part of the Air Force effort to meet manpower deficiencies by elimination or curtailment of activities which have been evaluated as least essential, the 2900th Air Depot Wing was deactivated. The Air Materiel Com mand utilized 2,100 of these spaces for reallocation to high priority functions. Over 200 spaces were returned to the jurisdiction of this headquarters. This action is consistent with Air Force policy to secure optimum strength in primary mission elements and minimum practicable strength in support elements. Reviews of authorizations and hiring.-(1) Control of Civilian Hiring. A procedure to provide for the continuing review of all civilan vacancies has been established by Headquarters, United States Air Force. For the period July 1, 1956, through September 30, 1956, a total of 45,407 vacant civilian positions have been reviewed and evaluated for essentiality. Of this number, 3,840 positions have been shifted to meet higher priority workloads; (2) Essentiality Reviews of Military and Civilian Manpower Authorizations. The positions of approximately 20 percent of all personnel authorized to the Air Force were reviewed for essentiality between July 1, 1956, and September 30, 1956. Under the terms of a directive issued by Headquarters, USAF, major Air Force commanders are required to review all authorized positions of military and civilian personnel for essentiality. This position review is being made whether the positions are filled or unfilled. The review for this period involved 233,813 position. Of this total, 223,049 were retained and 10,764 positions were shifted to higher priority tasks. The objective of this program is to achieve increased utilization from available personnel resources and to lessen the impact of the personnel deficit through a 100 percent review of all authorized positions prior to June 30, 1957. Basic military and technical training. Consolidation of certain portions of basic military and technical training is producing savings in permanent party, and instructor personnel. Under this plan, only category IV type personnel who do not qualify for technical training are given 11 weeks' basic training. Those recruits who qualify for technical training receive 4 weeks' training at the basic training center and receive additional basic training concurrent with other training while attending Air Force technical schools. Officer Grade Guide.-An officer grade guide has been developed and is in the process of coordination. This guide covers all the officer occupational groupings in AFM 25-1. A different grade guide is provided for each of these groupings except 79 chaplain and 90–99 medical. This grade guide is designed to provide for the most effective distribution and use of officer grades permitted by Public Law 349. Warrant officer-airmen skill and grade guide.-A warrant officerairmen skill and grade guide has been developed and is in the process of coordination. This guide arranges all the warrant officer-airman career fields as contained in AFM 36-1 into the following three groupings: Group A, highly technical; group B, technical; and group C, nontechnical. A different skill and grade is provided for each of these groupings. This skill and grade guide is designed to provide for the most effective use of both skill and grade allotments made to the Air Force. USAF organizational reviews A comprehensive system of reviewing each major air command's organizational structure with relationship to current day missions is now in progress. The objectives are to recover manpower resources which can be released by a more efficient combination of existing organizations or by deletion of out-of-date organizations. Proposals resulting from the review advance up-to-date organizational structures matched to the progress of weapons systems and national military strategy within the scope of budgetary ceilings. An example of the significant gains which can be achieved through the use of organizational review techniques is illustrated by the USAF reorganization in the northeast area. Action has been initiated to eliminate the Northeast Air Command and to transfer its bases, units, and responsibilities to existing commands within the Zone of the Interior. This action, which strengthens and simplifies the command structure in the northeast area, will save approximately 2,000 manpower spaces. This reorganization is consistent with Air Force policy to extend functional commands beyond geographical borders when feasible and practicable. Adjustment of military rotation base requirements.-A study is under way to provide more stability to airmen who in some Air Force career fields are subject to excessive overseas rotation. The number of military in critical career fields in relation to the number of civilians in Zone of Interior commands will be adjusted upward so that an adequate number of military will be provided to meet overseas requirements. In order to maintain the current balance between the total number of military and civilians, some career areas will absorb additional civilian spaces and give up military ones. This readjustment will have a salutary effect on the airman reenlistment rate inasmuch as excessive overseas time during a career has been indicated as one of the causes for low reenlistment rates. Management engineering projects Inservice management engineering capability was increased substantially during 1956. Headquarters, USAF, teams conducted a number of important management engineering projects. Guidance and assistance were furnished to major commands in the conduct of their own projects; several major management studies were initiated; and a number of contracts were negotiated to secure the services of private management consultant firms to supplement the growing Air Force inservice capability. Some of these actions include: Air Force field and organizational_maintenance (Project Air Foam).-The objective of Project Air Foam is to develop an engineered maintenance management control system for field and organizational maintenance that is suitable for application Air Force-wide. The system sought is one which will provide the maintenance manager, line maintenance personnel, or staff officer, with an accurate measure of the effectiveness of the activity for which he is responsible. At present, one of the developments of Project Air Foam is the capability to provide a resource profit and loss statement for each manager in field and organizational aircraft maintenance. Air Reserve Record Center survey (Project ARRC). This project pertains to a survey of Air Reserve Records Center, Denver, Colo., which is being made to determine the best organization structure, methods, procedures, tools, and equipment in quality control systems for processing and filing records of Air Reserve personnel. Air freight terminal operation (Project AFTO).