Lean Initiative in the Program Office (LIPO): Applying Lean Thinking to the Livelink Database System

Lean Thinking is a method of work organization that promotes the creation of value and elimination of waste. United States Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition organizations currently struggle with many non-Lean processes that inhibit cost-effective, on-time completion of projects. The author hypothesized that by applying Lean Thinking to Satellite Control and Network Systems Group (SCNG) processes, a dedicated project team would enhance unit productivity and reduce costs related to the Livelink file sharing database system. To do this, SCNG members formed a Lean project team, pursued Lean Thinking training, and applied Lean to Livelink processes. This resulted in improvements of 100% - 500% for file manipulation and data sharing processes, which saved the Government up to $8,960 per week. The project also demonstrated that Lean Thinking can successfully be applied to the acquisition program office environment.