Written by One group of people that can greatly benefit from Lean Six Sigma training is military veterans who struggle in their transition to civilian life even though they have valuable skills. Employers and former service members aren’t “connecting the dots” on how the military mindset of continuous improvement translates to the Lean Six Sigma concepts that are more well known in the civilian world.
This made it difficult for veterans to showcase their skills on their resume and in their interviews, making it harder to find steady employment.
Russell Levy was working as an employment director at a homeless shelter at the time, and realized that veterans were showing up homeless within a year of getting out of the service.
They needed a little resume help, a little interview prep, and next thing you know they’re off and running. Their whole lives would change.
Russell Levy
This led Russell to start Veterans Transition Support (VTS), a nonprofit that offers no-cost training classes in various disciplines, including OSHA safety, Lean Six Sigma, and supply chain management, all skills that veterans are well versed in, just with a different jargon and culture than what is used in the civilian world.
One of the students Russell was able to help was Eddie Utuk, who was a retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Marine Corps. Eddie attend a VTS Lean Six Sigma class to learn how closely these concepts aligned with the military’s culture of continuous improvement.
Lean Six Sigma was something that I’d already been doing for 25 years without even realizing it
Eddie Utuk, and recent graduate of the
As an example, certain military processes such as the Operational Risk Assessment (ORM) are highly equivalent to the Lean Six Sigma process of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
Many VTS trainees, including Eddie, have gone on to pursue more advanced Green and Black Belt certifications. In April 2023, Eddie signed up for the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies Black Belt certification program. The certification he earned gave him the confidence and expertise to successfully transition into his next role as a full-time Lean Six Sigma consultant at a major corporation.
However, the certification program presented one big challenge, being able to find a real-life improvement project to work on during the course when not actively employed at a company, which is a major requirement for the certification.
The solution that Eddie and Russell eventually came up with was to have him do his Black Belt project on improving the services provided by Veterans Transition Support. Together, they were able to see that the biggest opportunity for growth was not in helping more accomplished and higher-ranking officers transition to civilian life, but to work with lower-ranked enlisted officers (NCOs with 4-8 years of experience) who could see major gains with relatively minimal help.
We went back to the basics and analyzed every process, identified every bottleneck, and found innovative ways to streamline operations. The impact was substantial–reduced costs, faster turnaround times, and improved customer satisfaction. It was a win-win-win.
Eddie
VTS was able to help 36 additional veterans secure suitable employment, with a 30% increase in aggregate first-year salaries to approximately $3.2 million. Eddie shares that this project was one of his proudest career achievements.
Watch Eddie’s full story to learn more about his military transition below, or go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb-q-nNcV1A
To learn more details, check out the following articles about Eddie from UC San Diego