Interview with Donna Maxfield, Chief of Staff for the United Nations Departments of Peacekeeping Operations and Field Support. She describes how the UN is using Lean Six Sigma to improve the efficiency of its peacekeeping operations. Improvements were made in speeding up reference and medical clearance checks, and aligning roles and responsibilities. Read more at: […]
Over the years, Iowa state government has been involved with numerous improvement processes, with varying degrees of success. One improvement tool now in action in the Iowa DOT’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) is the Kaizen process, supported by the Iowa Department of Management’s (DOM) Office of Lean Enterprise. Mark Lowe, MVD director, says his group […]
Written by Brion
Non-profit organization Lex-Pro arranges work for people with disabilities. One of Toyota’s top executives appealed to Lexington business leaders Friday, asking them to offer not money but work to Lex-Pro. In January, Toyota setup a work cell inside their plant for Lex-Pro workers to perform sub-assembly work on exhaust brackets. An 11-person team rotates in […]
Written by Brion
Russell Maroni, a Lean Six Sigma leader at The Akron Children’s Hospital Center of Operations Excellence (COE), had the opportunity to spend much time in Haiti as a selfless volunteer. During his time there, he wrote his thoughts in a journal, which he has since published as a Kindle Book. When you buy and read […]
Written by Brion
The University of Texas Pan American (UTPA) encourages students to “Prepare, Discover, Transform.” As the University has become highly successful, it now struggled to support the demands of the increased volume of a growing regional University. A 3-day Value Stream Mapping event was held to focus on the procurement process. With this detailed view of […]
Written by Brion
Newton, Iowa, a community of over 15,000 people in Central Iowa, has received national attention for its community’s low unemployment rate, job opportunities, and affordability. The City of Newton struggled with an outdated payroll process for years, their inconsistent process resulted in errors and costly rework. Lean consultants and the staff collaborated to standardize forms and […]
Written by Brion
In 2010, the City of Cape Coral (near Fort Lauderdale) embarked on a Lean Government initiative. They created a short video to promote the program using the Mission Impossible theme. The program was supported by City Manager, Terrance Stewart. The video highlights a few case studies: Cape Coral began transforming in Aug 2007 by using […]
Written by Brion
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA ) analyzes air traffic data to help planes keep their distance and improves automation of air traffic systems and supports air traffic controllers with more accurate and timely information. The FAA uses JMP® statistical discovery software to retrieve and examine millions of pieces of data from its air traffic control […]
Written by Brion
As government funding shrinks and many corporate donors also cut back on charitable giving, it’s a challenging time for the nonprofit world – and more organizations are turning to direct-mail solicitations. That makes things particularly tough for the rescue mission, which has traditionally brought in a strong share of direct-mail donations in the Charlotte area. […]
Written by Brion
This article aims to show how some lean concepts have been applied at Cooperativa Aliança to address the work environment and increase the processing of materials. After the improvements, they were able to increase productivity (200 to 300 kg per day) and wages (R$140 to 320), and reduce cycle time (75 to 10 minutes) and lead […]
Written by Brion