Project Synergy: base-community integration

History was made as the collaboration of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex (WR-ALC), the 402nd Software Engineering Group (SWEG) and Houston County’s Board of Education, Development Authority, Commissioners and various community leaders joined together to cut the ribbon on the highly anticipated opening of the R. Wayne Lowe Synergy Innovation Complex on Monday, March 22.

Honored guest, Lieutenant General Donald E. “Gene” Kirkland, Commander of the Air Force Sustainment Center headquartered at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, declared, “The best communities make the best bases. That is no more true than for Robins Air Force Base in middle Georgia.” He went on to say, “As a team, we have created a facility that’s a working partnership that will bring together long term benefits to both members of the community who created it and the national defense mission in support.”

Project Synergy is the partnership between the aforementioned entities in collaboration of software engineering and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs to house a facility that was created in response to the ever-growing demand for software production at Robins Air Force Base.

The new facility is located across from RAFB, right off of Booth Road, and is equipped with 43,000 square feet of space for technological and software advancement. Nine thousand square feet of that space has been designated for 150 scientists and engineers from SWEG, and approximately 2,000 square feet has been set aside for classrooms for up to 40 students in Houston County. Featuring state of the art design, the facility fosters group creativity and collaboration with its open floor plan, large conference and break out rooms, spacious offices and a notable amount of lab space.

Tommy Stalnaker, Chairman of the Houston County Board of Commissioners, recalled that it has only been “one year and 18 days from the original announcement” for the plans in place to be completed. On October 16, 2019, the now Retired General John Kubinec and 78th Air Base Wing Commander Colonel Brian Moore relayed information they had collected about the needs of the RAFB to community leaders. They detailed one of the main challenges of the base was that software demand was growing, but room for installation was scarce. Six days later, the late and honored Robert “Wayne” Lowe was approached regarding the potential purchase of the building he had currently owned.

Angie Gheesling, Executive Director of the Development Authority of Houston County, stated that the building that houses the newly renovated and completed facility had been vacant for at least eight years. Under the circumstances of the involved entities and the ideal location of the facility, it posed the perfect solution for many to benefit from. “The county could buy the building, but we didn’t have the funds to renovate the building,” informed Gheesling. “The Air Force was just the opposite. They could do the renovations, but they couldn’t actually own the bricks and mortar without going through years and years of congress. That’s why we call it Synergy because everything just kind of came together.”

Gheesling went on to point out, “You’ve got local, private and federal governments, all working together. I’ve never worked with an industrial project that came together in this short amount of time. It’s remarkable when you think about all of the parties that had to be involved.”

Chair of the Development Authority, Ben Hulbert, listed many “wins” across the board for the base and the community, particularly noting that the project is over a 10 million dollar investment. In addition, not only will the facility allow more job growth of over 250 new employees, but the plan for the upcoming Houston County students hopes to train and retain the talent developed in the area.

“Our mission is to produce high achieving students,” Dr. Mark Scott, Superintendent for the Houston County Board of Education stated. “We’re very excited about the opportunities to keep these very bright children here in Houston County and have them participate with our higher education institutions to continue their education so they can return to our community and continue to grow our community.” Central Georgia Technical College, Mercer University, Middle Georgia State University and Fort Valley State University are just a few higher education institutions in partnership with Project Synergy.

Phillip Rowan, Deputy Group Director of the 402nd SWEG, shared, “We’ve had a tremendous amount of growth. We’ve hired about 200 in the past year and continue to hire. So this facility allows us to work with the community to really create that pipeline for the STEM type jobs, whether it’s with the high school graduates or college sophomore, juniors, etc. so that we can expose them to the technology and software jobs in the middle Georgia area and support the Air Force. It also gives us a great way to interact with them.”

Commander of the WR-ALC, Brigadier General Jennifer Hammerstedt, took up the responsibilities of spearheading the project after Kubinec retired last year. Working closely with Rowan, showcasing the facility was exciting. “It was great for us to be able to see the rest of the community that hasn’t been able to go inside, walk through the door and get that same feeling that we got. To see the excitement in the community and the partnership that made this happen makes for a really, really great day.”

Col. Moore addressed that RAFB has been working hard “to be the model for base-community integration.” He continued saying, “The way the community is so engaging and interested in an project such as this…it demonstrates the partnership that you don’t see anywhere else. I believe that Robins is really the Air Force model for base-community integration.”

Leaders and heavy supporters of the project included city, county, state and federal officials, RAFB attendees and various special community guests. Lt. Gen. Kirkland expressed, “The RAFB would not exist without the patriotism across eight decades of middle Georgia history. This ribbon cutting today would not have happened without that same spirit of community and purpose. There can be no better example of what can be accomplished when Robins and middle Georgia team up to support the air force mission.”

Project Synergy is now open and will be set to be in full operation in the coming weeks.

HHJ News