Lean in Public Services: Is

it just for Efficiency?

OR
Can it only ever be just
for Efficiency?
Dr Zoe Radnor
Associate Professor (Reader) in
Operations Management
Warwick Business Schoool
AIM Management Practice Fellow

Lean not just for the Private Sector

Plus Local Government, Fire and

Rescue Services

A Brief History of Lean

Who invented Lean?
Taiichi Ohno
Vice President of Manufacturing,
Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Production System
1950s, after WW2
External factors; small market,
culture and difficulties in
equipment purchase.
Inspired by USA
supermarkets

Understand Value

Value-Stream Thinking
The SA processing lead time for documents received during January was 15.4 days, of
which 14 minutes was spent processing (0.05%)
Time to process an SA return

Processing time

Document
arrives

Activities

Waiting to be sorted

1 hour

Post sorted into SA

0.5 min*

Returns sorted into SA floors

0.5 min*

Returns wait for collection

E2 Collection from post room

10 min

Pre-log checks

1.5 min

Log/batch

0.5 min

Waiting to be captured

E1 capture

E1 code

Overnight data back-up

2nd day actions

0.7 min

Refilling

0.5 min

Total lead time

15.4 days

Waiting time

Physical location

Post Room

E2 section

In shelf on the
floor

E1 section

Cabinet

1 hour

14 days

8 min

4 min

1 day

Return
processed

Patient
arrives

Patient is
booked in

Treatment
by nurse

WAIT

Patient is
seen by
doctor

WAIT

Patient is
booked in

WAIT

Patient is
triaged

WAIT

Patient
arrives

WAIT

Flow: The Process for assessment, minor treatment

discharge was redesigned to achieve lower waits
Patient is
discharged
by doctor

Patient is seen, treated

and given advice by
doctor or nurse practitioner and discharged

Reduction of Waste
1

Over-production - 60% of

4
Over-processing -

computer generated post

Sorting post in 21

printed in the post room was

categories when 4/5

discarded

were enough

Waiting - Post delivered by

Royal Mail did not always

Inventory 15+ days of

work on shelves

arrive at 7:45 am

Transport - Post moved

Rework - Post transferred

500 metres before any

between offices; Frequent

value-added work was

redirection due to mis-

performed

sorting

Motion - In post room the

operator moved from desk
to scales to measure a
single item of post

Use of Tools and Techniques within Lean in

Public Services
Assessment:
To assess the processes at organisational level e.g. value stream
mapping, process mapping
Improvement:
Tools implemented and used to support and improve processes e
Monitoring:
To measure and monitor the impact of the processes and their
improvement e.g. control charts, visual management,
benchmarking, work place audits
Measures in terms of quality, time, costs, satisfaction levels e.g.
5S, structured problem solving

Assessment: Reviewing the work

From
Current
State
to
Future
State

Improvement: Structured and systematic use of

problem-solving
Day-to-day problem solving: 3Cs document
Version
Originator
Date

Problem Solving - 3Cs

2.1
Project Office
17-Sep-06

Team
Causes identified

Concern

Countermeasures identified

Cause

Implementation started

Implementation completed

Countermeasure

Resp

Date Due

Status

This is the basic method of Problem Solving used by teams to address

day-to-day issues affecting performance. The process has 3 steps:
Concern:
Define the Problem clearly doing this is essential, as it will help
to ensure that you dont try to put the whole world right in one go.
Cause
Think carefully try to get to the ROOT CAUSE of the problems,
rather than just dealing with the symptoms.
Countermeasures
Try to fix the problem once and for all, but if thats not possible,
then do everything you can to mitigate the impact on the customer.

More challenging problems: Structured Approach

These are some of the Problem Solving tools
that are available, but there are many more

1 - Problem
WHAT DO WE WANT
TO IMPROVE AND
WHERE DO WE WANT
TO BE?

2 - Causes

3 Cs Document
Brainstorming
Kipling
SMART
Open Questions
5 Why's
Timing Plan

Fishbone Diagram
Web Chart
Like & Must
Check Sheet
Action Plan
Pareto Analysis
Interviewing

WHAT'S STOPPING US
FROM ACHIEVING OUR
DESIRED STATE?

3 - Options
WHAT CHOICES DO
WE HAVE ?

6 - Results
HOW GOOD WAS
THE SOLUTION ?

5 - Implementation
WHAT IS OUR
ACTION PLAN ?

4 - Solutions
WHICH IS THE BEST
WAY TO SOLVE OUR
PROBLEM ?

