Marty Sheppard, the manufacturing engineer for the 402nd Electronics Maintenance Group was chosen for the award by Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Ken Krieg.

Value engineering is a systematic process of function analysis, identifying actions that reduce cost, increase quality and improve mission capabilities, Krieg said.
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Though it is an individual award, Sheppard recognized the work of the entire printed wiring board facility.

"This award is really for the whole shop, not just me," he said.

The manufacturing engineering team includes Patty Causey, Brian Ledden, Charles Williams, Blake Ramey, Mike Wells and Ken McKinley.

The project that gained the DOD-level award is a set of interface test adapters, called ITAs. The manufacturing engineering team works directly with manufacturing shops, including circuit board, machine, cable and assembly, from conceptual design to delivery of the ITAs to the Robins AFB software engineers' test programs to new universal test stations.

Enough interface test adapters have been produced to save the Air Force thousands of dollars, and work is under way that will save the service even more money.