Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma

for Municipal Government

TMHRA Mid-Year Conference 2009
June 4, 2009

Presented by:
Presented by:
Stacy Waters
Stephen Deas
Principal and
Founder and President for:
Executive Vice President for:
THE WATERS
CONSULTING
GROUP, INC.

For more information about this presentation or related services,

contact us at 800.899.1669 or via email at swaters@watersconsulting.com

©2009 Quality Minds, Inc.

 A Brief Overview:
The Waters Consulting Group, Inc.
Since 1976, the firm has provided consulting services in the area of human
resources consulting with a primary focus in the disciplines of compensation,
strategic management, performance and executive recruitment. services
nationwide to a variety of organizations in the public and private sectors
including:

•Educational institutions (school districts and higher education)

•Healthcare

•Cities, counties, other local government agencies

•Utility and transit authorities

•Government-related retirement systems THE WATERS

CONSULTING
•Professional associations GROUP, INC.

2
 A Brief Overview:
Quality Minds, Inc.
Human capital development and process
improvement firm located in Charleston,
SC. Areas of specialty include:

•Process and Quality Improvement

•Lean Tools and Techniques
•Lean Six Sigma
•Safety Improvement
•ASQ Certifications
•Process Mapping
•Statistical Process Control

3
Session Outline

• What is Six Sigma?

• What is Lean Six Sigma?

• How is Six Sigma used to improve local government?

• What can Human Resource leaders do to champion or contribute to

Six Sigma initiatives in the organization?

4
A Short History Lesson

• Industry:
– Started in mid 1980’s at Motorola
• Documented over $16 billion in savings because of six sigma projects
• Government:
– Google “municipal governments using six sigma” or “cities using six
sigma” and find on the front page:
• Fort Wayne, Indiana (2000): Mayor introduced six sigma as the sole
process for improving government administrative and civic services
– Google “Fort Wayne government six sigma” and you get 23,300 hits
• Buffalo, New York (2008): Municipal Housing Authority used six sigma
to improve the 72 step process for reserving a park shelter (46/72
steps were identified as waste)
• Hattiesburg, Mississippi (2008): One project involved simplifying the
cost it takes to tear down a building

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General Overview of
Six Sigma,
Lean,
and Lean Six Sigma
Philosophies of Six Sigma and Lean
Philosophy Six Sigma Lean

Customer Focused Top project priority is with Give the customer what he
customers wants, when he wants it

Organization Development Six Sigma can change work Organization is more aware of
cultures wasteful activity

Human Capital Development Internal employees are Workers see jobs differently,
thoroughly trained to lead workers respect work
projects environment more

Results Oriented Projects have quick completion Waste is eliminated from

times and, as much as business processes, work
possible, are measured using becomes quicker and more
financial criteria efficient

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Lean Six Sigma Visualized

Waste Lean

Customer Complaints Six Sigma

Incapable processes
Excessive costs D Improv
Efficiency ed bus
IC M improvement proces iness
Poor quality of service ses
A

W imin
el
as at
te ed
Six Sigma is a mechanism for becoming lean

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Customer “Wants” Vs. Production
The Six Sigma methodology systematically improves work processes to reliably meet the
customer’s requirements.

What the Customer Wants

Fails to meet Exceeds what

minimum
requirement
What we Produce customer
wants

σ
Sigma is a measure of variation
Here, the variation in our product or service is
such that we fail to meet what the customer
actually wants
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The Context of Six Sigma
Systems and Processes
The Role of Systems and Processes

System (A series of processes that work together for a definite purpose)

Municipal Government (Human Resources)

Human Resource Processes

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8
(Hiring)

Inputs Outputs
P3 Step 1 P3 Step 2 P3 Step 3 P3 Step 4

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The Hiring Process as an Example

Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer

Who supplies each What does this What are the steps What is the output of Who are the internal
input? process need in that are followed to the process? and external
order to produce hire someone? customers of this
good output? A new employee process?
Job requirement
Job description
Resumes
Interviewers
Interview process
Candidates

In short, six sigma methodology identifies the key inputs that

drive success of outputs. Once identified, actions are taken to
improve the inputs in order to improve the outputs.

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Some Potential HR Projects & Processes
Process
Hiring/Recruitment
Safety
Performance management
Performance reviews
Retention
Compensation and benefits
Project
Recruitment; on-boarding, etc.
Reducing injuries at work
Implementation; timeliness; consistency;
introduction of technology to drive the system
Implementation; timeliness; consistency;
introduction of technology to drive the system
Absenteeism reduction; employee
engagement; the grievance process; exit
interview process; etc.
Annual market review; classification analysis;
introduction to technology to drive the system;
appeals process; etc.
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Six Sigma Leadership
Leadership’s Role in Deployment

Leadership Support makes the Difference:

• Deming’s 85/15 Rule: 85% of problems in any organization are within the
system and are the responsibility of leadership while only 15% lie with the
worker
• Systems are made of processes. Processes are used by workers to produce
products and/or services. If the system is bad, the processes are bad and
consequently service and/or product will be bad.

