The UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine helicopter with a single, four-bladed main rotor. The UH-72 is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145 and was built by American Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters, Inc.). Initially marketed as the UH-145, the helicopter was selected as the winner of the United States Army’s Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program on June 30, 2006. In October 2006, American Eurocopter was awarded a production contract for 345 aircraft to replace aging UH-1H/V ‘Huey’ and the OH-58A/C ‘Kiowa’ helicopters in the U.S. Army. It combines operational capability, reliability and affordability, fulfilling all of the Army’s requirements for speed, range, endurance and overall performance.

Learn more about the UH-72 Lakota here.

https://youtu.be/aI3bGLANAME

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A combined team from Aviation & Missile Command Environmental Division at Red Stone Arsenal and Aviation Center Logistic Command at Fort Rucker have implemented ground-breaking initiatives utilizing Lean Six Sigma methodologies for the handling of hazardous waste involved in the maintenance of the UH-72 Lakota aircraft at Fort Rucker. These initiatives have significantly improved to quality of life for those personnel at Fort Rucker and the surrounding communities. They have also enhanced the mission performance of the aircraft through consistent quality improvement through Lean Six Sigma methodologies.

The UH-72A Lakota is a light utility helicopter specifically designed to meet the requirements of US Army. The helicopters were acquired to replace the UH-1H Iroquois Huey’ and the OH-58 A/C Kiowa helicopters. Based on the EC 145 multirole helicopter, the UH-72A serves the army principally for logistics and support missions within the US. It is also used by the Army National Guard for homeland security and disaster-response missions and medical evacuations.

Lean Six Sigma Success for Army Aviation

By making changes in the institutional chemical review processes, prepositioning of compliant hazardous materials and changes to the procurement procedures, the team is working to improve environmental quality at and around Fort Rucker. These processes have also enhanced the community’s environmental quality by reducing the helicopter’s mission environmental footprint while reducing the risk of additional costs to pilot training due to aircraft maintenance delays.

The team’s success was accomplished by effectively implementing Lean Six Sigma techniques to facilitate mission and promote compliant hazardous material conservation practices on the aircraft. The team focused on the hazardous materials’ lifecycle and promoted just-in-time acquisitions of environmentally sustainable products.

• Enhanced readiness by reducing the wait time for maintenance chemicals to reach Fort Rucker mechanics, which reduced the chemical approval review time from an average 19.5 days to 13.7 days, which equates to an avoidance cost reduction of $332,531 in lost pilot training time per consumable material. With 28 new consumable materials delivered in the past 12 months, the cost avoidance to pilot training is more than $9 million.
• Reduced the use of non-conforming consumable materials by 81 percent. By reducing the amount of non-conforming consumable materials and ensuring only compliant products are available for use, the ACLC UH-72 Team minimized risk to the community while also reducing waste cost of $4.30 per consumable material. Costs were reduced by more than $6 million in fiscal year 2017.
• Guaranteed compliance with Fort Rucker’s air permit. The team reviewed the most used consumable materials and recommended more than 50 chemical alternatives the comply with the installation’s air permit.
• Supported air contaminant and waste minimization requirements. The team promoted sustainable procedures for acquiring hazardous materials that support air contaminant and waste minimization.
• Clarified new contract requirements to ensure mission success.

The U.S. Army has clearly demonstrated its commitment to the practice of Lean Six Sigma methodologies to improve the quality and combat readiness of its forces.

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“Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.”

Nolan Ryan

Companies and those that lead them spend decades building and fine tuning processes. Those processes are developed for one purpose¦to create the success and wealth of the company. When the established processes collide with the talented workforce, inevitably, the workforce is forced to yield to the process. No matter how talented or brilliant the workforce is, their talent is pushed aside for the greater good of the company. Good people come to work for a company and have a collision with the processes. Some of those collisions are more violent than others.

Lean has a vast amount of tools that are process focused, from process mapping to standardized work. However, the biggest misconception is the relationship between Lean and process. Simply, it is overstated. Most believe that believe Lean is all about process, and anything that makes processes better is inherently Lean.  An industrial engineer will tell you they are fully versed in Lean because of their focus on processes. But process, while vital, is not enough for success.

Consider the operation of a professional sports team. Every part of that organization is about process. From the front office, to the support staff to the players, they wake and sleep on processes. But the fact is, those sports teams will not win one game during a season based on their finely tuned processes. Talent is the magic potion that makes a winning team. It is required and must be respected. In Mercer’s 2016 Global Talent Trends Study, 90% of organizations surveyed anticipate that the competition for talent will increase significantly over the next few years. The study found that a lack of development, outdated processes, and discontent with the role of managers are the three main drivers of worker dissatisfaction.

Lean is about processes, which recognize the value and talent of the workforce. It is a synergy that depends on the brightest and most talented to care for the processes that build success and wealth within a company. Lean is a process that gets its strength and value in a company from the talent within.

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Mark Graban is an internationally recognized leader in Lean healthcare and continuous improvement. His motivation is to apply Lean and Toyota Production System principles to improve quality of care and patient safety, to improve the customer-patient experience, to help the development of medical professionals and employees, and to help build strong organizations for the long term.

