Download True Confessions of a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Making state government in Ohio simpler, faster, better, and less
costly.
Why Get a “Belt”?
• Was frustrated with inefficient, duplicative
processes
• Always seeking to improve customer service
and reduce costs
• Had participated in a Kaizen in 2013 which
resulted in numerous benefits to BWC
• Had a vision for the potential that additional
projects could bring to BWC
White Belt
• Three hour introduction training to Lean Six
Sigma principles (typically conducted at office
with coworkers)
• Applies Lean Six Sigma to state government
• Shifts attendees’ mindsets from tolerating
process problems to addressing those problems
and seeking solutions
• Encourages the staff who “do the work” to
collaborate with coworkers and management to
identify opportunities for simpler, better, faster
and less costly procedures
Yellow Belt
• Two day overview training to Lean Six Sigma principles
• Provides a high level introduction to Lean Six Sigma topics
including:
SIPOC
Process Mapping
Waste
Standard Work
Poka-Yoke (errorproofing)
Implementation
Planning
Visual
Management
Understanding
Customers
• Builds excitement and motivates state employees to
become more involved in Lean Six Sigma initiatives
• Opportunities for Leadership
• Allow staff to attend these sessions
• Show support for their ongoing career development
• Gain commitment/engagement in process improvement
concepts
5S
Camo Belt
• One week training sessions requiring
completion of a minor project
• Conducted at DAS offices
• Opportunity to network across state
government
• Attendees are committed to process
improvement within their agencies
• Must submit a project demonstrating the use
of Lean Tools in the workplace
Camo Belt
 Must complete one of the following projects:
• Implement 5S + Safety
• Improve a form using Poka-yoke concepts
• Facilitate a customer survey or focus group
• Focus on data collection and analysis
• Simple improvement project
• Serve as a fresh perspective during a
Kaizen event
Camo Belt
• Implement 5S + Safety
Sort
Straighten
Shine
Standardize
Sustain
Safety
•Share benefits of being organized with your team
•Save time searching for tools, files, resources, etc.
•Enables staff to complete their tasks more efficiently
Camo Belt
• Improve using “Poka-Yoke” (avoid errors)
concepts
• Simple examples
Camo Belt
Applying Poke-Yoke to Governmental Forms
•Remove the possibility that our internal and external customers do not
complete the forms completely and accurately THE FIRST TIME
Use DATA for Mistake-Proofing Forms
• What percentage of times is the form completed with no errors?
• How many errors are made?
• How much time is spent reviewing the form and correcting errors?
• Create checklist to breakdown errors by type or by question
• Create Pareto Chart
• Look for Root Causes
• Test / Implement solutions
• Review how many, how often, what kind and how long?
Camo Belt
Department of Mental Health Example
Share Benefits of Revised Form with your team members
•Better customer service – easier to understand
•Ask for the info we NEED
•No more legalese and confusion for customers
•No more jargon
•Less rework – only have to touch the request “once”
•Better performance outcomes from your staff
Camo Belt
• Focus on data collection and analysis
• Remove the notion of anecdotal comments
• “This happens ALL THE TIME!”
• Focus on making data-driven decisions
• Find out the answer to a simple question
• “How often does it REALLY happen?”
• Allows leaders to respond to staff’s concerns with
verifiable information
Camo Belt
• Focus on data collection and analysis
• If situation occurs rarely, handle as exceptions
• Too often, we change an entire process because a situation has
occurred one time which creates frustration for everyone
• If situation occurs frequently, address it with Lean/Six
Sigma Tools
•
•
•
•
•
•
Praise the team for bringing the issue to your attention
Involve staff in identifying how to improve the process
Creates buy-in and commitment
Increases management’s credibility
Promotes ongoing dialogue and future issue identification
WIN/WIN
Green Belt
• Learn the DMAIC Process:
• Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control
• In-depth look at Lean Six Sigma tools including
process mapping, 5s, and types of wastes
(TimUWood)
• Challenged to identify a problem and use proven
Six Sigma strategies to complete a Green Belt
project
• Had to identify a project BEFORE beginning Green
Belt training
Green Belt
• Green Belt Project
• Requires buy-in and support from their agency
leadership
• Expected to form a team to collaboratively work
through the project and achieve measurable
positive results
– Need to identify project sponsor, project lead and team members
» Sponsor typically holds a high leadership position with authority
to implement true change
– Opportunity to increase Green Belt’s
exposure within his/her agency
Green Belt
Green Belt
• Introduction to process mapping
• Provides a visual representation of current state and touch
points/handoffs
• Separated by functional roles (swim lanes)
• Can be eye-opening for staff to see what employees in
other departments/units do as part of a process
• Helps identify where waste occurs (TimUWood)
• Becomes the tool to create the future and see the change!
Green Belt
• Deep dive into statistical analysis
• Introduction to hypothesis testing
• “What if?” scenarios
• Change one or more variables to determine impact
• Allows the Green Belt to modify processes, functions, etc. to
maximize outcomes
• Can “test” several staff’s ideas before actual implementation
• Shows how management is listening to their people
• Like a mini-pilot done with data
Black Belt
• Culmination of 5 intense weeks of training
• Put what was shared to the “test”
• Focuses on the project phase and putting all the
pieces together
•
•
•
•
•
•
Project Charter
SIPOC (Suppliers, Input, Process, Outputs, Customer)
Voice of the Customer
Team Formation
Process Mapping
Data Analysis
Black Belt
• Additional pieces to the project:
• Learn principles of Kaizen
• “Change for the Better”
• Final week focuses on a Kaizen
Event and how to facilitate
• Team outcomes posted on
LeanOhio website
Black Belt
Project
• Process: %Permanent Partial Awards
• BWC processes approximately 26,000 applications per year
• The administrative time spent and associated costs to
complete this process are large; however, the award
amounts is often minimal
• BWC experiences numerous delays in the C92 processing
and exam scheduling requirements for these requests.
