Story by Maj. Stephen Martin, Kentucky National Guard Public Affairs
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The Kentucky National Guard hosted 26 leaders from across both army and air units to complete the first lean six sigma course in the state for the organization at Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Greenville, Ky. May 12-22. (courtesy photo)
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- The Kentucky National Guard hosted a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Green Belt Process Improvement course May 12-22, 2014 at the Wendell H. Ford Regional Training Center in Greenville. The course educated 26 Soldiers and Airmen from across the Army and Air National Guard.
"Our senior leaders are constantly looking at ways to improve the (National) Guard's organizational readiness," said Brig. Gen. Scott Campbell, Joint Force Land Component Commander for the Kentucky National Guard. "Graduating this course is an important milestone for both your career and significantly changing the way our Guard operates."
Leaders were trained on various skills during the 80-hour course that will enable them to complete numerous projects for the organization ranging from improving medical services to reducing delivery time of all types of equipment to the units across the commonwealth.
The Kentucky National Guard is in its third year, joining 40 states, six Army Reserve commands and four Training Site commands across the country that are in competition for the Army Communities of Excellence Award.
To be competitive, high performing organizations establish an 'integrated management system' which aligns four different business practices to improve operations across the board. This year, Kentucky received an "honorable mention" for the ACOE award.
"In this resource constrained environment, the need to continually analyze how we maximize taxpayers’ dollars is an ongoing challenge," said Lt. Col. Allen Boone, Director of Strategic Management for the Kentucky National Guard. "The Army has saved billions of taxpayer dollars from these continuous process improvement activities. We're focusing on integrating strategic planning, continuous process improvement and performance measurements in everything we do."
Lt. Col. Tom Roach, Aviation Training and Standardization Officer for the Kentucky National Guard, has attended numerous training events similar to this Lean Six Sigma course, but this one stood out to him in particular.
"I’ve had the opportunity to attend several great training events that focus on improving the efficiency of our work processes. However, this was the only one that used statistical analysis to validate data and transform it into usable information. Intellectually, it was a very demanding course and our class performed very well."