• Specific Support Needed for Six Sigma Success:

• Careful planning and implementation

• Proper resources allocated

• Commitment beyond low hanging fruit

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Traditional Six Sigma Leadership Structure

Select projects, knock

For Example: City Manager, Executive down barriers, be the
City Council, Mayor leadership representative
Sponsors for project team

For Example: Department

Heads, Quality Overseer of Six Process Owners
Enhancement Director Sigma Program

(BB) Black belts manage projects.

BB BB This is typically a full time
job/responsibility.
(GB) Green belts are black belts in
GB GB training. Green belts are usually not
full time positions

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 Linking Projects to Goals and
Organizational Performance
Sources for Projects
Customer complaints-should
always be priority #1
Internal issues Strategic Level City Manager, City
Cost drivers
Employee surveys
(project selection is the Council, Mayor
responsibility of leadership)
Performance reviews

Leadership must consistently

review department level
Department indicators and create the “project Department
hopper”
Level Level

Human
Project
Hopper Resources

Division Level Division Level

Compensation Benefits Projects should come

from the “hopper”
17
Human Resource Leadership
for Six Sigma
HR Leadership in Six Sigma
S I P O C
Supplier Input Process Output Customer
Human Recruitment of The Six Sigma Successful Internal
Resources skilled people Process within projects with customers
your organization wonderful results

Human Management of Highly trained Public

Resources culture change people

Human Rewards and Effective teams

Resources Recognition

Human Training for team A different culture

Resources effectiveness

Retention
Human strategies for
Resources keeping talent

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A Focus on Continuous Improvement

Recruitment and Retention Training for Team Rewards and Champion and Manage
of Skilled Talent Effectiveness Recognition Culture Change

• Find the right people.

• Build a competency model.
• Create job descriptions.
• Help project teams work
• Develop a retention together more
strategy. Automate the effectively.
process with technology.
• Training and/or
coaching in team
effectiveness skills. • Determine whether and how
• Act as a resource for to make appropriate
Black Belts. Become a adjustments in level and • Help reduce any uncertainty
Black Belt. compensation. and anxiety about Six Sigma.
• Create a strategic • Draft a change management
compensation plan that will communications plan that
better support Six Sigma. addresses the people side of
the Six Sigma rollout .
• Help create a "case for change“.
• Counsel Six Sigma Leaders.

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Strengthening HR’s Leadership in Six Sigma

Acquire basic
knowledge of the
DMAIC method,
supporting tools, roles,
jargon, and even
simple statistical
methods

Meet with senior

leaders to discuss their Take the lead and
business goals and apply Six Sigma
identify where Human successfully within
Resources can provide the Human
very specific and Resource function
measurable help.

Gather data that

supports the people
side of Six Sigma.

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The Six Sigma Process
Define
Measure
Analyze
Improve
Control
Two Levels of Six Sigma

• Basic
– Most projects can be successful using basic tools in
each of the five steps
• Advanced
– Some projects will need to use advanced tools.
(Puts heavy emphasis on Black Belt.)

23
Define Phase

S I P O C
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Team Members Project Scope Develop a A project Measure phase
Team Members Project Goals definition of the charter
Team Members Due Dates improvement
opportunity
Black Belt Tools
Team Members Ideas
Team Members Observations
Leadership Mentor
Team Members Process
Importance

It is important to develop a clear and thorough definition of the opportunity for improvement.

24
Identifying Project Stakeholders

• What are Stakeholders?

• Those who could be impacted by the results of the project

• Those that must support any change proposed in the project

• Who Could Stakeholders be?

• Managers of the process

• People working in the process

• Internal and External Customers of the process

• Suppliers to the process

• Finance support of the process

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Example: The Project’s Stakeholders

• Operations Feedback
– Quality Technician • In general, the overall perception of scrap as a plant
– Receiving issue is the same between levels of the
organization. We did see evidence of differences
– Product Technician within levels of the organization.
Project: – Process Engineers • Actual measured scrap performance is not fully
Improve the – Tool Setters understood between levels of the organization and
process for within levels of the organization
handling, • A percent scrap goal is set for the plant but not for
• Operations Management each department
recording – Team Leader • There are diverse opinions and ideas on what
and – Superintendents causes scrap and how to prevent scrap
analyzing – Purchasing • Based on the answers to the questions, the process
scrapped – Accounting/Controller for handling, reporting, reviewing, and fixing scrap is
not well defined and understood. (what to do, who
material in does it, when is it done, how is it done) For
the plant • Plant Management example, there were different answers on who
enters scrap into the system.
– Plant Manager • Incoming material is not verified
– Engineering Manager
• The accounting of scrap must improve and provide
– Quality Manager more detail
– Production Manager • The feedback suggests that more emphasis should
be placed at catching problems at the source.

