SecArmy orders Army-wide business transformation
By Staff Sgt. Carmen L. Burgess
March 7, 2006
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, March 7, 2006) – A deployment order went out Army-wide on March 6 to execute the business transformation principles of Lean Six Sigma throughout the force to free up resources for the operational Army and to more quickly provide equipment to the Soldier.
“This is the largest deployment of management science since the beginning of the science,” said Mike Kirby, deputy undersecretary of the Army for business transformation. This position was created to oversee the deployment of Lean Six Sigma across the Army. Kirby emphasized the need for both leaders and workers to embrace the principles.
“The increased focus on measuring results brought about by personal leadership,” said Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey, “will ensure that the Army realizes evolutionary transformation in all its processes, and ultimately benefits from revolutionary outcomes.”
“Where it has already been implemented, it has been successful,” Kirby said. “The workforce is 100 percent behind it.”
During fiscal 2005, the Army Materiel Command saw $110 million in savings and cost avoidance as a result of implementing LSS practices.
For example, by removing waste and better controlling output, Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., has been the forerunner in the program in reducing costs by $11.9 million in PATRIOT air defense missile system recapitalization.
Other Army depots have also made dynamic changes by applying LSS principles. Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., has reduced repair recycle time by 90 percent and increased its production rate by 50 percent on M-40 protective masks. Red River Army Depot, Texas, has increased the output of vehicle inspection and repair by 220 percent.
LSS benefits warfighters
“We are turning things around faster for the warfighter,” said Gen. Benjamin Griffin, commanding general of Army Materiel Command. “This is showing significant savings and improvement wherever it has been implemented.”
To date, nearly 1,400 leaders, referred to as “black and green belts,” across the Army have been trained to teach others how to implement the business practice, said Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson, director for Army Programs, Analysis and Evaluation.
“This is a powerful mechanism to change the way we do business,” he said.
“This is a proven body of knowledge,” Kirby said, “that requires a leadership commitment.” In order to accelerate the process, he said a top down and bottom up approach must be taken to implement changes.
This means that management and technicians need to collaborate in order to redefine the process needed to improve speed, quality and cost.
But Harvey doesn’t plan to stop the application of the process on the factory floors. He is applying the principles to his own administrative services, installations, military construction, recruiting, medical capabilities and civilian human resources.
In July 2005, the secretary and Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker sent out a letter to the Army’s major commands requesting an assessment be made of processes that would benefit from business transformation.
More than 230 processes have been nominated by the MACOMs to be revamped.
“We are personally committed to leading these changes,” the leaders wrote. “Business transformation is critical to the Army’s continued success.”
“This is a fiduciary responsibility we have to the nation,” said Harvey in a media roundtable March 3. “We are changing the way we manage things. We are going to get more output for the same amount of money.”
Harvey’s passion is something that he is spreading to others.
“We want everyone to be passionate about transformation,” the secretary said. He said he is striving for a three-dimensional business culture that is dedicated to continuous improvement, focused on performance and based on the enduring Army values.
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