Arron Jenkins is 2022 Employee of the Year

Arron Jenkins, part of the AGS team supporting Special Operations Forces at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, was recently recognized as the 2022 Employee of the Year.

As a Program Manager within the Rapid Development and Integration Facility (RDIF), Arron managed up to 24 high profile projects simultaneously.  Of particular note, Arron led the charge to make better use of the machinery and other technology in the RDIF.  As examples, he showed that manufacturing could increase the chip load on Computerized Numerical Control (CNC) cutters (making deeper cuts) and extended the life of the cutting tools by 5-7x.  He also developed a tailored training program for these machines, focused on the applications most used throughout the facility.  By improving everyone’s skill sets, productivity is up across all projects.  Finally, he showed the machinists they could change their methods for tapping drill holes at high speeds; in particular, they could eliminate the use of clutches in many applications.  Through these process changes, the RDIF began tapping at speeds of up to 1200 rpm; allowing 6 holes to be cut in 18 seconds instead of up to ten minutes by other methods.

Improvements like these allowed the rapid development and fielding of the humidifiers used to decontaminate aircraft from the COVID-19 virus.  Maintainers in the field have also found those humidifiers to be very useful to carefully cleaning equipment and electronics racks throughout the aircraft.  Additionally, a redesign of the A/MC-130J black-out curtains replaced the Velcro with a more robust fastening system for these heavy weight items.  Finally, his leadership through the design process allowed the development of a F-16 radar bracket in just 6 months for $700K.  Quotes from vendors across the aircraft equipment industry requested up to 5 years of development and $6M in prototyping expenses.

We are proud to have high performers like Arron on the Ascension Global Solutions team; and we are thrilled to celebrate him as the Employee of the Year for 2022.