Improvement: 5S

SEIRI
Sort

SEITON
Set in order

SEISO
Sweep and Shine

SHITSUKE
Standardise

SEIKETSU
Sustain

Monitoring: Visual Management

Team Board

Team Communications Hub

Resource Planning

Lean Transformation A Two Pronged Attack

Understanding
Demand and
Capacity
Understanding
Value
Strong
committed
Leadership
Linking
activity to
the Strategy

Training and Development

Steering Group and Project Team
Regular Structured
Problem Solving

Leadership Challenging:
Go, See and Do

Workplace Audits

Identifying and managing

variation and demand

Monitoring of end to end

Service/Process Delivery

Developing Local/ Internal

Champions and Facilitators

Visual Management:
Managed by the front line
staff

Rapid Improvement Events:

Process Mapping and 5 s

House of Lean for Public Services

Zoe Radnor

Whole system view

Embedded improvement behaviours
Focused stable robust processes

Having a
Communication
Process
Strategy
View

HM Court Services Case Study

Conducted between November 2009 and April 2010
Site visits to 15 courts across England and Wales, the Central
Programme Office
Individual interviews and focus groups with 191 individuals
across all sites.
A quantitative analysis of specific responses to the interview
questions
Informal discussions with 20 change agents
A survey of all change agents across all HMCS regions (71%
response rate)
Informal discussions with 11 legal advisors
Radnor ZJ and Bucci G (2010)
Evaluation of the Lean
Programme in HMCS, HM Court
Services, London, May 2010.

Lean in HMCS
We were talking about how we do [Lean] for ourselves.
how we build up our own capacity via the Lean Academy
style approach and manifest it for ourselves and then take a
step back from consultancy
Lean event led by Change Agents
Lean reviews leading to tipping point
"The point at which a court has fully grasped the concepts of Lean
and is able to extend such thinking to all areas of their work without
external direction.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Team Information Boards (TIBs)
Daily Meetings

Key Achievements
Lean Programme has created significant impact within HMCS
Key element has been the dedicated leadership of the programme,
programme team and the support of a Programme Board
Vehicle in meeting the efficiency challenges
Staff now have an understanding of the need to change, revising processes
and practices which had been untouched for years
Three quarters of the sites visited there was enthusiastic support for Lean
Engaging the workforce to the point where there is now an enthusiasm for
challenging
SRO and the Chief Executive showed a good understanding, high engagement
and recognition of the work related to the Lean programme
The pace of the Lean programme over the last eighteen months has been
relentless and has touched nearly 50% of locations and staff.
Exceptional impact with the project breaking even within 6 months.
No differences across the courts, location and size

Key Findings
The biggest impact staff highlighted was more efficient revised processes
and, visual management.
The continuing role of change agents was critical for the future of the Lean
programme.
There was a correlation between court manager enthusiasm and drive
towards Lean and positive experience of Lean.
Staff acknowledged that the working environment had improved for them
but could not quite see the impact this was having upon the delivery of the
service to the customer.
Many staff used phrases such as when Lean was here or after Lean had
gone giving the impression is that Lean was being seen by staff as
something external to the site done by the change agents.
There was very little recording of performance over time to identify trends
or to predict the workload.
There was a lot of variability in problem solving both within and across all
sites.

Case Studies: Lean in Higher Education

Organisation

Type of Project

Tools and
Techniques

Project Management

Outside Facilitation

Welsh University

Project Name
and Start
Lean University
Started
September 2006

University Wide with

input from Business
School academics

RIWs
Process Mapping
Value Stream
Mapping
5Ys
Fishbone Diagrams
Visual Management
TIBs

Dedicated central
University team
leading and running
the project

No

Nottingham
Business School

Lean @ NBS
Started 2008

Business School led

with input into central
University processes

A3s
Visual Management
Value Stream
Mapping
Root Cause Analysis
Fishbone Diagrams

Dean led project

Business School
Executive oversees
project with budget
allocation
Add on to existing job

Yes external
academic acting as
consultant.

South Coast
Business School

CLeanUp

Business School with

some discussion into
central University
admin processes

No

RIWs

No dedicated team or
budget
Two individuals
running Lean and
RIWs
Add on to existing job

RIWs
Process Mapping

Project Steering
Group oversees
project with budget
allocation
Add on to existing job

Yes external
organisation initially
undertook RIWs and
trained internal
facilitators.

Midland Business
School

Operational
Excellence
Started
November 2007

Business School led

with some input into
central University
processes

Foundation: Training and Development

NBS:
Blanket training approach for all 250 staff in Lean techniques. NBS is
trying to enable every member of staff to work in a Lean environment.
Three day training programme in mixed groups consisting of academic,
administration and clerical.
If staff are trained, they become more familiar with Lean and are more
willing to become integrated with it
Wales University:
Lean Skills for Leaders Programme for middle and senior managers.
To equip managers with the ability to apply Lean thinking and to give
them the skills to do continuous improvement work.
We need key skilled managers and key senior admin staff with good
Lean knowledge and understanding to help keep the momentum of
Lean going.

