STRIKEWERX, LA Tech students deliver design sprint prototype to Global Strike Command

By Sean Green | STRIKEWERX Marketing and Communication Director

BOSSIER CITY, La. — STRIKEWERX, Air Force Global Strike Command’s innovation hub, and Louisiana Tech University engineering students delivered a prototype to help the command’s building security.

The prototype aims to improve upon the storage and deployment of bollards around the AFGSC headquarters building at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The design is a hearty A-frame trailer that securely stores the bollards at an angle. This design will allow Airmen to remove the heavy objects easily and safely.

“The STRIKEWERX Design Sprint Process is a system that will work every time and is a process that should be used in every engineering firm,” said Terry Belvin, sprint co-subject matter expert and facilities manager for AFGSC. “I believe STRIKEWERX will save the Air Force a lot of money.”

A bollard is a six-foot metal pipe placed in the group to keep vehicles from parking too close. These safety objects prevent a challenge in how quickly they can be deployed and how they are stored when not in use.

With an improved solution, the job to deploy and store bollards for airmen can be cut from 6 hours to 1 hour. Other benefits include injury prevention, safer handling and improved deployment timelines.

The Louisiana Tech students design and constructed the prototype following a Design Sprint held March 1-3.  The Design Sprint process brings together a team of industry, academia and subject matter experts to develop a solution over the course of a week.

The prototype will now undergo testing and evaluation. Pending results, the prototype could be implemented for use at AFGSC.

STRIKEWERX will continue to host Design Sprints to tackle various issues from around the command. For more info on the Design Sprint process, watch this video or email info@strikewerx.com.