Cycle Time Improves with Lean Six Sigma

Army trims cycle times and eliminates defects with Lean Six Sigma projects. ...

... "Those delays became one of the first targets of a Lean Six Sigma project under Lt. Gen. Michael Rochelle, Army deputy chief of staff for personnel. " ...

Via FCW: Army uses Lean

Quality Award for Army Center

Army engineering center is recognized for its Lean Six Sigma achievements with a Malcolm Baldrige Award. ...

... "Rowland said ARDEC had competed in the President's Quality Award process and used that as an incentive for implementing management programs like Total Quality Management and Lean Six Sigma. Donelle Denery, who manages ARDEC's performance excellence programs, said the agency was able to promote new management programs by getting almost total participation from managers. " ...

Via Government Executive: Army Quality

Via ARDEC: Malcolm Baldrige Award: "The Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center here today became the first Department of Defense organization in history selected to receive the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. President George W. Bush and Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez announced ARDEC's selection this morning in a joint news release. "

Workforce Involvement in Lean Six Sigma Program

Army base involves civilian workers in their Lean Six Sigma program. ...

... "The Lean Six Sigma process allows workers to identify paperwork, standard operating procedures and bureaucratic waste that undercuts customer service and makes jobs harder to do, he said. " ...

Via Stars & Stripes: Involving Workers in Eliminating Waste through Lean Six Sigma

Army Modernization Lean Techniques For Helicopter Manufacturing

Army Chinook modernization program uses lean manufacturing to eliminate waste and lower costs. ...

... "Throughout this process, the implementation of lean manufacturing processes on the factory floor and use of employee involvement teams have reduced manufacturing costs and improved production efficiency. " ...

Via Defense Industry Daily: US Army Chinooks Manufacturing ...

Six Sigma Defect Elimination: Haz Waste Elimination

US Coast Guard uses Six Sigma DMAIC process to minimize defects in the elimination of hazardous waste. Voice of the customer surveys identified training improvements as low-cost, low-risk approach to creating measureable change in performance. Green techniques to environmental improvement is recognized. ...

... "The team followed the Six Sigma DMAIC process improvement model (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control). The team designed and performed a comprehensive Customer Survey targeting all the Environmental Compliance Officers (ECOs) from the various tenant units. Customer surveys revealed that training and knowledge of the system was sporadic due to ECO turnover and the lack of tenant command emphasis. The team quickly acknowledged that a robust and continual education and outreach program would be needed to improve the overall success of the Hazmat management program. In April 2005, a comprehensive training session was successfully implemented and is now offered on a monthly basis by the EB. " ...

Via US EPA: 2006 Awards: Champions of Green Government Awards | Region 9: Federal Facilities ...

Six-Sigma: Army Black-Belt Profiled

Army Black Belt discusses her Lean Six Sigma aspirations. ...

... "Ambition: Lean Six Sigma credentials people in terms of belts, green belts, black belts, etc. I just finished the Army black belt training and got my diploma. " ...

Via Huntsville Alabama Times: Link

Chinook Helicopter: Lean Manufacturing Produces ...

Chinook production is made more efficient through lean practices ...

... "Throughout this process, the implementation of lean manufacturing processes on the factory floor and use of employee involvement teams have reduced manufacturing costs and improved production efficiency. " ...

Via Defense Industry Daily: Link

Army Depot Lean SixSigma ...

RRAD, Red River Army Depot, supports the Army with military hardware and technical support during times of conflict. The RRAD is experiencing a peak workload during the current Iraq and Afghanistan engagements requiring the depot to operate at unpredicted levels of efficiency. It is using Lean Six Sigma as a methodology to decrease its cycle times and improve overall quality of services. ...

... "RRAD has risen to these challenges utilizing innovative methods of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma tool sets to increase efficiency, reduce waste, improve quality and reliability of our processes and provide the Army with more equipment for the limited dollars available. " ...

