Joint Continuous Process Improvement Success

By Nancy K. Lane
Ngmo.pao@US.ARMY.MIL

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Changing the operating culture in any organization requires hard work and dedication and that is exactly what five members of the Missouri National Guard have put into their Lean Sigma Six training for Joint Continuous Process Improvement (JCPI).

Responding to the changes in overseas contingency operations and budget reductions, the Missouri National Guard identified the need to implement process improvement tools to best utilize their current staff and funds.

For that reason, five Soldiers and Airmen went through four weeks of intense training over a four month period at the University of Reno, Nev. in order to be black belt level qualified to be administrators for the JCPI program.

Capt. Charity Summers, Office of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, is the director of the JCPI program and recently earned her Lean Six Sigma black belt certification.

As a joint military program, other black belt representatives are from both the Missouri Army National Guard and the Missouri Air National Guard. Lt. Col. Edward M. Riggs, manager of the Combined Support Maintenance Shop, and Maj. Douglas Frank, officer in charge of the Yellow Ribbon Program, serve in the Missouri Army National Guard. Capt. John F. Closson and 1st Lt. Allen L. Bear serve with the 139th Air Wing of the Missouri Air National Guard.

It is their goal to work on organizational projects that are tied to the Missouri National Guard's strategic plan which looks at what the organization is doing as a whole for the next three to five years, where they are currently in the plan and then begin to set goals for the future.

"This is a process improvement tool that looks at the way we do day to day business and identifies ways in which to increase efficiency and reduce operating cost," said Summers.

Through the JCPI program, these trained service members hope to lead the effort in organizational change and create a continuous cycle of process improvement which will continue to identify costs savings and support the creation of jobs within the organization.

"The more successful we are in implementing process improvement tools the more effective we are at meeting our customer requirements," said Summers.

The Lean Six Sigma method, which is a process-improvement procedure that requires the evaluators to define, measure, analyze, improve and implement control measures, is being used to assess and address the needs of Soldiers, Airmen, civilian employees, and strategic partners. Lean looks at reducing cost and waste within an organization. Six Sigma sets optimal goals statistically.

For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please call 1-800-GoGuard or visit www.moguard.com.