EMPLOYEE AT WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE RECEIVES AWARD FROM AUTOMOTIVE SOCIETY

Ramakrishna Koganti

By Mike Cast
Developmental Test Command Public Affairs

Ramakrishna Koganti of the Process Improvement Office (PIO) at White Sands Missile Range earned a prestigious award recently from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International, a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial-vehicle industries.

Koganti received the 2011 Forest R. McFarlane Award for a variety of support he provided to the SAE, including authoring several technical articles; help in planning, organizing and chairing conference sessions for SAE’s Body Design and Engineering Committee; nominating and recommending several SAE members for awards and recognition; and for mentoring, funding and assisting with SAE student competitions.

People in both government and non-government organizations hold SAE membership. The Society organizes and administers numerous international meetings and exhibitions each year covering all aspects of technology related to the design, manufacture and the lifecycle for the automotive, aerospace, off-road and other industries that support mobility.

Koganti, a project manager for the WSMR PIO, is responsible among other duties for systems engineering projects that implement renewable-energy technology and communicate it to the workforce. His projects involve the application of Lean Six Sigma concepts.

Lean Six Sigma combines two methodologies that have merged over the past couple of decades. In essence, Six Sigma is focused on precision and accuracy, applying analytical methods that lead to data-driven decisions that improve business processes. Lean incorporates the principles of speed and efficiency. Proponents of the Six Sigma methodology assert that “continuous efforts to achieve stable and predictable process results are of vital importance to business success.” Furthermore, according to the proponents of this model, “manufacturing and business processes have characteristics that can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled.”

But there must be a total commitment within the organization, from junior employees to top-level management, for this methodology to be successful.

Like the practitioners of eastern martial arts, the people responsible for Lean Six Sigma process improvements become Green Belts and later Black Belts as they master the methodology. It increasingly is helping the Army to marshal its resources more effectively and do more with less.

Koganti said his SAE membership has been “very helpful” for implementing Lean Six Sigma measures at WSMR.

“One tool I learned in SAE reviews is the Monte Carlo simulation,” he said. “This is a tool I intend to teach at the DTC level.”

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