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PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Twenty soldiers, both enlisted and officers, with the 101st Sustainment Brigade and 401st Army Field Support Brigade, both of Joint Sustainment Command – Afghanistan, graduated the first Army-sponsored Lean Six Sigma course in Afghanistan March 27.
The completion of the course is the first step towards Green Belt certification; the next step is the implementation of a project for each of the soldiers. Since the certification is in theater, the projects directly correlate with the jobs of the graduates.
“In theater, it’s a motivating factor for the soldiers to work within their knowledge base,” said Martin Kennedy, black belt and instructor for U.S. Army Central LSS team. “For a lot of projects in the States, we don’t have subject matter experts.”
In addition to the soldiers’ typical 12 to 16-hour work days, students attended the 40-hour class over the course of four weeks, with class held two nights per week.
“They are putting in the time to do the project and leave a legacy,” Kennedy said.
The project phase of the certification comes next for the group.
“For graduates to become certified, they have to complete a project and deliver results identified by project sponsors,” said Lee Olsen, master black belt working with the U.S. Army Central Command LSS team.
For the 20 graduates, the projects directly relate to their present responsibilities within logistics.
“In this case, we’re in theater specifically for units here,” Olsen said. “Many of the projects are for supply and logistics, as well as retrograde process and mass casualty plans.”
U.S. Army Sgt. Randy Castillo, a materials manager for the 101st Sust. Bde., is working on a Class IV (construction materials) container management project to improve the system units use to order building materials and barriers for their forward operating bases throughout Regional Commands North and East.
“We’re trying to get the program to run right,” Castillo said. “There are programs to track Class IV, but they’re not being used. We’re going to save millions of dollars if we take control.”
By reworking the process for ordering the materials, the soldiers will receive these necessary resources quickly and more efficiently.
Each of the projects gives the soldiers an opportunity to think outside the box to solve logistics problems at Bagram Airfield, and in turn, throughout RC North and East.
“Lean Six Sigma has grown your mind a little further, not what to think, but how to think,” said Col. Michael Peterman, the commander of the 101st Sustainment Brigade, at the graduation ceremony.
The graduates worked hand-in-hand with project sponsors during the course, and will continue to work together as the projects come to life over the next few months.
“The sponsor is the owner of the project who will identify a process that needs to be improved,” Olsen said. “They need to take it from where it is to where they need results.
Lean Six Sigma is a process of continuous improvement.” It focuses on delivering results to the customer. In this case, the customer is the soldier at the FOB. LSS goes from indentifying a problem to improving it.
“We use DMAIC - which is define, measure, analyze, improve, control - to deliver results to fulfil sponsors’ requirements,” Olsen said. “They key is in a sponsor who cares about the process. We’re very much focused on delivering results.”
Although the course teaches soldiers a way to tackle a problem, the execution is up to the soldier.
“It gives you the tools and more insight on how to approach a problem,” Castillo said. “It identifies a problem and steadily solves it.”
The knowledge gained through the course and certification not only benefits the soldiers now, but will continue to in the future.
“For some, it’s a part of leadership training,” Olsen said. “In personal lives, green belt and black belt certifications are a recognition that can be used in Army and future civilian careers.”
| Date Taken: | 03.27.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 04.02.2011 01:43 |
| Story ID: | 68126 |
| Location: | PARWAN PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 363 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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