Expanding knowledge and recognizing achievements of the Navy’s NAVAIR AIRSpeed Black Belts was the topic of the day at the Black Belt Symposium, held July 21 in Maryland. Vice Adm. Wally Massenburg, NAVAIR commander and lean Six Sigma consultant, and Michael George, chairman and CEO of the George Group, were the featured speakers. George drew examples from major companies to illustrate the difficulties of removing nonvalue-added elements from complex systems. Massenburg explained how the Navy’s Six Sigma implementations are transforming it.

The Navy established the Naval Aviation Enterprise three years ago to address inefficiencies in its bureaucracy subsequently implemented of a host of Six Sigma, theory of constraints (TOC) and lean projects. In August 2004, the Navy launched Task Force Lean, an initiative designed to support lean projects in the Navy’s NAVSEA command structure. This initiative also established a Lean Office, which is staffed full-time.

More than 100 Black Belts attended the event, which also offered a series of workshops to expand their Six Sigma skills. “The future leaders of NAVAIR are sitting in this room,” Massenburg said. “You are going to enable us to afford our future.”

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