Lean Six Sigma

MALS 11 Awaiting Parts Branch The Awaiting Parts Branch was suffering a problem. It was staffed with two

Marines who were handling about 1,200 requisitions in a weekly basis. They were in charge with two daily, eight weekly, and one monthly reports

as their regular duties. The personnel and their duties cannot be changed and therefore, it remained a constant. These factors and the high operational tempo created exhaustion and stress. The branch was not efficient enough.

The challenge was to decrease the stress level and increase efficacy of the branch without adding extra personnel. To do this it was necessary to analyze the workload and utilize Lean Six Sigma principles.

The Awaiting Parts Branch was in charge of monitoring 4 divisions and their requisition orders in a weekly basis: Power Plants, Airframes, Avionics and Ordnance.

An adhoc query was created to pull the data necessary to analyze the behavior on how these divisions placed their orders. This was done in five working days.

Out of 1,279 requisitions orders placed, Avionics had a 6 percent, Airframes 11 percent, and Power Plants 10 percent. However, Ordnance held a 73 percent

The Awaiting Parts Branch was concentrating most of its effort in one division. This was the major constraint.

Total Requisition Orders10%

11%

6%

73%

PowerPlantsAirframesAvionicsOrdnance

Identifying the problem Ordnance Division requisition orders were analyzed. This excessive amount

was due to improper cannibalization procedures at the sub-division levels. Regular procedures- to repair the main component, a new requisition is put

in place. At times, the main component cannot be fixed due to lack of bit piece parts. It’s easier to get the main component and perform a BCM action. When this happens, the existing orders must be canceled.

Instead, they were kept on order and moved to another workload in the database. This procedure is called cannibalization, and the improper use of it, was the cause of the problem.

It was necessary to validate all existing orders to identify which ones are true requirements. This process took about 3 months and it is illustrated in the next slide.

27-Aug-143-Sep-14

8-Sep-14

10-Sep-14

15-Sep-14

19-Sep-14

23-Sep-14

29-Sep-146-Oct-14

9-Oct-14

27-Oct-143-Nov-14

17-Nov-14

24-Nov-14

15-Dec-1414-Jan-15

6-Feb-153-Mar-15

23-Apr-150

100

200

300

400

500

600

Powerplants Airframes Avionics Ordnance

Data collected from August 2014 to January 2016showing the benefits of applying Lean Six Sigma principles to

Eliminate excessive workload

Num

ber

of O

utst

andi

ng r

equi

siti

ons

The result

35%

13%18%

34%

Total Requisition Orders

Pow-er-PlantsAirframesAvionicsOrdnance

By applying Lean Six Sigma Principles, it was possible to eliminate 39 percent of excessiveorders. All the divisions maintain a healthybalance and the Awaiting Parts Branch personnel are less stressed and their efficiency increased.