Army news service (July 20, 2006): Lean Six Sigma eases fiscal constraint challenges.

WASHINGTON -- As commanders throughout the Army look for ways to cut operating costs, business practices of Lean Six Sigma are reducing expenses and improving productivity throughout manufacturing, contracting, administrative services, and even recruiting.

"People will say, 'We're in the Army; we're not a business,'" said Col. Mike Petrash, deputy commander for the 96th Regional Readiness Command in Utah. "I would counter that and say every time we do a transaction, every time we promote a soldier, pay a soldier, supply a soldier, or move that soldier from point A to point B, that is a business transaction."

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of two business-improvement systems, Lean and Six Sigma. Lean refers to the reduction of waste, or the elimination of unnecessary steps to increase speed and productivity. Six Sigma is the reduction of variance to improve system performance. Together, they free up resources and help ensure quality equipment and services are quickly provided to soldiers.

Strides made through LSS practices may best be seen on manufacturing and repair floors such as at Red River Army Depot, Texas.

"We're getting tremendous payback because of Lean Six Sigma. We saved, last year alone, $30 million on our Humvee line," said Army Col. Douglas J. Evans, depot commander. "It's not only in dollars but also in the number of vehicles that we can get to the soldiers who need them."

The facility can now turn out 32 mission-ready Humvees a day, compared to three a week in 2004.

LSS is also reforming administrative services and human resources.

"When our team took a look at awards processing, we found that on average it was taking 90 days from when we got a request for an award in, to when the award was published. By taking a look at our process and reducing our cycle time, we've been able to reduce that to 21 days," said Army Col. Lori M. Dupuis, chief of staff for the 96th Regional Readiness Command in Utah.

In charge of nearly 6,500 soldiers in 65 units throughout six states, the 96th RRC has used Lean Six Sigma to also reduce the deployment preparation time for a battle-rostered unit from 30 days down to just three.

"Using the Lean Six Sigma approach, we went directly from defining the process to improving it," said Petrash.

At the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Lean Six Sigma has improved the LEADS system, through which recruiters receive prospective recruits and direct them through the enlistment process.

Of 32 steps taken to recruit new enlistees, subject matter experts from the Recruiting and Accessions Command determined that only 11 were value added. And by reducing the steps by 66 percent, USAREC officials also decreased by 40 percent the time it takes to get applicants through the process.

"We had the immediate return on the investment, which was to cut time and put people in the schools quicker. We were able to eliminate a lot of waste," said Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jack Bailey, chief of USAREC's Special Missions Recruiting Division.

"But it's the intangibles, the impact it had on the soldier in the field that was more customer-centric. The benefit was so much more than what we realized inside our four walls. It was just a huge success story," Bailey said.

Where Lean Six Sigma has been implemented, it's been successful, said Mike Kirby, deputy under secretary of the Army for business transformation.

"This is all in a backdrop of severe fiscal year constraints, so we have to do business differently," said Kirby.

"Lean Six Sigma is a lot different from the programs we tried to implement before. It gives give you a set of tools that even the most inexperienced person can use," said George E. Kunkle III, process optimization manager at Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas. "Initial response to Lean Six Sigma may be resistance, but it only takes one event for people to see right away that this is the right direction."

At Kunke's depot, employees decreased the time it took to rebuild the UH-60 Blackhawk from 256 days to an average of 70.

"Lean was the vehicle that we needed," said Clarence L. Dean, chief of UH-60 Blackhawk Assembly Branch No. 2. "It helped us to really sit down and think about how we do our job."

During fiscal 2005, the Army Materiel Command saw $110 million in savings and cost avoidance by implementing Lean Six Sigma practices. By removing waste and better controlling output, for example, Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., reduced costs by $11.9 million in Patriot air defense missile system recapitalization. And Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., reduced repair cycle time by 90 percent and increased its production of M-40 protective masks by 50 percent.

"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."

But using Lean Six Sigma principles to redefine principles and improve speed, quality, and cost requires the collaboration of both management and employees.

"The workers have to be enfranchised, because they understand the processes. We have to solicit their input on how to make their processes more lean and more efficient," said Kirby.

Marc Higgs, process improvement specialist at Red River Army Depot, used his experience and knowledge to influence how Lean Six Sigma practices would create improvements at the depot.

"Lean Six Sigma is good for the soldier, it's good for the employee, it's good for Red River Army Depot, it's good for the Army," he said.