Photo By Dorie Heyer | 201208-A-FV109-0005 A welder at Letterkenny Army Depot utilizes a weld positioner to...... read more read more
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- April 16, Letterkenny Army Depot’s Office of Continuous Improvement hosted a virtual Go-Lean-Six Peer-Group. The peer group is comprised of companies located in southcentral Pennsylvania that are focused on continuous improvement in manufacturing, healthcare and services. There are monthly, half-day meetings at participant companies with training, best practice discussions and facility tours. Participation is limited in each group for effective communication and a quality experience. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, meetings have been virtual.
The meeting began with a training session led by Ms. Alice Conner Malyszek entitled “Creating a Culture of Change”. One of the questions Malyszek asked the group was, “What does a company culture strive to be versus what it is?” She reviewed Dr. John Kotter’s 8-Step Process for Leading Change and recommended two books to the group.
The next agenda item was the round table where the group discussed themes from the last Peer Group and topics related to culture change.
Four members of the LEAD team briefed the Go-Lean-Six Peer-Group on how LEAD is creating a culture of change. The team highlighted the importance of how LEAD must remain flexible, ready and relevant even as the workload continues to be ever-changing. The team shared examples of how LEAD repetitively demonstrates adaptability and embraces change to meet the warfighters’ needs. Not only does LEAD exemplify the flexibility required to adapt to the constantly changing demands of workload, but proves it is able to meet those needs at reduced cost, with superior quality and on schedule.
After introductions, Mr. Jonathan Lococo, strategic planning assistant, gave an overview of the LEAD approach to strategy.
Ms. Kathleen Williams, director of the Office of Strategic Management, provided a detailed explanation of the depot’s innovation plan. “The plan converts the energy of employee’s ideas into new practices, processes or services,” she said.
Williams provided some examples of how the depot is promoting and managing innovation with the use of an innovation board. “Innovation exploits good ideas to the advantage of the customer, which results in time gains, reduced risk or greater return on investment,” she said.
She also stressed that innovation will happen at all levels within the organization, and that it’s imperative for the entire workforce to embrace innovation to achieve forward momentum. “Innovation will be encouraged, recognized and rewarded,” she stated. “Our strategy will accept failures but never indolence.”
Mr. William Tarman, Office of Continuous Improvement, provided an example of employee-driven innovation. Employees working in the weld area developed the idea to utilize a weld positioner to reduce the repair time and improve quality of work on a trailer.
The project took approximately six months to complete due to relocating the tailstock and designing and fabricating new adapter fixtures. “This improvement provides better ergonomics and weld positioning for our employees,” Tarman shared.
Ms. Kristi Fahnestock, Business Development Office, explained how innovation can benefit the customer. “Innovators are able to see market changes coming from a distance so they can provide solutions for customers' problems before they even know they need them,” she said.
Fahnestock discussed the current environment, constantly changing customer needs and how companies must be innovative to achieve success in the future. “The product or service that a company offers may be exactly what a customer needs today but tomorrow they may need something else,” she shared.
The goal of the Go-Lean-Six Peer Group meetings is to provide training on topics, sharing round table discussions and featuring continuous improvement journeys and lessons learned. Over 29 people registered for the meeting, and walked away with an understanding of how LEAD is implementing innovation at every opportunity. “What is innovation,” Fahnestock asked the group. “Innovation is change. Innovation is growth. Innovation is creativity. It is the development and application of ideas that improve the way things are done.”
| Date Taken: | 04.16.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2021 13:56 |
| Story ID: | 400891 |
| Location: | CHAMBERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 156 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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