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The Project Charter

• A written document that defines the project team, team leader, project
mission, process scope, business case for project, goals for projects, and
time frames for project.
• Charters can be created by top management or teams can create their own
charter

27
Measure Phase

S I P O C
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Black Belt Tools Measure the A map of the Analyze phase
Team Members Data process’ process
Team Leader Video Recorder performance
Black Belt Software A current state
Define Phase Project Charter of
performance
Black Belt Stop Watch
Team Members Ideas and
opinions

Once you identify the process to be improved, study and document the process to
understand its current state of performance
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 Outside
Tank
Supplier Floralife Receive
Order liquid Store liquid
ships liquid receives liquid customer
dextrose dextrose
dextrose dextrose order

Inside Tank Based on

Measure Fill tank to 80% Add 150g water
Put 5140 lbs of customer
chemicals of capacity with to tank
dextrose in order, create a
water
tank with water production job

Turn blender on No Make

for 5 minutes Add chemicals Mix chemicals Is PH adjustments
before adding to tank and dextrose in ok?
chemicals tank for 1 hour

Yes

Fill containers
Move to Label Cap containers
finished goods containers

A Process Map: “What We Do”

Store in Ship from
finished goods finished goods
29
Analyze Phase

S I P O C
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Black Belt Tools Analyze the A root cause Improve phase
Black Belt Forms process to statement
Black Belt Software determine root
causes
Measure phase Current state of
process
performance

Once you measure the process, analyze the results of the measurement to
establish tangible opportunities for improvement.

30
Examples: Tools for the Analyze Phase

Machine Workplace Production

Organization
Ne e d P M sy ste m
L i n e sy ste m (h o se s)
Im p ro v e e ffi ci e n cy o f l a b e l e r

Ne e d fi l l sta ti o n th a t ca n fi l l d i ffe re n t si ze s Re d u ce fl o o r sp a ce n e e d e d
On ti m e d e l i v e ry <1 0 0 %
Ha v e o wn a i r p re ssu re sy ste m
Use d i ffe re n t ro o m to sto re ch e m i ca l s a n d l a b e l s
Im p ro v e e q u i p m e n t re l i a b i l i ty

Ne e d co n v e y o r sy ste m a n d p a l l e ti ze r
Mo re v i su a l m a n a g e m e n t

Ne e d b e tte r sy ste m fo r cl e a n i n g d e xtro se l i n e s C re a te sch e d u l e co m p l i a n ce m e a su re s

Wo rk a re a to o cl u tte re d
Ge t n e w fi l l m a ch i n e

Mo d i fy ta b l e a t e n d to m a k e l o a d i n g co n ta i n e rs
e a si e r Ne e d b e tte r a i r co n d i ti o n e r
Di re ct fi l l v e rsu s d ru m
Ma k e e v e ry i te m e v e ry sh i ft
T a p e m a ch i n e fo r b o xe s P u t fi n i sh e d p ro d u ct cl o se r to ta b l e

S to p p i n s a t ca p p i n g sta ti o n
P a rt b i n fo r ca p s
In cl i n e co n v e y o r fo r h e a t se a l /l a b e l e r

Improving
Liquid
Two p e o p l e p a ck i n g

De fi n e ro l e s o f o p e ra to rs

Ge t p re -p ri n te d ju g s

Use i n cl i n e d fe e d ta b l e fo r l o a d i n g co n ta i n e rs

S e p a ra te re p o rts b y l i q u i d a n d p o wd e r

Im p ro v e e rg o n o m i cs

Ne e d a u to m a ti c fo l d i n g b o xe s

Ge t a n a ccu m a to r sy ste m fo r g a l l o n s

C o n v e rt ca p p i n g to a n e xte rn a l ta sk

Methods O ther Material

Fishbone Diagram:
A simple but powerful tool for summarizing the results of a brainstorming session.
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Examples: Tools for the Analyze Phase
1 2 3 4 5 T

Put
finished
2 1 1 2 2 8
product
closer to
table

Inclined
feed
5 4 5 5 5 24
table to
load

Modify 3 3 2 1 3 12
table at
end

Direct fill
vs drum
1 2 3 3 1 10

Part bin
for caps
4 5 4 4 4 21

Nominal Group Technique:

A simple but powerful tool for prioritizing ideas generated in a brainstorming session.
32
Improve

S I P O C
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Team Members Ideas Improve the An improved Control phase
Team Leader Focus process by process or a
Team Members Patience attacking the solved
root cause(s) problem
Leadership Time
Analyze Phase Root cause (Plan-Do-Check-Act)
statement
Black Belt Tools

Take actions on the tangible improvement opportunities from the Analyze Phase.