Via Texarkana Gazette: Red River Army Depot: By their side ...

Army Lean Six Sigma: Leadership Culture

Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey shares his views on the leadership excellence in the military, which includes a foundation of continuous improvement through Lean Six Sigma. ...

... "Harvey also touted the Lean Six Sigma business-management tool as an example of transformation in the Army's business culture. " ...

Via Leavenworth Lamp: Harvey addresses AUSA gathering ...

Lean Six Sigma Graduates ...

Army units invest in training their workforce to find ways to increase efficiency through Lean Six Sigma. ...

... "The 8th U.S. Army graduated its first class of 22 Lean Six Sigma trainees this week, marking the first time an Army command has used its own training dollars to activate this new efficiency program. " ...

Lean Six Sigma Graduates: Via Stars & Stripes: 8th Army's first Lean Six Sigma grads on mission to cut costs in Korea ...

Lean Army Management Initiative ...

Army increases its efficiency with Lean Six Sigma ...

... "The new Army management initiative is Lean Six Sigma, said Holzinger and other Baumholder officials. Under Lean Six Sigma — two programs borrowed from corporate giants such as Motorola and Toyota – all employees are charged with thinking of ways to increase efficiency and cut costs. " ...

Lean Army Management Initiative: Via Stars & Stripes: Baumholder seeks ways to trim costs, increase efficiency ...

DOD Six Sigma: Operations Efficiency ...

Secretary of Defense validates importance of Six Sigma to military ...

... "Q: Sir, a separate but related question. The Army is currently implementing a Lean Six Sigma program to improve efficiency and efficacy in its operations. Have you given thought to applying such an approach DOD-wide?

SEC. RUMSFELD: The private industry, of course, has been doing that for a number of years. I'm pleased the Army is doing it. It does make sense for other elements of the department to do it, and I know that there have been discussions along that line, but I just don't happen to know off the top of my head where they stand. But I -- we can certainly check on it. " ...

DOD Six Sigma: Operations Efficiency: Via DoD: Department of Defense Town Hall Meeting with Secretary Rumsfeld and Gen. Pace ...

Six Sigma Eliminate Waste Save Millions

Army unit moves forward with Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste in pursuit of millions in savings. ...

... "While officials are expecting a deployment order from Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey to launch the program, the 8th Army already has started moving forward, contracting with the George Group to train them in Lean Six Sigma. " ...

Six Sigma Eliminate Waste Save Millions: Via Military.com: Learning to Cut Waste, Save Millions

Lean Manufacturing Factory Floor ...

Factory floor benefits from lean manufacturing process ...

... "Throughout this process, the implementation of lean manufacturing processes on the factory floor and use of employee involvement teams have reduced manufacturing costs and improved production efficiency. " ...

Lean Manufacturing Factory Floor: Via Defense Industry Daily: US Army in Flight on Production of (Re)New H-47 Chinooks ...

Lean Six Sigma: Army Adopts

Army adopts Lean Six Sigma methodology ...

... "The Army's growing Lean Six Sigma program has its roots in a corporate method of eliminating wasted time, money and material. Lean Six Sigma integrates two independently-developed improvement tools: Lean and Six Sigma. Lean is an outgrowth of the Toyota production system, and focuses on increasing efficiency and reducing cycle time by the elimination of waste. " ...

Lean Six Sigma: Army Adopts: Via Army: Army adopting Lean Six Sigma:

Six Sigma: Army Transforms Business Process ...

The Army recognizes commands for leadership in improving business processes, through Lean Six Sigma. ...

... "For example, today's Gold Award recipient, the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Center, is one of the Army leaders in Lean Six Sigma and serves as a benchmark for other Army organizations to emulate. The APEA Program was established in 2004 to recognize organizational performance excellence. The ceremony Friday at the Pentagon recognized commands which have transformed their business processes since then. " ...

Six Sigma: Army Transforms Business Process: Via The United States Army: Command gets Gold for leading in Lean Six Sigma ...

