Red River Army Depot

From Doing Lean to Being Lean
What organizations need to do to take steps from tool level implementation to systems level.

This presentation will cover why the Red River Army Depot (RRAD) chose to implement the Lean Six Sigma program. Michael will discuss how the Depot initiated the program, and how it was implemented. He will point out how they achieved the improvements that have been realized throughout the Depot down to the shop floor. The results of those improvements will also be discussed, including awards, what RRAD’s vision for the future holds, and their plans for sustainability.

The mission of the Office for Enterprise Excellence (OEE), previously known as the Red River Production System, began implementing Lean manufacturing principles. The idea behind Lean principles involves identification of process waste through Value Stream Analysis (VSA) and subsequent removal of the waste by Rapid Improvement Events (RIE). A VSA provides the improvement plan through studying the value stream at a very high level from end to end. The RIE provide the mechanism for change and include a seven-week cycle including pre-planning, event implementation and follow-up. Metrics used to measure improvement include productivity, quality and customer demand. The Office reports directly to the Command Group. Major responsibilities include Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation, Problem Solving and Corrective Action Events (PS/CA Events), green and black belt candidate sponsorship, Rapid Improvement Events (RIE) capacity utilization planning, standards development, Standard Depot system (SDS) file maintenance responsibilities and involvement in both the fixed- price exercise and end- of- year closeout. Current office strength is thirty-eight and includes sixteen Industrial Engineering Technicians and sixteen Process Improvement Specialists. The Office of the Chief, Enterprise Excellence is comprised of the Office Chief, Management Analyst and Secretary. In addition, Continuous Process Improvement Division coaches employees and Value Stream Managers from all organizations to include the shop floor and administrative areas, on a continual basis in the use of LSS tools.

Michael L. Lockard, Ch, Enterprise Excellence, Depot Maintenance Opns Specialist

Mike Lockard has been a key part of the Red River Army Depot’s Lean journey since 2002. Prior to his Lean involvement, Mike has held several positions at the Depot. His personal Lean journey began the first time he used the tools of Lean - and he was ‘hooked’. He has since become a voice in the growth of the Lean program, as well as working alongside the Depot Value Stream managers to engage 18 major Value Streams.

Mike has attended Lean conferences, both as an attendee and as a ‘volunteer’ speaker. He is now a full time student of Lean, practicing it both at work and in his private life. Mike works closely with all departments of the Depot and co-ordinates team activities both at a tactical level and as they directly tie to the value stream. Mike is also involved with team facilitator development and plans their Lean training as required for their varied levels of development. He works alongside the Depot commander and deputy as a change agent for the depot, championing the efforts by questioning team members at daily team leader meetings to help them improve their knowledge of Lean for both themselves and their team.