Letterkenny Recognizes Its First Master Black Belt

By Janet Gardner, LEAD Public AffairsSeptember 26, 2016

MASTER BLACK BELT
Gerald Chapman of Letterkenny Army Depot is congratulated by John Smith, the executive director for the Aviation and Missile Command's Logistics Center, for becoming Letterkenny's first Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Chapman is the chief of Letter... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Letterkenny Army Depot's Gerald Chapman has been officially recognized as the Depot's first Master Black Belt and the 133rd recipient of the Department of the Army's Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Certification.

In an Aug. 31 ceremony at Letterkenny in front of Chapman's coworkers, Depot Commander Col. Deacon Maddox read the official certification from the DA's Office of Business Transformation and presented Chapman with the Army's Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Challenge coin with the serial number 133.

"I am extremely honored and proud to be presenting this certification to you," said Maddox as he read the official documents to the large crowd amassed for the ceremony.

Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that focuses on eliminating waste and reducing variation. Within the LSS world, there are varying levels of certification. Similar to martial arts, LSS uses the belt system to distinguish between different levels of knowledge. The highest ranking belt is a Master Black Belt.

Dr. Charles Brandon, director of the Continuous Process Improvement program at the DA's Office of Business Transformation at the Pentagon, cited Chapman as being the leading catalyst for transformational change and continuous process improvement at Letterkenny. Brandon said Chapman will play a pivotal role in moving performance improvement initiatives to the forefront of strategic planning thereby helping the Army reach targeted savings and efficiency goals.

Chapman, who is chief of Letterkenny's Office of Continuous Improvement and Safety, was also presented a Commander's Coin from the Aviation and Missile Command in recognition of his achievements. AMCOM's Commander Maj. Gen. Douglas Gabram sent a two-star note, which was read by Maddox. In it, Gabram honored Chapman's achievement by saying, "that this is an honor that few achieve, a journey with rigorous requirements" and commended Chapman for his "diligence, persistence and leadership."

Some of those rigorous requirements Gabram referred to include teaching LSS Black Belt, mentoring other LSS belt candidates and leading significant projects that saved the Army millions of dollars. The dollar value of LSS projects Chapman mentored exceeded $4.1 million and involved various improvement processes, including new employee processing, defect reductions, weld quality and process lead times.

"My six-year journey to LSS Master Black Belt certification began in 2010 when I became the first certified LSS Black Belt at Letterkenny," said Chapman. Training for his LSS Master Black Belt began that same year.

In the years that followed, Chapman co-instructed the DA's Black Belt program of instruction three times, twice at Letterkenny and once at Redstone Arsenal. Chapman mentored 13 LSS Black Belt and three LSS Green Belt candidates through their DA LSS certification process.

The most challenging requirement for certification, according to Chapman, was the instruction of the four-week DA LSS curriculum. He said the challenges include mastering public speaking skills, having an in-depth knowledge of a broad array of topics and ensuring that students grasped the concepts presented to them. Some of the concepts presented during the training include: end-to-end business flows, applications, data management, infrastructure and the methodologies used in support of business transformation, how performance management ties it all together, to increase efficiency, effectiveness and quality for the ultimate customers, the warfighter.

Attesting to Chapman's dedication to his co-workers and the DA LSS program, a coworker had this to say about Chapman, "Usually it takes four years to receive a master black belt certification. Chapman took longer because he made sure other belt candidates had what they needed to be successful. He gave unselfishly of himself, coming in early and staying late to mentor his peers. He always puts others before himself. He is the most disciplined individual I have ever met."

Chapman served in the Air Force from 1988 through 1993. He began his federal service career in 2005 as an electronics mechanic at the Depot working on various major end items of the Patriot radar system. It was then that he was introduced to the principles of lean manufacturing. Chapman was deeply involved with the Depot's Shingo efforts in 2007 which lead to the Depot receiving the prestigious bronze Shingo medallion in 2007, a recognition of manufacturing excellence. In 2009, he accepted a position in the Depot's Office of Continuous Improvement as a Lean Six Sigma specialist.

In 2015, Chapman was promoted to his current position as chief of the Office of Continuous Improvement and Safety.

Chapman and his wife, Teresa, are the parents of two adult sons.

Editor's Note: Lean Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that focuses on eliminating waste and reducing variation. "Lean" refers to removing non value added steps i.e. cutting out steps that provide no benefit. The "Six Sigma" portion is statistically based and represents an occurrence rate of only 3.4 defects per million opportunities. When you combine the two, the result is a process that saves time and money and improves customer satisfaction. It is appropriate to apply the principles of LSS when working with a repeatable process. Within the LSS world, there are varying levels of certification. Similar to martial arts, LSS uses the belt system to distinguish between different levels of knowledge. The highest ranking belt is a Master Black Belt, while the lowest ranking belt is a White Belt.