Industrial Engineering Technician earns Green Belt

By Ms. Jacqueline Boucher (AMC)December 22, 2010

Industrial Engineering Technician earns Green Belt
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT, Pa. - Jennifer Condrad, industrial engineering technician, earned a Green Belt certificate based on the results of a Six Sigma project.

She and a team of subject matter experts were able to reduce the amount of errors in time reporting by decreasing rejects by 43 percent, missing time by nine percent and rework hours by more than half.

Using proven tools and concepts, the project will achieve a cost avoidance of over $800,000 through 2017.

The team implemented four improvements to tackle the rejects, according to Condrad.

Instead of several people being responsible for administering certain areas of the process, one individual was selected per directorate. A maximum 80-hour tour of duty was implemented in the Logistics Modernization Program, which removed redundancies in the process. Plus, a mandatory timekeeper's training course was instituted and a question and answer sheet was distributed to supervisors to increase the knowledge and skill set as well as standardize the process, she explained.

"The team was so knowledgeable about the process, which resulted in many improvement ideas," Condrad said. "The project would never have realized such significant improvements without their help."

It's important for employees to embrace Lean concepts, said Condrad, pointing out that in today's difficult economic times, Tobyhanna needs to stay as competitive as possible.

"It feels great to earn the Green Belt certificate, especially since I wasn't a regular participant in the time keeping process," she said. "Making improvements around the depot helped give me a better understanding of how things work."

Condrad works in the PII Directorate's Process Engineering Division.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is the Defense Department's largest center for the repair, overhaul and fabrication of a wide variety of electronics systems and components, from tactical field radios to the ground terminals for the defense satellite communications network. Tobyhanna's missions support all branches of the Armed Forces.

About 5,600 personnel are employed at Tobyhanna, which is located in the Pocono Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania.

Tobyhanna Army Depot is part of the U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command. Headquartered at Fort Monmouth, N.J., the command's mission is to research, develop, acquire, field and sustain communications, command, control computer, intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors capabilities for the Armed Forces.