Warren, MI -- On November 28, 2018, U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armament Command proudly graduated 16 Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Black Belt candidates with the completion of four weeks of rigorous training and a final exam.
This uniquely diverse group brought together students from 1st Theater Sustainment Command, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, Army Capabilities Integration Center, Corpus Christi Army Depot, Crane Army Ammunition Activity, Program Executive Office Combat Support & Combat Service Support, Program Executive Office Ground Combat Support, Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, and U.S. Army Security Assistance Command. This successful joint effort was instructed by PEO CS&CSS and PEO GCS with support from TACOM MSO and TARDEC.
The class was honored to have Marion Whicker, Integrated Logistics Support Center executive director, as a guest speaker. Whicker emphasized the value of utilizing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) on processes affecting Army readiness, lead-time for contracting, and Performance to Promise depot objectives.
Whicker also talked about the importance of properly scoping projects and managing them to completion. After canvassing the students for feedback and potential improvements on the course, Whicker shared examples of successful LSS efforts at TACOM. Most notable was a project on Safety of Use Messages, which reduced the average time it took to get critical safety messages to the field from 73 days to 5 days.
The 16 LSS Black Belt graduates were Maj. Gary Jones, Logan Turpin, Jason Miller, Michael Beasley, Capt. Justin Berry, Michael Spencer, MAJ Matthew Capps, Maj. Richard Prausa; CW2 David Tanderup, Maj. Nelson David, Gloria Rodriguez, Charles Yager, Brian Keefover, Lauren Walton, Stephanie Heikel and Marcy Pedersen.
Whicker encouraged the candidates to complete their projects for Black Belt certification in the coming months and to serve as their respective commands' "in house" experts for process improvement. If you have ideas on how to improve a process or are interested in future training opportunities, please visit https://tacom.aep.army.mil/sites/mso/TACOMCPI/Lists/TACOMCPI/Item/newifs.aspx or contact michael.j.satchfield.civ@mail.mil.
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