Using Lean Six Sigma, the city of Kawartha Lakes, Canada, has saved $3.2 million in process improvements and cost avoidance savings, a $2 million increase from last year.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Mark Fisher said the Lean Six Sigma initiative was implemented in 2013 to help save money, improve customer service and increase efficiency. Before Lean Six Sigma was adopted, the city was “analytically impaired and flying blind” when making decisions, according to Fisher.
Furthermore, the CAO said Kawartha Lakes needed something to help improve the way the city did business, as well as find cost efficiencies that could directly impact the future budget.
According to Lean Six Sigma deployment leader Sara Beukeboom, pre-Lean Six Sigma decisions were not based on hard data. Rather, much of the analysis was based on someone’s opinion, which led to poor business decisions.
One of the first steps of the Lean Six Sigma implementation was fixing the mindset of city leaders. When Councilwoman Mary Ann Martin first heard about Six Sigma, she thought Green and Black Belts referred to martial arts.
Selected staff members were trained as Green Belts and later became Black Belts, the city council approved the creation of an Office of Initiative Management, and then the council appointed Beukeboom, the city’s former finance manager, as the section leader.
The initiative is already paying dividends. In addition to the program resulting in $3.2 million in cost avoidance savings, several Black Belt project managers have completed projects under budget, and saved the city more than $2 million in costs.
Now, Kawartha Lakes’ is customer-focused, has a clear direction and its employees understand the value Lean Six Sigma – eliminating errors, saving money and increasing efficiency.
“This is the way we do business now,” Beukeboom said.