Balanced Scorecard Performance Management for Educational Institutions ...

Educational institutions are actively adopting performance management through digital balanced scorecards. ...

... "performancesoft Inc. is pleased to welcome Kentucky State University and Washington State University as the latest additions to its growing list of customers, as it continues to expand its leadership position in the Performance Management and Balanced Scorecard category for today's performance-driven educational institutions. performancesoft pbviews, the most widely deployed Performance Management software solution, gives educational institutions a means to respond to performance mandates, accreditation requirements and the demands of their various stakeholders. Additionally, pbviews offers a complete enterprise-wide Performance Management reporting environment, that delivers rich data visualization capabilities, coupled with actionable automated alerting functionality to help ensure management has visibility into all levels of their organization. " ...

Balanced Scorecard Performance Management for Educational Institutions: Via performancesoft: A Growing Number of Leading Educational Institutions Worldwide are Using performancesoft pbviews to Enhance their Performance Management Initiatives



Datatel: Measuring Effectiveness: "The higher education industry is beginning to adapt the common practice in business and industry of utilizing a Balanced Scorecard to measure and track performance."

Performance measurement of higher education facilities: "The Balanced Scorecard, a widely popular technique, provides organisations with a comprehensive framework that translates the organisation's strategic objectives into a coherent set of performance measures. "

Introducing the Balanced Scorecard: Creating Metrics to Measure Performance -- Gumbus 29 (4): 617 -- Journal of Management Education: "This experiential exercise presents the concept of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) and applies it in a university setting. The Balanced Scorecard was developed 12 years ago and has grown in popularity and is used by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 companies as a performance measurement and strategic management tool."

Founded in 1993, performancesoft is the acknowledged leader in the Performance Management and Balanced Scorecard solutions, with the richest, most intuitive and easiest to use product in the category. Its state of the art software, practical expertise and unparalleled customer support make pbviews the solution of choice for today’s performance driven organizations such as: New York State Office of General Services, County of San Diego, New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services and US Army Corps of Engineers, among others.

Lean Six Sigma: Cheaper Better Faster ...

Lean Six Sigma: Cheaper Better Faster: Via Sharing Good Ideas: Cheaper Better Faster ...

... "Top Army managers plan to use one of industry's best management practices to cut in half the 18-month annual budgeting process. It's called Lean Six Sigma, although some managers refer to it as Lean. " ...

Lean Six Sigma Army Transformation: Recent Insights ...

Lean Six Sigma Army Transformation: Recent Insights: Via The United States Army: SecArmy opens AUSA with thoughts on future ...

Lt. Col. Thomas W. Collins reports on Francis J. Harvey, Secretary of the Army, opening speech at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army with commentary on the Army transformation to meet the threats of the 21st century ...

... "Lean/Six Sigma to re-engineer business: Along with Army Force Transformation, Harvey also outlined the plan for improving how the Army does business. He noted that earlier this year, the Army initiated a comprehensive Army-wide Business Transformation centered on re-engineering business processes. This process, called Lean/Six Sigma, is designed to take work out and improve cycle time. Ultimately, it will lead to more efficient production that frees resources that can be used to better support the warfighting side of the Army, he said. " ...

DFMA Design For Manufacture

Via American Society of Mechanical Engineers: DFMA to RP, ASAP

Mastering DFMA, or design for manufacturing and assembly, can accelerate time to market and lower the total life cycle costs of new products and their facilities. Here are background and references on DFMA ...

... "The concept of DFMA was developed in 1980 by Geoffrey Boothroyd and Peter Dewhurst, professors of industrial and manufacturing engineering at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. The following year, they founded Boothroyd Dewhurst Inc. to market proprietary DFMA packages. " ...

Via ACC: Acquisition Community Connection: Design for Manufacturing and Assembly ...

