Brevard County Using Lean Six Sigma to Create a Better Tomorrow

Since October 2015, Brevard County (Florida) Government has worked on institutionalizing Lean Six Sigma as a way to help create a better tomorrow. Leading the Lean Six Sigma initiatives out of the County Manager’s Office is Special Projects Coordinator Katherine Wall. 

Lean Six Sigma successes to date include:

• The Development Application Process: Successfully reduced site plan approval time by 25 percent. County staff invests more time at the start of the process, resulting in a decrease in the number of review cycles and a reduction in the overall time for approval.  (Planning and Development)
• The Site Construction Process closeout (issuing certificate of completion): Reduced closeout time for site construction projects from an average 37.2 days to 28 days, leading to improved customer satisfaction both in time and monetary savings. (Planning and Development) 
• The Permit Application Intake Project: Introduced scanning guidelines and Building Permit intake checklists, leading to a 45 percent reduction in application scanning deficiencies, and a 69 percent reduction in incorrect application entries. (Planning and Development)
• The Building Permit Inspection Scheduling process: Extended the inspection scheduling cut-off time by two additional hours daily, and introduced online 24/7 self-service inspection scheduling, resulting in a 25 percent reduction in staff time spent scheduling inspections. (Planning and Development)
• Standardization of the Camp Registration process: Increased camp registration completion rate from 40.2 percent to 87.3 percent by reducing errors, requiring fewer signatures, updating registration forms, and increasing first-visit customer registrations. (Parks and Recreation)
• Improvements in the Emergency Shelter Worker Program: Developed the Brevard Emergency Support Team (BEST) to reduce/eliminate the gap of available, trained shelter workers to support the county’s most vulnerable populations during disasters. The BEST Shelter Worker training class has been offered 35 times and trained close to 1,000 County and School Board personnel. During Hurricane Irma, 392 BEST members served in 21 shelters and provided safe refuge to more than 4,100 residents and 450 pets to an overwhelmingly positive reception by the public. (Emergency Management)
• Implementation of Paperless Pay Remuneration Statements: Saved the county $30,000-plus annually on paper, postage, labor and toner. (Information Technology)
• Streamlining of Worker’s Compensation Adjustment and the Hiring Process: Reduced the average number of days for payments from 104 days from the time someone becomes eligible for reimbursement to less than a week. Also, reduced the time from job vacancy to advertisement for permanent external new hire from 42 days to 19 days. (Human Resources)

The County has also developed partnerships with the City of Titusville and Patrick Air Force Base for future Lean Six Sigma initiatives.

Read the entire article at: https://spacecoastdaily.com/2019/05/katherine-wall-spearheads-brevard-county-governments-lean-six-sigma-initiatives/