Pine Bluff Arsenal's Continuous Process Improvement Office continues to spearhead process improvement, value engineering and Lean Six Sigma projects across the installation. These projects can also mean money for the Arsenal, and money in the project leader's pockets.
David Deane, who heads up the CPI office in the Directorate of Engineering and Technology, said he wants to remind Arsenal personnel about the CPI incentive awards policy letter.
"We received a best practice during the recent command inspection on the policy letter. Approximately $7,000 for incentive awards was given out last fiscal year. This year, I have
only processed one award so far for $500," said Deane. "We just want to make it clear that every PBA employee is eligible to receive up to $500 cash award for submitting a CPI project idea."
Three projects have been completed so far this year - two from MM and one from Engineering and Technology.
"Material Management has been the directorate leading the pack so far this year. They have the most CPI programs," said Deane. "For fiscal year 2013, our CPI goal is $4.76 million, the VE goal is $1.35 million and the LSS goal is $3.41 million. Even though it is all continuous process improvement, it is broken out into different areas by the Joint Munitions Command. They have combined VE and LSS, but still track the financial benefits separately."
The three LSS projects completed this fiscal year are:
• Material Management project which reduces logistics excess and surplus property process time. Project reduced the number of labor hours required to dispose of excess/surplus property scheduled for DRMO reutilization. Project saved approximately $632,807 over a three-year period.
• Material Management project which reduces warehouses logistics process cycle time. Project
reduced warehouse logistics process cycle time by eliminating non-value added process steps. This was a just do it project that saved approximately $1,692, 150 over a three-year period.
• Engineering and Technology project which recovers rejected M98 smoke grenade lot quantities. Project recovered rejected M98 smoke grenade lot quantities instead of disposing of them. Project saved approximately $632,807 over a three-year period.
Deane said there are currently no VE projects in the works so far this fiscal year. "This is mainly because AMC is re-writing the policies," he said. "The buzz word for this area is improving value. When you talk about improving value what does that really mean?"
Citing an example of a project done last year by Wally Hunt with the Directorate of Chemical and Biological Defense Operations, Deane said that Mobile and Powered Systems ended up repairing blankets used on the Chemical Biological Protected Shelters instead of purchasing new ones.
"They were actually throwing away the damaged ones and found out they could repair them at a significant cost savings," he said. "They saved over a million dollars doing this. This is a classic example of VE."
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