... "DFMA is a systematic analysis of the design of an assembly or subassembly to reduce product cost by simplifying its design, assembly, and manufacturing without impacting performance. The analysis allows you to determine the theoretical minimum number of parts that must be in the design for the product to function as required. As you identify and eliminate unnecessary parts, you eliminate unnecessary manufacturing and assembly costs. " ...

Via Army Logistics Management College: Smart Simple Design

... "The Smart Simple Design initiative encompasses two processes. The first step is using Design for Manufacture, Design for Assembly, and Design for Service (DFMAS) software in the early stages of the design process to achieve significant benefits from reducing costs and logistics support requirements. The second step of the Smart Simple Design initiative is assembling a design oversight and comparison process team to reduce the number of needed parts and standardize parts across different product lines. " ...

Via American Machinist: Technologies to reduce production costs ...

... "Companies can slash costs by improving the design process at its beginning. Design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA) software includes a design-formanufacture module, with which engineers obtain early cost estimates on parts or products, and a design-for-assembly module, which they employ to determine the best methods to manufacture products. " ...

DFMA consists of complementary Design for Assembly (DFA) and Design for Manufacture (DFM) software. Engineers use DFA software to reduce the cost of a product by consolidating parts into elegant and multifunctional designs. DFM software then helps engineers quickly judge the cost of producing the individual components of the new design. Used together, DFM and DFA software give engineers an early cost profile of product designs, providing a basis for planning and decision making. When performed in the earliest stages of concept design, DFMA analysis has the potential to dramatically reduce manufacturing and other product life-cycle costs before they are locked in. DFMA software operates in MicrosoftÒ Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc., is a winner of the 1991 National Medal of Technology Award, presented by President George H. Bush. Other recipients of the award have included William Gates of Microsoft Corp. and Robert Galvin of Motorola Inc. Boothroyd Dewhurst is dedicated to continually developing the DFMA knowledge base through its integrated software programs, workshops, consulting services and international conferences. For more information, contact Boothroyd Dewhurst, Inc., 138 Main Street, Wakefield, R.I. 02879, USA. Tel.

Lean Manufacturing Margin Improvement

Lean Manufacturing Margin Improvement: Via Northstar Aerospace: NORTHSTAR AEROSPACE REPORTS SECOND QUARTER GROWTH IN REVENUE, MARGINS AND BACKLOG ...

... "Results for the second quarter continue the trend of solid year-on-year growth attributable to the increasing activity on the CH-47 and F-22 programs and from the new Sikorsky and Rolls-Royce programs. A shift among the mix of programs in the quarter compared to last quarter contributed to the improvement in overall margins. This mix and the margin percentage will fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter based on customer delivery requirements. The improvement in margins this quarter also included the initial benefits of Lean Manufacturing initiatives. Those benefits will continue to positively impact margins in future quarters. " ...

Lean Six Sigma ROI

Lean Six Sigma ROI: RDECOM Magazine | people | ARDEC's Lean Six Sigma Holds Third Certification Ceremony

... "The ARDEC Lean Six Sigma recognizes four categories of return on investment or benefit to the customer. This allows the teams to recognize not only the monetary but also the hard to put a number on aspects of their payback. These are: Quality/Customer Satisfaction, cost, Schedule and Risk. " ...

Lean Six Sigma Philosophy

Lean Six Sigma Basics

... "What is Lean? Lean is a philosophy and ongoing effort to reduce waste throughout every process. Lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating non-value added activities through continuous improvement of processes. Waste elimination equates to increased process speed. " ...

Lean Management: Eliminate Waste

Letterkenny LEAN initiative

... "Lean Thinking: A strong commitment to lean management and lean production, knowing that greater success can be achieved through the elimination of unnecessary waste throughout the entire business operation. " ...

Lean Thinking Philosophy

Welcome To The Rock Island Arsenal Lean Website

... "What Is Lean? ....a philosophy and ongoing effort to reduce waste throughout every process. LEAN is not an acronym, an event or program, nor is it a list of projects. AMC's goal is to make LEAN Thinking the philosophical basis for deciding what products and services to provide and how to provide them. " ...

