CAAA Employee Honored as U.S. Army Civilian Suggester of the Year

By Mr. Thomas Peske (AMC)March 17, 2011

Jordan Dant
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CRANE, Ind. - Crane Army Ammunition Activity employee Jordan Dant was honored during a ceremony at the Pentagon March 15 as the U.S. Army's Fiscal Year 2010 Civilian Suggester of the Year.

At the 2011 Secretary of the Army Awards ceremony attended by his family, Dant was presented a plaque by Under Secretary of the Army Hon. Joseph Westphal and Asst. Secretary of the Army Hon. Thomas Lamont.

"This award is certainly an honor. I greatly appreciate the recognition," Dant said prior to leaving for Washington, D.C. "I'll do my best to represent our organization according to the standards this award represents."

Dant also received a Commander's Coin from Gen. Ann Dunwoody, Commanding General of U.S. Army Materiel Command.

Dant submitted an idea to the Beneficial Suggestion Program that saved the Army more than $548,000 by reducing rejected material in the countermeasure program. For his suggestion, he previously received a cash award for more than $5,900.

This is the second year in a row a CAAA employee has been honored as the Army's Civilian Suggester of the Year. Employees are encouraged to submit their ideas for improving work conditions and methods through Crane Army's Ideas for Excellence Program, also known as its Beneficial Suggestion Program.

Dant observed that a funnel involved as part of the countermeasures program used more epoxy than what was really needed because of its length, causing more rejected units to be produced. His suggestion enabled less epoxy to be used, thereby reducing the number of rejected units and saving the Army money.

"This suggestion took effect right away by eliminating reject units off the line. Ultimately the biggest benefit to CAAA will be the cost savings from the reject unit," Dant said. He added that once he identified the issue, he received full support to make a change.

"Once made aware of the problem, I got a lot of support from managers due to the magnitude of this issue. Everyone was very helpful to resolve the problem so we can be as efficient as possible," he said.

A total of 13 Department of the Army civilians and three military personnel received recognition at the 2011 Secretary of the Army Awards ceremony.

CAAA was established in Oct. 1977 and is a tenant of the Navy Region Midwest, Naval Support Activity Crane. The Army activity maintains ordnance professionals and infrastructure to receive, store, ship, produce, renovate and demilitarize conventional ammunition, missiles and related components.