News

Leaders to bolster process improvement with Lean

  • Published
  • By Kendahl Johnson
  • 78 ABW/PA
Improving processes is a serious matter for Col. Robert Stambaugh. So serious in fact, he is converting part of his office into a process initiative mission control room.

Stambaugh has been asked by Maj. Gen. Polly Peyer, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center commander, to lead the Center's charge in building on a foundation of innovation by redeploying the continuous process improvement capabilities.

"I consider this to be the biggest job I have here as the ALC vice commander," Stambaugh said. "General Peyer has given me that direction and I'm looking forward to doing it."

The colonel said one of his objectives is to get more people involved with Lean, particularly among leadership.

"The bottom line is we feel there has been a step back in the demonstrated ability of the Center to be Lean in its operations," he said.

To instill in employees the culture of Lean, senior leadership will be looking for supervisors to receive Lean training. They will also be expected to be involved in several week-long Lean events each year. "If you are in a leadership position, you need to be involved in Lean events," Stambaugh said. "Being familiar with Lean will enable you to drive action and see the importance of applying resources to it."

He said being exposed to Lean events will gradually change the way people view their work. It will encourage them to really examine processes, which can help lead process improvements in areas that need the most help.

"You aren't naturally inclined to see waste in your day to day operation, but if Lean is a focus you will see waste and you will be able to get rid of things that don't add any value," Stambaugh said. "You need to be able to say, 'this is important; I'm going to dedicate myself to it.'"

One objective is to free up resources - people, infrastructure, and parts for example - that can be used to assist with increased workloads and in delivering on warfighting customer commitments.

The Center has four areas it is targeting for process improvements. The first is the C-5, or specifically delivering C-5 Galaxy aircraft out of program depot maintenance on time. "We aren't delivering to our customer's expectations," Stambaugh said.

In July, various groups and units involved with C-5 PDM used a value stream mapping session to help identify areas that could be streamlined to improve the effectiveness of the overall process. Management is now executing the results of this event, a process that could take 18-24 months. In January, the ALC will hold its second enterprise value stream map for its second focus area, occupational medicine. With the ALC expecting to hire more than 800 maintenance workers in 2010, there is a need to eliminate waste in units that support the hiring process.

Occupational medicine must move all new hires through the medical clearance process, a process critical to getting aircraft repaired and available to the warfighter. In addition, the organization is important in helping an injured worker who is off the job heal and get back to work.

The third focus area is civil engineering, with a focus on project design. Needing renovations or a new facility impacts the mission, so the process of getting a project off the ground is important to warfighter support.

The last focus area is the 330th Aircraft Sustainment Wing, specifically improving the maintenance supportability requirements review process to increase aircraft availability.

"Improving processes is a very complicated enterprise," Stambaugh said. "It involves people from across the base in many different organizations. But when we all come together as a team, we find better ways of utilizing the people we have to get the job done."

He said redeploying the Lean culture will ultimately provide major improvements to the way things are done - improvements that will increase warfighting capabilities while ensuring we are good stewards of government resources.