There may be opportunities to streamline/eliminate
unnecessary steps in handling these award types
• 40% of the applications received are completed beyond
the targeted goal of 180 days for completion.
Black Belt
Project
• Selected a team of subject matter experts
• Asked for volunteers and worked with OCSEA/1199 to
identify team members
• Cross divisional, cross functional
• Final members included both bargaining unit and
management
• Take off hats at the door
• Need to establish ground rules
• Respect the team’s commitment
• 5 Day INTENSE meetings with solid agendas and goals
Black Belt
DAY 1
DAY 2
DAY 3
DAY 4
DAY 5
Introductions
Waste
Identification
Clean-Sheet
Redesigns
Implementation
Planning
Training
Analysis
Details
Refine
Plans and
Projections
Brainstorming
Future State
Development
Metrics
Scope
Level-Setting
Current State
Report-Out
Presentation
Black Belt
DAY 1
Introductions
Scope
Level-Setting
Current State
Function
Begin &
End Points
Task
Decision
Delay
• Set expectations
• Gave introduction to Lean Six
Sigma concepts to team
• Provided examples of successful
Kaizen events
• Discussed Voice of the Customer
approach
• Began to map the “Current State”
Black Belt
DAY 2
Waste
Identification
Training
Brainstorming
• Revisited current state and
identified where waste occurs
Black Belt
DAY 2
Waste
Identification
Training
Brainstorming
• Training Topics: Value
– Value-added
– Non-value added
– Non-value added but necessary
Value-added activities:
1. Done right the
first time, with
no defects.
2. Transformational
in that it adds
form or function.
3. Customer is
willing to pay
for it.
Black Belt
DAY 2
Waste
Identification
Training
Brainstorming
• Training Topics: Six Sigma
99% good
99.9996% good
200,000 wrong
prescriptions given each
year
68 wrong
prescriptions given
each year
Black Belt
• Training Topics: Brainstorming
DAY 2
Waste
Identification
Training
Brainstorming
• Ensure all members have the
opportunity to contribute ideas
• Anonymous vs. Group
• Encourage participation from
everyone
• Use tips/tools to arrive at consensus
• Affinity diagrams to categorize ideas by
topic
• Impact control matrix
• Placing dots on lists 
Black Belt
DAY 3
Clean-Sheet
Redesigns
Analysis
Future State
Development
• MAKE IT TRANSFORMATIONAL!
• Create a new process that is significantly
better than the old one
• Reduce process steps, costs, and time
by at least 50%
• Delight the customers of the process
THERE WILL BE CRYING!
Black Belt
DAY 3
Clean-Sheet
Redesigns
Analysis
Future State
Development
•May not gain agreement but need to gain consensus on
future state
•Team member(s) may not feel they are being “heard” if
their idea wasn’t adopted
•Stress that Lean Six Sigma is about constant monitoring and
continuous improvement
•Let the comparison of the process maps speak for itself!
Current
State
Future
Process
Steps
199
77
Decisions
56
19
Black Belt
•Created Action Registers by Topic
DAY 4
Implementation
Planning
Details
Metrics
What?
Who?
Task
When?
Employee/Unit
Due Date
•Creates accountability
•Makes the recommendations REAL
•Began to do actual revisions on forms,
correspondence, policies, etc.
•Created metrics/scorecard to measure
outcomes
Measure
Current Level
NEW
Change
Process Steps
199
77
61%
Decision Points
Loopbacks
Delay
56
12
34
19
2
9
66%
83%
74%
36-280 Days
14-246
days
12-61%
Process Lead Time
Black Belt
DAY 5
Refine
Plans and
Projections
Report-Out
Presentation
•Finalized the plans and projections
•Completed the presentation slides
•Assigned topics/slides to each team
member
•Presented to audience including
Administrator/CEO, Project Sponsor,
BWC Employees and members of
LeanOhio
Simpler,
Better, Faster
and Less
Costly
Over $500,000 Cost
Savings
LeanOhio Kaizen Event Fact Sheet
•Posted on LeanOhio’s website at
http://lean.ohio.gov/Home.aspx
•Contains summary of the process
improvement opportunity and
outcomes from the week’s sessions
•Identifies major improvements and
how they were accomplished
•Lists the Team Members names to
acknowledge their contribution to
the end product
What I’ve Learned from Black Belt
• Gave me the opportunity to meet more awesome state
employees across all agencies and disciplines
• Allowed me to make a true difference in BWC’s customers,
both externally and internally
• Claimants will be paid more quickly and more accurately
• Employees will manage the process in a more efficient, customer-focused
manner
• Introduced me to techniques that can be applied to any
workplace (or personal) scenario
Team Building
5S
Data Analysis
4 Voices
Poke-Yoke
• Confirmed for me how empowering staff can truly allow
them to shine
• Hardest part of the project is IMPLEMENTATION
• Commitment to the team to make it happen
• Cannot go back to status quo at work
What I’ve Learned from Black Belt
• I believe I am truly a better leader because of this
training
Your Name Here
• Think of a process
in YOUR agency that
needs to be improved
• Convince your leadership
that you can make a
difference
APPLY to LeanOhio
LeanOhio
• Each state agency has a designated contact at
LeanOhio
• Visit the website at www.lean.ohio.gov
My Journey
6 Black Belt
Thanks to Director Robert Blair for his commitment to Lean Six Sigma!
Questions?