Recent Client Successes
Manufacturing Industries
- A Semiconductor Manufacturer reduced failure rates by 50% with an annual cost saving of 3,600,000.
- A Plastic Molding company saved $700,000 per year by solving a problem of parts failing final inspection for cosmetic damage.
- A Metalworking company saved $230,000 per year by reducing the number of damaged or contaminated parts at final inspection.
- A Laser Diode Manufacturer developed and implemented solutions to reduce wavelength variation resulting in annual savings of between $150,000.
Healthcare Organizations
- A project team identified the major causes of “ED on divert.” They developed and implemented a “divert mitigation action plan.” Results: they reduced the daily hours of ED divert from 6 to 0.6, an annual revenue increase of $2,900,000.
- A project team reduced the average time lag from point of patient care to posting of patient charges from 5 days to 1 day. Daily charges for this organization are about $1,000,000.
- A project team redesigned Emergency Department procedures to reduce the percentage of patients who leave without being seen resulting in an annual revenue increase of $400,000.
- A project team identified the causes of wasted medication in a hospital central pharmacy. They developed and implemented an improved process that reduced the costs associated with wasted medication by 92%, an annual savings of $1,100,000.
- A project team identified the major causes of in-patient falls. They developed and implemented a set of preventive measures and a rigorous “lessons learned” procedure. Results: from one or more in-patient falling virtually every day to an average of 100 days between falls leading to a 50% reduction in the annual cost of litigation and payouts.
Service Industries
- A logistics company improved its delivery processes for the highest volume categories. Late shipments, due to factors under the company’s control, were reduced by 43%.
- A logistics company had a picking accuracy of 98% at the order level, but only 50% at the shipment level. A project team was able to identify the major causes of picking errors, and increase the shipment-level picking accuracy to 80%.
Government Organizations
- A city government improved its court collections process, resulting in a $400,000 increase in annual revenue.
- A city government improved its petitioner-initiated annexation process, with the following results: eliminated errors that could invalidate an election; 60% reduction in other errors; 30% reduction in overall lead time; 25% reduction in overall staff time; reduced cost per case by $954.
- The purchasing process in a city government had an average cycle time of 38 days. Also, as many as 85% of invoices received did not have purchase orders in the system. By identifying the major causes of these problems, and applying Lean concepts and methods, a project team was able to reduce the average purchasing cycle time to 5 days, and virtually eliminate the problem of invoices without purchase orders.
- A library improved its processes for ordering, processing, cataloging, and shelving new materials. They reduced the average lead time from 28 days to 14 days, a 50% reduction.