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 PDCA Cycle of Improvement

Plan
To improve processes, first find out what
areas need improvement. Based on what
you learn, plan a change or test.
Now you must decide
what actions to take as
a result of your check.
The options typically
include:
•Adopt the change Act Do Once you have a plan,
•Abandon it and go
carry out the change or test
back to the drawing
on a small scale
board
•Run it through the
cycle again using a
different area, running a
larger scale trial, or
making the trial more
complex.

Check
After completing the Do phase, check to see if the changes or
tests are working (What did you learn? What went right? What
went wrong? What does the data mean?)

34
Control

S I P O C
Supplier Inputs Process Output Customer
Black Belt Tools Control the A stable and Internal and/or
Team Members Ideas improved predictable external
Leadership Follow up process to process customers of
sustain the the improved
Improve phase Improved improvement process
process

Implement controls to sustain the process improvement.

If you do not, the process may revert back to previous performance levels.

35
 Using Six Sigma to Increase
Performance in City Government:

Fort Wayne, Indiana – Six Sigma Introduced in 2000

Fort Wayne’s Six Sigma Structure

Executive
Mayor Council
(Deployment Team)

Quality Master
Side Note: Enhancement Black Belt
Director
The mayor was first
elected in 2000. A
significant theme in his
campaign was “reforming
government”. Six Sigma
was his mechanism.
10 black belts were trained and
each had to complete a City-
approved project each year.

37
 From City Leadership

• City Challenges More Services, Fewer Employees

– More people, more territory 1999 2006 % Change
– Revenue down
– Demands for service up
– State and federal mandates Population 190,000 252,000 33%
up
– Tornadoes, terrorism, floods
Non-public 936 950 2%
safety
• Questions Posed employees
– Who is your customer?
– Is your service improving? Miles of 850 1200 41%
– How do you measure roads
improvement?
– Show me the data Square 79 109 39%
miles

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Other Fort Wayne Projects & Results

Project Results Comment

Reduce amount of late garbage Reduced amount of late garbage Also improved relationship
pickups pickups by 50% between city and contractor

Reduce time to repair potholes Reduced average pothole repair Improved communication and
time from 2 days to 3 hours increased repair capacity

Improve business permit accuracy Approval time reduced by 300% More business was attracted to
and approval time Fort Wayne

Improve efficiency of waste water Efficiency improved 300% beyond

treatment processes goal, city avoided $1.7 million
purchase of new equipment
Improve process for managing Process improved such that Reduced street light inventories to
street light inventory $500,000 was saved and freed for optimal levels by establishing
other areas proper tracking and control
practices
Other Notable Results:
1. 2005 City Budget ($229,539,522): 5% savings due to projects ($11,476,976)
2. From 2000-2005, 60 projects completed by city workers

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Typical Benefits of Lean Six Sigma

• Internal Benefits
– Reduced claims filed
– Overtime reduction
– More positive public image
– Higher morale
– Positive change in culture and effectiveness

• External Benefits
– Safer organizational initiatives
– Improved customer service
– Improved relations with neighborhood associations
– Overall better local, regional and even national image

40
A Quick Workshop

• On the next page, describe a work process for your city, town,
department, or division that needs to be improved
• Write the general steps to the process in the P column
• Write the critical output of the process in the O column
• Write the internal and external customers of the process in the C
column
• Write the critical inputs to the process in the I column
• Write the suppliers for each input in the S column

Congratulations!
You just mapped a process and are on your way to process improvement using
the basic techniques of Six Sigma.

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Process Mapping
Name:
Process:
___________________________________________
___________________________________________
Organization Name:
___________________________________________ General Description of Opportunity for Improvement:
Email: ____________________________________________
___________________________________________

S I P O C
Supplier Input Process Output Customer

42
Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma
for Municipal Government
TMHRA Mid-Year Conference 2009
June 4, 2009

Presented by:
Presented by:
Stacy Waters
Stephen Deas
Principal and
Founder and President for:
Executive Vice President for:
THE WATERS
CONSULTING
GROUP, INC.

For more information about this presentation or related services,

contact us at 800.899.1669 or via email at swaters@watersconsulting.com