By Vicky Falcón
NAVAIR Public Affairs Office

Martin Ahmad has spent the last year as a NAVAIR AIRSpeed Black Belt. Now he is headed back into the workforce as principal deputy for the Aircrew Systems Program (PMA202). How will his Black Belt experience affect his new role?

“In NAVAIR we (program managers) are always trying to solve problems and improve our processes,” said Ahmad. “In the past we used our experience and knowledge to analyze and fix things – but there was always a question, are we fixing the right things?”

Now, with the Lean and Six Sigma AIRSpeed tools, as well as the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) process, Ahmad has a more structured and more systematic method for solving problems and improving processes.

“Now there is an increased awareness of the use of data and root cause analysis,” he said. “We can use Lean/Six Sigma to make sure we understand the customer needs, collect the appropriate data about the process, identify the root causes of problems and therefore fix the right things.”

Ahmad began his career with NAVAIR in 1980 as a University of Maryland engineering co-op student working at the Patuxent River Naval Test Center. He has held various engineering and program management positions in the NAE, including AIR-552, PMA248, PMA209, a rotational assignment at DASN(Air) and AIR-1.0 staff.

Now he is moving on to PMA202 where he’ll be performing multiple duties (besides principal deputy) such as assisting in Workload Planning and Staffing and AIRSpeed Process Improvement Replication.

“Any Black Belt going back to the organization should not be leaving their Black Belt training behind,” said Ahmad. “They should take the tools (Lean/Six Sigma) with them and use them in the course of business. They should also be training their teams to use the AIRSpeed tools as a part of business improvement methods for work.”

Ahmad, who completed one Black Belt project and is more than halfway through a second, firmly believes that the key to the success of AIRSpeed comes when everyone in the organization understands how to use the tools and apply them to their work.

“I want to continue to use my Black Belt skill set now as a program manager,” he said. “And I’m seriously considering pursuing a Master Black Belt in the future.”

For more information about NAVAIR AIRSpeed, go to http://www.navair.navy.mil/navairairspeed/.