Written by The Procurement office within the Department of Administrative Services in the State of Connecticut actually began its improvement journey in the late 1990’s with a paperless effort.
In 2013, IT procurement was taking too long and with a recent merger, a lean event was coordinated. They had lots of success in the first official event, taking items from 3-4 years down to 12-18 months.
In 2015, they looked at their Catalog Management (CATMAN) updating process because customers were saying it took too long. After developing a process map with metrics and timelines, they identified opportunities for improvement. As a result, they eliminated the update backlog after completing a week-long kaizen event. They also saved money through reduced pricing on frequently purchased items.
The success of the event led to other improvements, such as the supplier diversity program. Certification of diverse suppliers had a long backlog of over 500 applications, and were ultimately losing out on contract opportunities.
She likes to use the following quote to help people get through barriers and resistance, “find a way to yes within the context of the law”
You can hear more about those events from Carol Wilson by watching the video called “DAS Director of Procurement” at https://www.gembaacademy.com/guests/state-of-connecticut