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The logistical world at 21st Theater Sustainment Command just got a lot easier thanks to the expertise of Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Strawberry Olive and the Standard Army Management Information System cell, which is part of Support Operations at Theater Logistics Support Center- Europe.
Ms. Olive and her co-workers at the STAMIS cell realized that the process to validate information using the Standard Army Management Systems and the Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced was very slow and could lead to multiple errors.
“The problem is that we have PBUSE, which the Property Book Office runs. We have SAMS, which is maintenance. The problem is that these two systems are stove-piped. They don’t communicate with each other,” said Ms. Olive.
Previously, supply and maintenance workers had to check equipment in SAMS against the records in PBUSE by hand.
Throughout the Army this is a stubby pencil action. You have to take the PBUSE and SAMS data separately then you have to validate it, so it’s very, very time consuming and it’s open to errors, said Ms. Olive.
For the cell at TLSC-E the sheer number of records that the cell had to validate made the task a daunting one. With 91 units to induct for fiscal year 10, the cell began with the first five units and realized that the time consuming and error ridden current process was not going to work.
As a recently certified black belt in the LSS program, Ms. Olive began a project to streamline the process.
STAMIS cell contributors Ingrid Boger and Karl Brand played key roles in the testing phase of the project. Mr. Brand is also a green belt in the LSS program. Kersten Boranek, a management assistant from Support Operations worked with the project as a green belt candidate in the LSS program. Karl Schneider and Brigitte Wurm from the TLSC-E property book office also worked with the cell. Mr. Schneider designed the prototype and produced the final automated tool while Ms. Wurm provided support with the PBUSE side of the process.
Using problem solving techniques learned through the LSS program, the group came up with the PBUSE V SAMS Maintenance Data Validation Tool.
In the testing period the manual method took 13 hours to validate 388 pieces of equipment. The PBUSE V SAMS Maintenance Data Validation Tool took 13 minutes to validate 21, 257 pieces of equipment.
“One of the operators said that it took him 11 hours and now it takes him 30 minutes, so it’s a good tool for maintenance and supply managers at that management level,” said Lt. Col. Tom Hays, chief of operations, research and systems analysis for the 21st TSC. “It’s good for the clerks who have to actually do the work down at the company and battalion.”
The current plan is to replicate the program across 21st TSC and the rest of United States Army Europe.
