(Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey) -- The U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) has set a standard for government agencies through its recent achievement of being the first Department of Defense organization to receive the 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the first year government organizations were allowed to compete.

“The Malcolm Baldrige [Award] doesn’t mean you’re perfect,” says Bob Scott, ARDEC Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and deputy director, quality engineering and system assurance. “It means you know where you’re going and you have executed a plan to get there.”

As part of a Black Belt lean Six Sigma project called Enterprise Excellence, ARDEC’s director and former deputy director worked to revolutionize the ARDEC “way of thought” by developing focused values in leadership, management, and operation practices. Conducting itself as a learning organization, ARDEC is continuously evaluating its business practices, processes, and searching for ways to measure and improve in all areas.

Enterprise excellence is a cultural change that institutionalizes innovation and continuous improvement by integrating the best practices and processes in its quality management system, and voice of the customer and lean Six Sigma endeavors.

“Enterprise Excellence allows us [ARDEC] to integrate multiple best practices so we can deliver the highest quality products as quickly as possible at the lowest cost to answer the needs of our customers—namely, our warfighters,” says Donelle Denery, chief of ARDEC’s strategic management and process office.

ARDEC’s quality management system uses the capability maturity model integration (CMMI) and ISO 9001. Through implementing proven processes and procedures, ARDEC is able to record the methodology behind their business processes for future use.

“We have subject matter experts [SMEs] within the organization who are close to retirement,” says Dan Crowley, chief of ARDEC’s process improvement and management group. “Using the CMMI framework, we develop procedures that capture the best practices our SMEs use in their discipline so they can be passed on to the next generation of employees.”

As part of the quality management system, employees can access the Process Asset Library, a repository of policies, procedures, processes, forms, and templates. This tool helps promote process and procedure improvements and provides a one-stop-shop for process and procedure resources.

“The Process Asset Library allows a new employee to quickly learn without complete reliance on a SME to walk them through a particular task,” says Crowley. “This system captures key processes throughout ARDEC. It provides focus and encourages consistency so everyone is speaking the same language.”

Voice of the customer, another element of enterprise excellence, was conceptualized to meet the needs of the customer through increased communication with the customer and evaluation of the products delivered.

“Communication is a key component of the ARDEC culture,” says Allan Lagasca of ARDEC’s Systems Engineering Directorate. “Capturing our achievements and sharing them with our workforce is invaluable. We identify best practices, document them, and provide them to our workforce to use and reference. Our workforce knows where to find the information they need to be the most efficient.”

Voice of the customer involves a commitment and systems engineering approach for knowing and understanding the full scope of customer requirements, expectations, and needs.

This customer-focused approach integrates the customer in key ARDEC activities. ARDEC administers customer surveys quarterly to ensure it’s meeting its customers’ needs. In addition, the center has integrated the customer into its integrated project teams to maintain involvement with the customer.

Keeping the customer in mind, ARDEC employees maintain focus on their contributions to the warfighter.

“We are given a mission to support the warfighter,” says Kurt McNeely, chief of ARDEC’s Warfighter Central. “Everyone realizes that a warfighter is not solely an Army representative. Our warfighters are also someone’s mother, father, son or daughter—it’s personal.”

The switch to a customer-focused business practice was inspired by the first customer survey administered by ARDEC in the early 1990’s.

“Rather than ignoring some of the negative feedback, ARDEC senior leaders listened,” says Jim Zoll of ARDEC’s Business Interface Office. Making changes more than a decade ago, ARDEC has vastly improved its response to customer needs and increased efficiency.

At ARDEC, cultural changes are nurtured by its leadership. ARDEC values and encourages input from all employees, and prides itself in listening to new ideas.

“Living the mission by example is the key,” says McNeely. “One of the most significant things about this organization is the open lines of communication. Whether it’s the recent college graduate or the employee who has been here [at ARDEC] for 20 years, we listen.”

McNeely recalls an instance where a young engineer briefed senior leaders on a new concept.

“We provide an environment where young bright engineers feel comfortable to introduce new ideas,” says McNeely.

“We’ve turned over about a third of our workforce over the past five years or so. Our newest employees are enthusiastic, tech-savvy and very comfortable with change. We feel therefore that we are well-positioned to work effective solutions and confront technological issues, accept change and strive to be globally connected. That’s what it takes to be a vibrant organization,” says Joe Brescia, chief of Business Interface Office.

“A key realization is that voice of the customer is a critical element to every product or service you deliver, whether it’s for an internal or external customer. You cannot effectively deploy lean Six Sigma, systems engineering and a quality management system without it.”

Voice of the customer emphasizes the importance of customer feedback and the customer’s true requirements and needs.

“We understand what we do well, and the things that can be improved upon,” says Lagasca. “We capture, document, and incorporate lessons learned into our business processes to achieve success.”

ARDEC’s use of lean Six Sigma, another part of the enterprise excellence model, facilitates the life cycle of lessons learned and the voice of the customer. Design for Six Sigma is a focused process for identifying customer requirements and expectations.

Lean Six Sigma is a combination of two business concepts, lean enterprise and Six Sigma. Lean focuses on increasing the overall efficiency of an organization, while Six Sigma focuses on the effectiveness of an organization.

ARDEC’s usage of the lean Six Sigma model focuses on continuous improvement and incorporating lessons learned into ARDEC processes. The center aims to have all employees, at every level, trained in lean Six Sigma practices, according to Scott. ARDEC leaders set the standard for training, as all senior leaders have had lean Six Sigma training or are scheduled to take it in the near future.

“ARDEC uses Lean Six Sigma to solve major problems and incorporate the solutions into an improved process,” says Scott. “Every ARDEC employee should be trained in Lean Six Sigma to learn how to make fact-based decisions to troubleshoot potential problems at inception. We want it done right the first time,” Scott adds.

ARDEC’s achievement is the first step in a continuous effort to be the best.

“We’re trying to do things faster, with improved quality and efficiency,” says Denery. ARDEC’s cultural change is an evolution of improved processes and did not happen overnight. A continuous effort to be the best organization it can be, ARDEC is pleased with receiving the Baldrige, but the work does not end at the Award.

“Self and external assessment is a constant in our organization,” says Denery. “We are constantly asking ‘What do we need to do to take the organization to the next level?’.”

Named the Center for Excellence for Lean Six Sigma for RDECOM, ARDEC takes pride in the constant change the organization incurs.

“If you stand still, you fall behind. The key is to continually try to improve,” says Scott.

For more information, visit www.army.mil/-news/2008/01/16/7017-quest-for-the-best-ardec-embraces-new-office-culture/