—An inservice management engineering study of the airfreight terminal operation has been in progress at Dover Air Force Base, Del., since February 1956. It is a joint project composed of team members from the 1607th Air Transport Wing (Heavy) and the Management Engineering Branch, Headquarters, United States Air Force. This team has developed an improved system of freight flow and materials handling adaptable to the existing terminal facilities. It is based on a straightline freight-flow pattern and provides mobile storage by holding the freight on warehouse trailers instead of warehouse stacking in the conventional manner. Automatic data processing systems.-A study of automatic data processing systems (ADPC) has been initiated with a view to determining the appropriate organization in Headquarters, USAF, for the development and control of an ADP system. Supply management production system.-Project GRIP (grassroots improvement program) is a management control system designed for use within all major supply depots and Air Materiel areas under the control of the Air Materiel Command. The system is intended to establish controls, which will provide facts upon which to gage the effectiveness of supply operations, to highlight problem areas, and to encourage the application of management on a by-exception basis. Phase 1 of the GRIP program consists of developing cost accounting systems, establishing work centers and labor standards, and developing production and labor reporting systems. Production procedures analysis and statistical control of operations are included in other phases of the GRIP program. USAF workload analysis system. The USAF workload analysis system, a manpower management tool, has been refined and further developed during 1956. It is designed to assist local commanders and supervisors to increase productivity and to achieve more effective utilization and distribution of USAF manpower resources. While primarily directed toward wing and lower echelons down to unit and shop levels, the manpower data developed through this system provides not only a basis for more effective manpower management at all levels but also an indirect foundation for manning criteria standards, program tables, and manpower allocation procedures. The workload analysis system contains many of the accepted features of the earned-hour reporting system. The program has a threefold objective: (1) to measure all the manpower resources assigned to any given function or activity through the use of standard setting techniques which will employ the choice of engineered, statistical, estimated, or work sampling standard setting devices; (2) to achieve manning consciousness as complementary to dollar consciousness throughout the Air Force; and (3) to more closely relate work simplification and procedural improvement efforts to the manpower measure process. Some of the concepts outlined in the workload analysis system have been tested in the installations function at Moody Air Force Base, Valdosta, Ga. These concepts assisted a Headquarters, USAF, board in obtaining improvements in supply effectiveness, vehicle utilization, and labor effectiveness at Moody Air Force Base. It is estimated that joint efforts in work measurement and work control, cost accounting, real property accounting, and supply support provided for an increase of the Moody installations organization by the equivalent of 57 man years. The study of Air Force systems.-A study has been initiated to catalog, by identifying and describing, all major groups of policies, functions, and procedures used in the Air Force. This information will be analyzed to insure that policies and procedures used are necessary, that they incorporate accepted management engineering concepts, and are best suited to obtaining Air Force objectives. The analysis will also provide a tool for the use of management in better controlling and programing limited Air Force resources toward priority objectives or missions. Procedures for processing personnel assigned to or from overseas.— A study of procedures for processing personnel was conducted at personnel processing groups at Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Parks Air Force Base, Calif. This resulted in changes which: (1) permitted forwarding of mail directly overseas, bypassing personnel processing groups, which eliminated handling of over 50,000 pieces of mail a month at personnel processing groups; (2) permitted direct shipment of hold baggage, bypassing personnel processing groups, which eliminated processing of some 3,800 pieces of hold baggage per month at personnel processing groups; (3) provided for preparation of a single order to reassign a man from a base in the United States to a base overseas (former procedure required 3 to 4 sets of orders to accomplish this); and (4) transferred the burden of processing to United States bases in the case of personnel being shipped overseas, reducing the time required for processing at personnel processing groups. 1956 management engineering seminar.—A worldwide management engineering seminar was held at Keesler Air Force Base from March 12 to 16, 1956. Approximately 180 selected manpower and organization personnel participated in this seminar and speakers included educators and management specialists from military and civilian organizations. The primary objectives of the conference were to present new approaches to management, provide an opportunity for the interchange of ideas, and improve Air Force manpower management in general. Study of the USAF manpower system. This project was initiated in December 1956 and will, it is estimated, require 1 year to complete. It is an inservice effort of the Directorate of Manpower and Organization, DCS/O Headquarters, USAF, where most of the project will be accomplished. Any changes effected, however, are expected to have an impact on the system Air Force-wide. The purpose is to simplify, accelerate, and integrate the methods and procedures involved in the programing allocation and utilization analysis of USAF manpower resources. Accepted management engineering techniques, such as mission and organization analyses, and procedures charting will be applied to eliminate any duplication of functions, close any gaps in the system, and establish optimum balance of workloads. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY The Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel reported that during the past calendar year there has been a total reduction in the Department of the Army civilian strength of 6,783. During this period civilian personnel employment in continental United States decreased by 1,966, although there was an increase of 1,490 in the civil works program, Corps of Engineers, resulting from an increased number of civil works projects approved by Congress. The decrease in employment of personnel outside continental United States of 4,817 can be gener |