IMPROVING PROCESS IMPROVEMENT


60%


50%


40% 30%


Certification % GB Certification % BB Certification % MBB


20%


10%


50 percent (although trending upward) for MBB. Tis is not a good return on investment for the training of our person- nel. Major reasons that projects are not completed includes the lack of supervi- sion of the belt candidates as well as a lack of organizational interest in the projects identified; projects are seen as a means to get a candidate certified rather than being focused on solving real problems for the organization. Another source of frus- tration that senior leaders express is the inflexibility that


certified practitioners 0% 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015


often exhibit when working a project, because of the lengthy process that is unyielding and nonresponsive to urgent problem resolution.


CHARTING PROGRESS


The percentage of Green, Black and Master Black Belt candidates who completed an initial project and earned the certification hovers at 25 to 50 percent. Completed projects—with timely, tangible and measurable results—are the most effective way to demonstrate to leadership the benefits of investing in CPI. (SOURCE: U.S. Army Office of Business Transformation)


Tere are stellar examples of programs that have reaped significant, concrete benefits, in organizations with missions that align well to the need for LSS tech- niques. During FY13, the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) completed 342 LSS projects with an estimated financial benefit of $88 million, repre- senting 4.6 percent of the command’s operations and maintenance budget and $441 million in various other programs, including the Army Working Capital Fund. (Such savings resulting from CPIs can only be projected until the period for which they are estimated has concluded and the projection is proven valid.)


DEVELOPING A CPI CULTURE


Members of a Lean integrated process team (IPT) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), MD, work on developing a new “Lean for Contracting” course that will apply LSS techniques to contracting processes. Facilitating the meeting are A.D. Barksdale, center, CPI Deployment director for the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC), and Jennifer Staggs, left, ACC’s CPI procurement analyst. The IPT includes ACC-APG members Gloria Dent, left center, operations chief; Rob Perry, right center, Contracting Operations Division branch chief; and Kevin King, division procurement analyst. (Photo by Betsy Kozak-Howard)


CURRENT STATE OF PROCESS IMPROVEMENT Te Army has focused on using LSS for CPI over the last decade. Tis approach uses a five-phase process: define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC). Tere is nothing particularly revolution- ary about DMAIC. In fact, a variety of other common problem-solving methods, such as the military decision-making pro- cess or campaign design, follow roughly the same process. Generally, DMAIC starts by defining the current environment


94 Army AL&T Magazine July-September 2015


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