Lean management principles have been used effectively in manufacturing companies for decades. Those same principles can also be successfully applied to the delivery of healthcare. Lean  healthcare begins with driving out waste so that all work adds value and serves the customer-patient needs. Identifying value added and non-value added steps in every process is the beginning of the journey toward success.

Although Lean healthcare differs in many ways from manufacturing, there are also surprising similarities. Whether building a car or providing healthcare for a customer-patient, workers must rely on multiple, complex processes to accomplish their tasks and provide value to the customer or patient. Waste of money, time, supplies, or good will always decreases value.

Check out this educational video from Mark Graban.

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Lean manufacturing is a series of techniques that will improve the performance of a factory, a department or even a single production line or machine. Lean thinking in manufacturing is logical and as it is applied, it can be thought of as a journey towards a more efficient future. The techniques are based on the way in which the work is carried out, and involves changing behaviors and attitudes of the personnel so a deep understanding of motivation and culture is essential in the application of Lean thinking.

The food industry involves substantial amounts of product, produced in large batches. It requires lengthy lead times and has variability with the different growing seasons and products. The variability continues with each product, since every product has a different rate of expiration. To most, it may seem counter-intuitive to apply Lean thinking to this industry, since there are so many variables and uncertainties. But when you decipher the supply chain, the key types of waste identified in food production are very similar to those seen in other industries.

Lean Thinking in Food Manufacturing

A deeper examination of the food industry reveals waste problems in over-production, transport, wait times, inventory levels, food defects, and processing. To enhance these processes and decrease waste, continuous improvement through Lean thinking can be made to these components of the food industry. While the reasoning behind the food industry’s initial Lean delay varies according to who you ask, most Lean experts agree that Lean plays an important role in present-day food manufacturing. Progress is often driven by example. If a food manufacturer sees its competitor achieving notable results with Lean manufacturing, it almost has no choice but to follow suit. The industry is facing an explosion of product variation, serious food safety concerns, and skyrocketing raw material and transportation costs. Lean may not be the only answer, but it’s definitely part of it.

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From the vastness of the Grand Canyon to the red rocks of Sedona and the living Sonoran Desert, you will find Arizona’s landscapes inspiring! The spectacular canyons, blooming deserts, raging rivers, petrified forests, and scenic mountains enthrall lovers of the outdoors in pursuit of hiking, rafting, golf, or picturesque spots to watch the sunset. There is more to Arizona than beautiful vistas. World-renowned spas in Phoenix provide plenty of pampering, while Native American cultures thrive throughout the state.

Beyond the beauty, you will find Arizona government operates at the speed of business. State leaders embrace a results-driven management system to transform the way their state government operates. With a focus on customer service, transparency and accountability to the taxpayer, they eagerly seek ways to do state business better and more efficiently. The goal for leadership in Arizona is to bring absolute value and service to their citizens by constant performance improvement.

The biggest leaps and the best opportunities to deliver real improvements and cost savings can be found by working across department boundaries in expansive and innovative ways. To maximize the social benefit found through collaboration, agencies are working as teams on breakthrough projects to bring results in each of the Governor’s five priorities shown below. The agencies meet regularly to advance the projects, brainstorm additional opportunities and provide peer support.

Lean Initiatives With The Arizona Management System (AMS)

The Arizona Management System (AMS) is a platform where creativity and innovation come together to inspire state employees to achieve excellence. Check out the library of videos below.

Introduction – The Arizona Management System is based on principles of Lean, and in this series, covers Lean history and core concepts such as defining value from the customer’s perspective, along with exploring the many types of waste found in our processes.

Defining AMS – With the Arizona Management System, every state employee at every level reflects on how they perform while seeking a better way. Employees learn about tools for data-driven decision-making and disciplined problem solving.

The History – The roots of Lean are found in principles of continuous improvement that date back more than 100 years. Henry Ford used them to streamline and build efficiency into the mass assembly line.

What Lean Is and Is Not – Lean is not about reducing headcount. Lean doesn’t focus on the people who do the work but the slow, wasteful and frustrating processes employees use. Lean recognizes that agencies’ vital missions are ever-increasing, and often there aren’t enough employees available to do all the work that needs to be done.

Customer Value Part I – Value is always defined from the customer’s perspective. So if we don’t understand who our customer is, it is easy to see how we could misdirect our efforts when redesigning processes to reduce waste.

Customer Value Part II – It is very important not only to know who your customer is, but to understand what he or she values.

Knowing Your Customer – The customer is the ultimate end user of the product or service you deliver.

Why Lean: The Customer’s Perspective – Customers don’t care that you are government, subject to some special pass as if you are incapable of ever performing well. They also don’t compare one agency to another because for them, we are just the government.

Why Lean: What’s in it for Me? – Lean is a proven set of principles and methods that result in continuous improvement of work processes. Lean is not an acronym or a separate initiative.

The Seven Traditional Wastes Using TIM WOOD – Lean gives us a common language to describe these sorts of non-value added, unnecessary activities waste, in other words. You can easily remember the seven traditional types of waste using the acronym TIM WOOD.

Blame – The greatest resource any organization has is people. All too often however, government doesn’t realize the full potential of the people who work for them.

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