Department of the Air Force-Statement of civilian personnel program, blue- versus white-collar workers 1 Based on anticipated supplemental for fiscal year 1952, since no funds were included in fiscal year 1952 appropriations for the support of "Korean" operations. Mr. MAHON. Off the record. (Discussion off the record.) Mr. MAHON. Are the people who are here the best-qualified people in the Air Force to give us all available facts with regard to this request for Maintenance and Operation, generally speaking? General PARKER. Yes, sir; I think so. General ASENSIO. For this particular area; yes, sir. USE OF PRIOR YEAR FUNDS What has been the result of the funds which we provided for new machines and gadgets to simplify and expedite maintenance and operation techniques, General Parker? General PARKER. Well, sir, from the supply standpoint in simplifying and making more efficient our operations we have stressed laborsaving devices, such as roller conveyors and loaders and that sort of thing. Mr. MAHON. Is that reflected in this 1953 request in a proportionately smaller number of civilians being required for fiscal 1953? Colonel THOMPSON. May I answer that, sir? General PARKER. Yes. Colonel THOMPSON. With the application of these techniques we have been able to increase our workload and handle a workload of considerably greater magnitude, by the use of these labor-saving devices. The General mentioned particularly the use of materials-handling equipment, fork lifts, trucks, overhead conveyors in some of our large depots, and so on, but a big saving has also been made in the application of this mechanical computation. I know you gentlemen have heard that presentation before, as to how we use these electronics devices. We are continuing our research and are even trying to do that faster. Those have resulted in being able to handle a much greater workload, as evidenced by the figures the General gave you, indicating how our workload has increased. WORKLOAD INCREASE COMPARED WITH INCREASE IN PERSONNEL Mr. MAHON. Well, if you should take the average number of people in uniform in the Air Force during fiscal year 1952 and fiscal year 1951 and integrate that with the number of stations in operation and the number of airplanes in the active Force, and so forth, would you find that you are requesting and requiring a proportionately larger number of civilian personnel? Colonel THOMPSON. You mean in relating it maybe to flying hours or horsepower flying hours? Mr. MAHON. In other words, if you run an Air Force of 900,000 men with so many civilians, and you request more to run an Air Force of about 1 million men, is your proportionate request smaller or greater? Colonel THOMPSON. Our proportion does not increase when the proportion of the workload increases, or the flying program or the flying hours. I am not an expert on that. We have Captain Casolari, who I imagine is out in the other room, who could explain that. General PARKER. I should like to offer some figures just for the Supply Division, Mr. Mahon, if I may. Mr. MAHON. All right. General PARKER. From our cost reports last year, the number of items processed increased 61 percent. The tons handled increased 77 percent. The number of personnel increased 39 percent, which meant that there was a training load. These were new people. Despite this. the costs increased only 37 percent. We feel that very considerable progress has been made in the supply operation and the efficiency of personnel, which is reflected, of course, in fewer people to handle the same workload. Colonel THOMPSON. Colonel Lynch is here from the Maintenance Division. Perhaps he has some comparable figures for their operation. Mr. MAHON. Do you, Colonel? Colonel LYNCH. I do not have figures with me, sir, just at the moment, but I know that our situation is similar. We have introduced new methods, for example, such as in our inspection work, the industrial methods of sample testing. Instead of testing every item down the line, we test a few items. We have proved that to be very satisfactory and efficient, as industry has proved it to be. I know of an example up at Ogden. Our depot there has made great improvements in its efficiency in producing carburetors; that is, in the repair of carburetors. I believe Captain Rhodes has some statistics on that, sir. Mr. MAHON. Well, are you doing more work relatively with fewer people? General PARKER. Yes, sir. Mr. MAHON. How can you substantiate it? These isolated examples which you have given us here are of some interest, but I wonder if there is a more comprehensive statement which can be made to demonstrate it. General PARKER. We can substantiate this, certainly, as I say, for the Supply Division. I think we probably can over all. Colonel THOMPSON. In our Supply Division, Mr. Mahon, our work load is measurable by line items and tons. We deal in things. We have found that is the most effective measurement of work load, even to the administration of the activities, which are all concerned with the receipt and movement of supplies and materials. That is the method we use. We publish a Supply Activity Report which indicates that information, which General Parker furnished you, as to the work load by tons handled and line items. We do have documentary evidence to substantiate those figures. Mr. MAHON. Give us any information which is pertinent to the inquiries which have been made. General PARKER. Very well, sir. (The information is as follows:) The increased personnel requirements of the Air Force are strongly influenced by, but are not directly proportionate to, the increases in combat wings, major installations and flying hours. Composition of forces, deployment, and many other factors also influence total personnel requirements. Listed below is an analysis of salient program elements and personnel requirements. Excludes personnel chargeable to "Korean" effort for which a supplemental is anticipated. The decrease in the ratio of civilian to military in fiscal year 1951 resulted from the military build-up due to the "Korean" operation. Since then, the expansion in the utilization of civilians has followed the established policy of maximum use of civilians. This policy has been urged by committees of Congress and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The total increase in personnel from end fiscal year 1950 to end fiscal year 1952 was 128 percent (136 percent for military and 105 percent for civilians) as against increases of 90 percent in number of groups, and 185 percent in major installations. In line with established policy, the requested increase in fiscal year 1953 over fiscal year 1952 is 9 percent for military and 19 percent for civilians, with an over-all average of 11 percent. This compares most favorably with a planned increase of 20 percent in combat groups, and 12.8 percent in major installations. STUDIES AND INSPECTIONS OF MAINTENANCE AND OPERATION PROGRAM TO PROMOTE EFFICIENCY AND ECONOMY Mr. MAHON. Who in the Air Force within the last 12 months has conducted a study of this whole problem of maintenance and operation; and what, if anything, has been the result of these studies? General ASENSIO. Studies are continuous, Mr. Chairman. I might say that they cover, according to the specialty which is involved, all the different parts of the Air Force, all the different staff areas. The Inspector General is particularly active in this field. Mr. MAHON. Has he done anything, to your knowledge, which has saved any manpower or money? General ASENSIO. I am not personally conversant with his particular activities in this area. I cannot isolate any particular instance at the moment. Mr. MAHON. General Parker, has the Inspector General called upon your organization from time to time, or representatives of his office? General PARKER. Yes, sir. Mr. MAHON. Has he made any suggestions which have amounted to anything and which were worthwhile and which have resulted in the reduction of spending or civilian personnel, or anything like that? General PARKER. I do not recall any specific instance, since my term in the Supply Division. We have many things, however, which are not suggested by the Inspector General-possibly some of them were-where we can show savings. We have a book which we put out periodically which shows the methods developed by different depots in increasing their efficiency. We put that out with pictures, and circulate it to all the rest of the depots so that they may take advantage of it. We can show in some |