Lean Six Sigma Philosophy ...

Lean Six Sigma Basics

... "Lean is a philosophy and ongoing effort to reduce waste throughout every process. Lean manufacturing is a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating non-value added activities through continuous improvement of processes. Waste elimination equates to increased process speed. " ...

Lean Enterprise Program ...

News Item

... "Red River Depot, Texas: Army Ground Systems Integrated Lean Enterprise (AGILE): $4.2 million to support the Army�s Logistics Modernization Program goals through enhanced automation." ...

Lean Enterprice Software Deployment ...

SCHUMER, CLINTON: KEY SENATE PANEL BACKS $31 MILLION IN DEFENSE FUNDS FOR CAPITAL REGION

... "$6 million for GSIE-AGILE Program. The U.S. Tank-automotive Armaments Command (TACOM) has initiated an effort to tie 6 Army Arsenals and Depots under their command. They call this effort Ground Systems Industrial Enterprise (GSIE). The Army Ground systems Lean Enterprise (AGILE) program will deploy software and hardware to each of these sites therefore allowing their industrial capabilities to communicate efficiently and effectively with each other resulting in a 50% reduction in time and a 15-35% reduction in cost for their product data exchange. " ...

Integrated Lean Enterprise Investments ...

DURBIN: CONFERENCE COMMITTEE APPROVES NEARLY $138 MILLION IN DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS FOR ILLINOIS

... "Army Ground Systems Integrated Lean Enterprise (AGILE), Rock Island: $4.2 million to establish, operate, and initially sustain lean manufacturing with the AGILE system. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACCOM), Ground Systems Industrial Enterprise (GSIE) Program Office at Rock Island Arsenal administers this program." ...

Lean Manufacturing Kitting Initiative ...

DSCC's engine parts kitting initiative expected to cut lead time, cost ...

Mike Ward writes ...

... "the Army implemented a new service-wide initiative called lean manufacturing that is designed to streamline the production processes at its depots and arsenals. Lean manufacturing is the process of identifying and eliminating non-valued processes to reduce cost and increase productivity. As part of the initiative, Anniston Army Depot in Anniston, Ala., (ANAD) the Army's maintenance facility responsible for maintenance on heavy/light tracked combat vehicles, asked the Defense Logistics Agency to consider taking over the management and storage of all the piece parts that are required for reciprocating engine lines located at the depot. ANAD also wanted DLA to develop kits designed around its production lines and deliver such kits directly to the production lines on as needed basis. This concept would include acquisition of both DLA and non-DLA managed material contained in the kit, receiving and storing such material, kitting the material for each individual production cell, and moving the kits to the production lines. " ...

Lean Six Sigma Program in DOD Supply Chain ...

Lean Six Sigma Basics

... "Six Sigma is a business improvement process that continually strives for perfection. Six Sigma manufacturing involves a disciplined methodology for eliminating the wastes of defects or variance to lower costs and improve customer satisfaction. " ...

Lean Principles Military Manufacturing ...

MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY (ManTech) ...

... "The ManTech Program has three thrust areas; advanced industrial practices, processing and fabrication, and manufacturing and engineering systems. The industrial practices thrust leverages business, engineering, and manufacturing best practices. For example, the Military Products from Commercial Lines (MPCL) program applies lean principles to demonstrate manufacture of military electronics modules, by adopting commercial processes. In the program, Air Force F-22 and Army Comanche Communication, Navigation, Identification avionics boards were redesigned for commercial production in an automotive electronics plant. MPCL is providing data and lessons learned to assist program offices in applying commercial processes to defense acquisition. " ...

Six Sigma DOD Transformation Story ...

U.S. Department of Defense Transformation Story - Soldiers Learn to Operate Shop Van Equipment

From Naval Sea Systems Command, Shirley J. Copeland writes ...

