September 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

Goal: Deliver improved business processes, systems, and tools that meet the needs of our employees, reduce the cost of doing business, and improve the Laboratory's mission performance.

Efficiencies in hydrodynamic testing

Lean Six Sigma team uncovers big savings

For more than 50 years, the Laboratory has conducted tests, or "shots," that simulate the detonation of nuclear weapons to enable scientists to measure the implosion of primaries.

Shot execution just became more affordable, thanks to a team lead by Lori Primas, acting deputy group leader in Hydrodynamics (HX-3). The team's work resulted in savings of nearly $900,000 per shot, or hydrotest.

The team turned adversity, in the form of a $12.5 million budget cut in fiscal year 2008, into opportunity, using Lean Six Sigma tools to identify ways to manage processes.

The tools helped the team analyze costs associated with the execution of hydrotests at the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrotest Facility (DARHT). They also built a resource-loaded process model identifying the hundreds of associated activities supported by organizations across the Lab.

"Our biggest obstacle was identifying costs directly related to the hydrotest execution versus costs that are critical to operations but not unique to a particular experiment," said Primas, a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt candidate. "Understanding the big picture gave us the ability to prioritize some of the targeted work to be done."

The first efficiencies uncovered by the team were implemented in April, and additional measures will be phased in during the remainder of 2008 and 2009. The savings will be used to maintain the hydrotest program capability and make investments in the future of hydrotesting at DARHT.

Team members included Primas, Gary McMath, Kurt Anast, and Ray Flesner, all of HX-3, Tom Turner of Detonator Technology, Paul Leslie of Weapons Test Engineering, Carrie Apgar of Weapons Budgeting, Suzanne Maez of Physics, Chris Binns of Lean Six Sigma, Dave Bowman of DARHT, Tim Fife of Weapons Engineering Technology, Diann Bruhn of Dynamic and Energetic Materials, and Martha Zumbro of Hydrodynamic Experiments.

—Mig Owens