As process improvement consultants, we are used to dealing with profit margins, customer satisfaction, efficiency, yields and cycle times. But what happens when you step into the public sector, where success is measured in policy outcomes, equity, long term impact (years or decades into the future), transparency and compliance? Terra Vanzant Stern’s Government in Motion: […]
Kymberly Epperson and Darlene Schlueter set out to streamline the food event registration process at UC San Diego to ensure campus compliance, food safety and higher customer satisfaction. After research, Kymberly and Darlene found: Users reporting the online registration system to be complex and burdensome, impacting the customer experience. Big dining events, or barbecues are required […]
Written by Brion
IT Service Manager Lynn Underwood and Strategic Initiatives Analyst Matt Helton teamed up to tackle the problem as part of their Green Belt Certification at the University. After measuring the end-to-end prep time for nine separate Yellow Belt Classes, they found it ranged from 6 to 8 hours and averaged about 7 hours. Their Sponsor, Senior Director […]
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King County Wastewater Treatment Division successfully improves the Capital Design process featuring Roger Browne, an Engineering Supervisor. Roger realized that since the Wastewater Treatment Division was short on staff, they had to find a way to reduce the time it took to deliver capital improvement projects in order to free up resources to get more […]
Written by Brion
After receiving many calls from angry taxpayers who were forced to pay extra interest and penalties on their mortgages. Mortgage payment deadlines were being mailed, but due to outdated information in their system, many taxpayers weren’t receiving these notices. Mail blow backs were likely responsible, which are are any returned mail that was unable to […]
Written by Brion
Tehseen Lazzouni is a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Financial Analyst in the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department at UC San Diego, one of the world’s leading public research universities. Quarterly reports were taking Tehseen 16 days, a process seen as taking too long. She listened to her customers and completed a Voice of Customer […]
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by Brion Hurley In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Mark Novak quickly joined a disaster relief trip to help rebuild communities in Mississippi. He soon found out there were many frustrating aspects of the process that needed to be addressed; supplies were scarce or late to arrive, communication of problems were accomplished too late in the […]
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Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, an agency within the state of Ohio needed to change their current process for completing extended employment surveys. The agency needed to develop a streamlined process to meet federal requirements for compliance. Using a current state swimlane map and a fishbone diagram, they were able to reduce the number of […]
Written by Brion
Learn how Brenda MacIsaac from Cape Cod Child Development used Lean Six Sigma to improve reporting accuracy on in-kind receipts from 50% to 98%. The receipts have been received sporadically, not filled out completely, and regularly contain inaccurate financial data. Current cycle time can take 20 days in a 30 day cycle which interrupts completion […]
Written by Brion
A Six Sigma DMAIC project was launched to reduce Housekeeping and Admin Supplies within the YMCA, which was costing them $1.3 million per year. The project set a goal to reduce costs by 5%, which could save them $64,000 per year. The team gathered and analyzed the spending data, and reviewed key suppliers used within […]
Written by Brion