... "Implementation of 'Lean Six-Sigma' practices has been sweeping throughout the private sector for about a decade now. What is less known is that they are also being widely embraced throughout the Department of Defense. Over the last several years, many commands within the Navy, Marines, Army, and Air Force have implemented Lean Six-Sigma at their activities to improve productivity, efficiency, and quality." ...

Supply Chain Visibility: US Army RFID Enables Tsunami Disaster Relief ... New Pic ...

Supply Chain Visibility ...

From The United States Army Home Page ...

... "As part of the delivery process, the 599th DDST will provide disaster-relief troops and their commanders with 100 percent in-transit visibility through the use of radio frequency identification tags." ...

Kanban Techniques: Mantech Success with Demand Pull Supplier Pilot Program for the JDAM Supports the Warfighters, Operation Enduring Freedom ...

From AFRL/ML Success Story ...

... "At some facilities the Lean practices used involved eliminating ergonomic problems by designing new tools, or altering work-station configurations that improved the physical nature of the production process. A production floor process known as Kanban (Japanese) was also installed where needed. Kanban is the use of cards, carts or crates as signals to trigger production in feeder operations. Air Force ManTech benefits by having a proven business case relating supplier development activities directly to measurable improvements in cost, quality and schedule for the JDAM program. Boeing benefits through risk reduction in support of meeting their pre-negotiated cost and schedule milestones for JDAM, both for their scheduled production increases and for their surge demands, anticipated to be more than 2,800 kits per month." ...

For over 85 years, the men and women of the Air Force Research Laboratory have sought to make a better flying machine. Since 1917, when the directorate was activated as the Materials Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio, the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and its predecessors have played key roles in research and development efforts that have advanced aerospace capabilities to where they are today.

Progress on Lean Transformation ...

From Lean $2.3 million savings on jammer repair, Anthony J. Ricchiazzi writes ...

... "Workload has risen substantially this year due to Reset, which is the repair and overhaul of items heavily utilized during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom in order to ensure units are ready for their next deployment. The savings primarily result from the implementation of Lean techniques. Systems have sustained damage in the field, including from sand ingestion. But despite the damage, repairs are being made faster, says Jim Antonelli, chief of the depot's Avionics-IEW Scheduling Division, Production Management Directorate. We reorganized into productions cells to eliminate being spread out all over the shop, said Tony Gentle, ASE division chief. This reduced the time it takes to repair and test each ALQ-144 from 42 days to 20 days. We have another Lean Rapid Improvement Event in the near future to further reduce the repair cycle time to seven days." ...

Six Sigma Lab of Excellence ...

From The Voice, Frank Misurelli writes ...

... "application of Lean/Six Sigma management practices to improve its products, resulting in an estimated savings of over $1.3 billion in 2002. The Army Research and Development Organization of the Year award program is an annual event in which all 15 Army laboratories are evaluated on vision, strategy, business plans, mission impact, resource impact, technical accomplishments and continuous improvement efforts." ...

Lean Six Sigma

From U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), G-3 Online ...

... "mission of the Lean Six Sigma Office is to enable the implementation of Lean Six Sigma by developing proposed strategies and action plans for creating and sustaining a culture of innovation, while providing expert consultation, training, and facilitation on the application of the continuous improvement tool set. Coordinate Lean Six Sigma initiatives throughout the Army Materiel Command" ...

Biometrics Fusion

From Army Office of the Chief Information Officer ...

... "The mission of the Biometric Fusion Center (BFC) as an element of the Biometrics Management Office, is to serve as a biometrics technology center of excellence. The BFC will interact with industry, academia, government, and D.O.D. users to establish biometric standards and performance measures that will be used to perform world-class test and evaluation of biometric technologies for D.O.D. consumption. The BFC will operate and maintain a D.O.D. Biometrics Repository to support test and evaluation of biometrics and provide operational back-up support to D.O.D. organizations. The BFC will ensure the effective implementation of biomet