Topic(s)
- Operations improvement
Overview
In 2002, Red River Army Depot embarked upon a journey of change for the better with Lean. Utilizing the principles of Lean became the way the company did business as it enjoyed productivity and output improvements. The HMMWV Program’s initial state in 2004 was an output of three vehicles/week and a labor requirement of 400 man hours/truck. After Lean, HMMWV output increased to 32 vehicles/day and 60% fewer manhours/truck.
Fast forward to the 2011 and 2012 timeframe, when the workload almost doubled. Unfortunately, the company turned back to its old ways of maximizing work-in-process with no standard work, production control boards or daily problem-solving. The company soon recognized it had lost its way, so it returned to Lean principles. The results include a Lean transformation of an MRAP variant program that experienced an output increase from 5 to 50 vehicles/month while meeting its production requirement of 1,361 vehicles and staying on budget. It also kept its eyes on quality, where it saw early non-conformances fall from 38 to 10.7 defects per item, which continued to remain very low through the completion of the program. A more recent example of Lean transformation success involves a combat production vehicle upgrade project. The first vehicle required a total of 3086 man hours, which dropped by over 50% after several rapid improvement events.
Key learning objectives
- Positive and negative lessons learned.
- Importance of leadership engagement.
- Lean management infrastructure.
- Lean core team development.
- Managing for daily improvement.
Company
Red River Army Depot is on a mission to sustain the Joint Warfighter’s combat power by providing ground combat and tactical systems sustainment maintenance operations. Red River Army Depot, located in Texarkana, Texas, was originally established as an ammunition facility. However, due to the demands of World War II, the mission expanded to include general supply storage and tank repair. Today, a dedicated workforce of more than 3,500 people is engaged in work ranging from producing timber to remanufacturing the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle. The depot occupies 15,375 acres, houses more than 1,400 buildings, and hosts 16 tenant organizations. https://redriver.army.mil/
Presenter
Justin Lee Clark, OCI office chief is a Lean Sensei with over 17 years of experience in the areas of mechanical, electrical, hydraulics, and maintenance. He is responsible for Lean / Six Sigma management support of product quality and delivery for up to 400 combat and tactical vehicles, as well as over 200 supporting secondary items across Red River Army Depot. Justin has applied Lean techniques within supply chain, manufacturing, and production operations. He has improved the flow of materials, equipment, information, revenue, and people. His decades of industry experience include leading Lean transformations on military tactical vehicles such as High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, Multiple Launch Rocket System, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected and multiple back shop commodities that support the overhaul/1020 process to reset these vehicles. He has experience teaming with Leaders at U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) to lead the Lean transformation.
Justin’s Lean journey began in 2005 when he was a supervisor on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle disassembly line at Red River Army Depot. He joined the lean team in 2006. He became certified as a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt, leading improvements on the Detroit Engine assembly line at Red River Army Depot in 2011. He led the team to identifying the root cause of a catastrophic engine failure that resulting in millions of dollars of savings. He has facilitated and coached over 400 events during his lean journey that improved productivity, business growth, while reducing defects, labor expenses and process lead times.
He has worked his way up the career ladder from a shop floor hydraulics mechanic to leader, supervisor, to division chief in his 23 years at Red River Army Depot. He has been the RRAD Division Chief of the Continuous Improvement Office for over a year and a half, where he manages 20 highly skilled team members.
Stephen Blake is an executive coach and Lean Sensei with over 40 years of leadership experience in the delivery of successful large-scale transformations across various industries, including national defense, nuclear remediation, commercial aerospace and health care. He has applied lean techniques in product design, development, supply chain, manufacturing, and production operations.
Blake’s decades of aerospace industry experience include leading lean transformations for classified and unclassified spacecraft, satellites, robotics, heavy-lift rocket boosters, laser-guided airborne munitions, cargo aircraft and 5th-generation multi-mission fighter jets. He has significant experience working with the US Army Tank Command, including Watervliet Arsenal, Anniston Army Depot, Red River Army Depot, Picatinny Arsenal and Benet Laboratories.
Blake’s lean journey began in the year 2000 under the guidance of Air Academy Associates while working for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Denver, Colorado. During this time, he became certified as a Lean/Six Sigma Black Belt, leading assembly operations and lean transformation of a multi-billion dollar classified reconnaissance satellite program.
Blake studied Lean at the National Defense Acquisition University in Washington, DC, and presented workshops at the Lean Enterprise Symposium, sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Blake has served as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt/subject matter expert assigned to the Lockheed Martin Corporate Office in Bethesda, Maryland, facilitated over 40 rapid improvement events focused on the successful production ramp-up of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program, and served as operations director for over 450 multi-functional personnel working on the F-35 Program in Marietta, Georgia.
Blake has facilitated and coached over 200 events during his Lean journey, with results that included improving productivity and business growth, reduced quality defects, labor expenses and process lead times. His broad range of lean experience, coupled with his inherent skill to teach, coach and communicate with all levels of the organization contributes to his ability to deliver outstanding results in multiple industries.
