Colonel Kendall leads March's first Green Belt course

  • Published
  • By Megan Just
  • 452 AMW Public Affairs
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. --  Paperwork routing can be tedious. Take a pre-deployment checklist, for example. You're zipping from office to office across the base, hoping the right people are present as you Beg for signatures at bioenvironmental and public affairs, wait in line at the military personnel flight, pick up gear at Mobags and have a check-up at the clinic.

If you were to draw lines on a base map of your route as you made stops at the various locations, what would your final product look like? A ball of tangled yarn? A pile of silly string?

Believe it or not, there's a name for this study and it is an actual method of researching root causes of processes that have room for improvement. It's called a Spaghetti Diagram, and it's just one of the dozens of process improvement tools Lt. Col. Scipia Kendall taught during the first Green Belt training course to be held at March Air Reserve Base.

Colonel Kendall is the 452nd Air Mobility Wing's process manager. She is responsible for implementing the tenets of the Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century, as well as running the Lessons Learned program and heading the Exercise Evaluation Team.

According to Colonel Kendall, AFSO21 tools could streamline that tangled deployment checklist diagram into a single trek down Graeber Avenue.

"AFSO21 can meet the requirements for business process improvement for all the groups in the wing," she said.

The Green Belt certification is a Lean Six Sigma program for applying the manufacturing industry's Six Sigma statistical analysis process to businesses and organizations with technology, administration or service focuses. Lean Six Sigma, as applied to the Air Force, teaches individuals to think and work in an AFSO21 manner, thereby increasing performance, effectively and efficiently supporting Air Force strategic goals and objectives by continually using business process improvement.

"My goal is to have Green Belts identified in every Group. That way, each Group will continue to have process improvement," Colonel Kendall said.

The students who attended the base's inaugural Green Belt course were Capt. Richella Rosete, Capt. Kimberly Cortes, Chief Master Sgt. David Brooks, Senior Master Sgt. Teresa Higgins, Senior Master Sgt. Raul Martir and Master Sgt. Cynthia Spurgeon.

"It was a lot of information in a short time but it stimulated them," Colonel Kendall said. "I could tell they were engaged and motivated because they wanted to stay after class. They wanted more. They were thirsty for knowledge."

While earning a Green Belt is not mandatory, individuals with the certification are strong assets supporting the goals and objectives of the squadron as well as the mission of the wing commander, Colonel Kendall said.

"The certification is nice to have because business process improvement means business process improvement. The value of the wing goes up," she said. "This is especially important as we move toward supporting the strategic goals of the Air Force."

Colonel Kendall said the certification itself makes a strong 'bullet point' on officer and enlisted performance reports, but it is the shift in mindset and proactive performance that can really make an Airman stand out from his or her peers.

"That kind of performance magnifies on a performance report because that person is business-oriented and process improvement-oriented. A critical thinker. They look at constraints," she said. "Earning the certification says a lot about the individual. They're not just 'me' oriented. They're centered on everyone."

Attending the training course is just one of the steps in earning a Green Belt certification. After the course, each of the attendees must observe a Rapid Improvement Event, which is a Lean Six Sigma method where a team comes together to address a single process that needs to be improved. 

Green Belt candidates must identify a process to improve within their own squadron. Under Colonel Kendall's mentorship, they initiate their own Rapid Improvement Event .

Current Rapid Improvement Events at March include a team headed by Maj David Enfield, 452nd Communications Squadron commander, who hopes to improve the records management process, and a new team charter identified by Capt. Kimberly Cortes, 452nd Aeromedical Squadron, hopes to improve the patients' wait time at the Medical Clinic.

"Everyone will benefit, down to the customer," Colonel Kendall said.

Although the students in the first Green Belt training at March were above the rank of E-7, Colonel Kendall said Airmen of all ranks can benefit from skills that help them in identifying "The Eight Types of Waste."

"The Eight Types of Waste," also known as "DOWNTIME" (defects, overproduction, waiting, nonstandard and overprocessing, transportation, intellect, motion and excess inventory) can be corrected through business process improvement by using the "Eight-Step Problem Solving Process" that includes AFSO21 tools.

"Even if you're an Airman first class, you can still apply AFSO21 tools," she said. "You can listen to the voice of the customer. If a customer is not satisfied, the Airman can assist their supervisor to modify or improve the process."

Colonel Kendall plans to hold another Green Belt training this fall, and continuing in the future, twice a year. In the meantime, she conducts 15-mintue AFSO21 Awareness briefings during Newcomer Training on UTA Saturdays.