Leadership Gathers to Share Ideas and Best Practices

By Letterkenny Public AffairsMarch 8, 2012

Stars visit the Depot
1 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Brig. Gen. John Wharton, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Col. Cheri Provancha, Commander, Letterkenny Army Depot; Maj. Gen. James Rogers, Commanding General, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command; Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, Commanding General... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Tours of the various facilities spark interest and discussion
2 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Out of the office and into the shops
3 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Seventh Shingo Medallion presented
4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Commanding General, Ann E. Dunwoody, U.S. Army Materiel Command; Commanding General, Maj. General James Rogers, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command and Commander, Col. Cheri A. Provancha, Letterkenny Army Depot celebrate Letterkenny's seventh Shin... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Chambersburg, PA -- The Letterkenny Army Depot (LEAD) Depot Assessment Visit (DAV) kicked off on Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, and drew various commanders, military leadership, and commanding generals from different installations across the country.

Participants arrived on Monday evening and met with Letterkenny directors and special staff for an informal social before the assessment began. On Tuesday morning approximately 55 attendees arrived at Letterkenny Headquarters to participate in an in-brief followed by additional presentations. Lt. Gen. Dennis Via welcomed the attendees to the Depot.

"I'd like to welcome you all and thank you for participating in Letterkenny's DAV," Via said. "It is great as we now also have the privilege to recognize the Depot on 70 years of dedicated service."

The participants split off into five breakout teams to better assess and focus on a particular area of the Depot, including Safety & Human Resources, Real Property & Infrastructure, Financial Management, Supply & Contracting, and Depot Maintenance. Each team toured different areas of the Depot to include the Letterkenny Munitions Center, the Paint and Prep Facility, the Recycling Center, the Tactical Missile Repair Center, the Maintenance Facility, as well as the Theater Readiness Monitoring Facility. The tours showcased a brief overview of LEAD's manufacturing processes and capabilities.

After the tours concluded each team lead composed a presentation of best practices and opportunities to be presented the following morning to Commanding General, Army Material Command, Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody.

Out briefs resumed on Wednesday morning as Dunwoody arrived at the Depot to listen to the results for each of the teams. She initiated conversations concerning the findings with the leaders around the room, who were able to share suggestions and take ideas back to implement into their own practices.

The DAV is a series of visits to provide a forum for cross-fertilization of innovative ideas and best of breed techniques. It is an opportunity to give the Commander on the ground a second set of expert eyes to assess various parts of the operation. The findings also provide the different representatives with ideas and best practices that they can take and implement into their procedures at their respective locations.

To conclude the DAV events, LEAD celebrated the winning of its seventh Shingo Medallion for Manufacturing Excellence for the Aviation Ground Power Unit value stream.

Guest speakers included Senator Richard Alloway II, (PA-33); Ms. Nancy Bull, Field Representative for Congressman Bill Shuster; Maj. Gen. James Rogers, Commanding General, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command and Gen. Ann Dunwoody, Commanding General, U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Depot Commander, Col. Cheri A. Provancha, recognized the employees of LEAD that made the recognition possible.

"This is the second medallion awarded to the Depot during my tenure here at Letterkenny," Provancha said. "I am proud of LEAD employees' commitment to the Warfighter, the flexibility and adaptability of the workforce, and their pride in workmanship."

Maj. Gen. James Rogers expressed his pride in the Depot's superiority.

"We, as the Army Materiel Command, value doing things right," said Rogers. "We are about being effective while also being efficient; we are all about showing the world we are the best at what we do."

"Our workforce is as dedicated and as patriotic as the men and women who are over in our foxholes because they know what they are fighting for," added Dunwoody.

Since 2002 LEAD has been transforming business practices by implementing the Lean Six Sigma Manufacturing approach, focusing on principles of operational excellence and embedding those principles into the organizational culture. The Power Generation Branch, which includes the AGPU value stream, leads the Depot in employee-driven initiatives for improvement in their processes.