LIVORNO, Italy - As the Army embraces the business transformation process of Lean Six Sigma, units within Installation Management Command-Europe are exploring ways be part of the continuous process improvement.
For example, Camp Darby's Youth Services program wanted to enhance their digital arts program - while facing recent budget cuts, the ever-shrinking value of the dollar to the euro and a reduction in staff hours.
By using elements of LSS, Thomas Adderley, an employee for U.S. Army Garrison Livorno Youth Services, was able to identify a solution.
"It's been incumbent upon those of us at Youth Services to scrap for every opportunity for either 'low-hanging' or 'fallen' fruit; and in this case, I received a last-minute e-mail from a friend notifying me of a Boys and Girls Clubs of America solicitation for grant proposals," said Adderley. "It looked to me like we had a fairly good shot at winning at least one of the grants, so I figured I'd devote some time to putting the proposal together."
BGCA had solicited proposals for two "Club Tech Mini Grants" for music and photography. Adderley applied for both, scrambling to get Camp Darby's submission in before the deadline.
"I think I managed to e-mail them our entry 45 minutes before close of business on the last day," said a relieved Adderley. "The music program grant was for equipment and software to be installed on each of our five computers. The total value was in the $5,000 range."
Adderley's devotion and quick reaction resulted in Camp Darby's Youth Services program winning the music program grant.
"We were one of 60 worldwide organizations that were selected," said Adderley. "I'm very excited that we managed to win because now we will have digital music software (ACID Music Studio and Sound Forge Audio Studio), microphones for recording and 80 gigabyte external hard-drives. The kids are going to love it."
Adderley noted that the grant calls for recipients to submit entries in several age groups for music making within the next two years. It also calls for a certain amount of instructional and project time each week.
"Though I'm sure that by winning the grant it means a bit more work for me, it also means more effective work (as it's targeted), and we get some return on investment for the one resource we can never renew - time," he said.
The equipment is expected to arrive at the end of October and will be ready for the youth to use shortly after. Adderley says his next project is to find a way to improve the photography program for the youth of Camp Darby.
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