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Focus on LAI
Plenary
Lean
Now's Successful First Wave Breeds Enterprise Commitments
When the head of the
Air Force Materiel Command, General Lester Lyles, decided it was time
to streamline critical government-industry processes in 2002, he chose
the Lean Aerospace Initiative as the venue. Lyles called for an expeditionary
mindset to create innovative, adaptive, and responsive business and operational
processes to support war fighters. The Lean Now! initiative, which began
with three pilot projects, quickly demonstrated that lean thinking and
acting meant a more efficient and effective military force.
The first wave projects
saved money and time. The Global Hawk alpha contracting project resulted
in a 37 percent reduction in cycle time. A lean approach to contract closeouts
in the F-16 project saved $2.4 million on small value contracts alone.
The test and evaluation CTF F/A-22 effort decreased installation time
from 94 to 46 hours.
Lyles then chose
three new projects of 23 submitted by center commanders. These second
wave projects now underway include turbine engine testing at Arnold Engineering
and Development Center (AEDC), Manchester Tenn.; contracting for off site
engineering support at Hanscom AFB Lexington, Mass.; and procurement requests
at Ogden Air Logistics Center (ALC) at Hill AFB, Utah.
"With the wave
two projects, large enterprise engagement began," said Terry Bryan,
a Raytheon executive on loan as LAI's industry co-director. "The
groundbreaking initiative at AEDC is a total enterprise approach and has
a number of organizational initiatives." This project involves government
and industry, three military services, and cross-functional science and
technology components from flight testing to depot maintenance.
"The LAI-Ogden
ALC strategic partnership is the second large-scale project," Bryan
said. "The tactical deployment of lean continues within the center,
however strategic work has begun at the enterprise level. This includes
the formation of an enterprise leadership team and following the LAI Transition
to Lean Roadmap." Read more about Ogden on page 3. In addition, a
new ALC project is scheduled to kick off at the Air Force's Oklahoma City
ALC.
Bryan said the Lean
Now! projects share key success factors. "Bottom line is you have
to change the culture from top-down and bottom-up driven processes,"
he said. "The leaders have to be visible, involved, and committed,
and they have to over-communicate. They have to develop long-term developmental
strategies tied to organizational objectives. They need to involve all
the stakeholders early, teach the lean tools, and sustain the effort remembering
that lean is a continuous journey, not a whistle stop."
Learn more on
the LAI web site.
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