Building Blocks: Organisational

Readiness
Senior Management Commitment:
Lean at NBS is being led by the Dean.
This involves initial set up for the programme, specifying the
training required for staff, reviewing the projects on a weekly basis
(A3) and setting a direction to the rest of the school that this is
how business is done at NBS (unblocking).
To become a Lean school, the top management needs to be on
board and drive it. This is not an add-on. Its about getting the
entire operation of the school adopt Lean.
Link to Strategy: Wales University has a Strategy map.
Communication Strategy: Two of the Universities had an area of their
web sites detailing the purpose of Lean, projects and achievements.

Pillars: Tools and Techniques

3 Business Schools using Rapid Improvement Workshops.
Developing Internal Facilitators: Midland Business School
To equip its own staff with the skills to be able to lead on improvement
work.
External company X run the RIWs, staff shadowing, followed by training
for staff and, then running workshops themselves.
Staff have volunteered to become facilitators and at the moment there is a
waiting list for staff to be trained.
Lean is still over and beyond the normal duties of staff and is a real
commitment.
Process Mapping/ Value Stream Mapping used by all organisations.
Problem Solving tools used by 2 Business Schools.
Sporadic use of visual management in two organisations to make Lean
information visual in public areas.

Target = 20 days

2008 cycle - as % of total

2009 cycle - as % of total

4%

PG Admissions
Process Review

Why?

2%
0%
1900n1900r00l
To communicate all initial decisions on postgraduate applications within 4 weeks of receipt.

Volume increasing but fixed resource (67%

increase in applications since 2005)
Pressure from stakeholders to increase
pace of decision-making

Analysis variation
5 whys
7 wastes
CTS Tree
Improve flow
SIPOC
Run charts /
Opportunity Statement
Map process (3 walls of post-it noteshistograms
and brown paper!)

How?

Additional benefits?
ownership
team building
continuous
improvement
challenging what we do
control

greater understanding from a

wider perspective
reduced paper
scope now extended
better awareness and use of
data

Before
From submission to
creation of student
record

After

6%

99%

same day

in 2 hours

From SITS
to form sent
to
department

2%

93%

same day
(post)

same day
(electronic)

Department
decision

25 days

20 days

mean

mean

11 days

9 days

mean

mean

Quality
assurance,
transmission of
decision
Emails
at peak

7000
emails

10 weeks+

200 emails
3 weeks+

Publication Progress Board

WORKING PAPER
Level 1 Abstract / written idea
Level 2 Work in progress
Level 3 Full working paper

CONFERENCE PAPER
Level 4 Abstract submitted & accepted to conference
Level 5 Paper submitted & accepted to conference
Level 6 Paper presented at conference

SUBMITTED PAPER

VISUALIZING THE STATUS OF THE PUBLICATION PROGRESS

1. Print the front page of the paper (A6 format)
2. Attach a birthday sticker and write the date when level 1
was reached (date when you started to work on the paper)
3. Attach progress stickers given the current level of the
publication progress
UPDATING THE STATUS OF THE PUBLICATION PROGRESS
- Update the progress sticker to the new level
- The birthday sticker indicates the freshness of the paper and
its publication progress
- The progress stickers indicate the current and reached level
of the publication progress

Level 7 - Submitted
Level 8 - Revise and resubmit #1
Level 9 - Revise and resubmit #2

PUBLISHED PAPER
Level 10 - Published paper
Birthday sticker

OTHER
Presented at internal seminar (independent of level)
Niklas Modig, Stockholm School of Economics

Progress stickers
= level 7

 Niklas Modig, Stockholm School of Economics

 Niklas Modig, Stockholm School of Economics

Approaches to Lean Implementation

Rapid Improvement Events/ Workshops (RIE)
RIW provides a way of making improvement manageable by
cutting problems into bite-sized chunks. RIW works because it is
a process which delivers quick and visible wins.
Full Implementation is embedding the principles through a broad
use of the tools.
Lean gives an opportunity to give suggestions and question
why? The days of the way things are done have gone

RIEs Vs. Full Implementation

CULTURE CHANGE

Improvement
Opportunity

Greater, sustained
results achieved

Lost and repeated results

due to no sustainability
Short term
gains made

Improvement levelled off and

eventually stopped due to lack
of realizing true lean
opportunity

Kaizen Blitz
Rapid Improvement Events

Time
Source: Chris Craycraft, Whirlpool

Awareness, education,
organization structure
created to support lean

Defining Lean
Lean as a management practice based on the philosophy of
continuously improving processes by either increasing customer
value or reducing non-value adding activities (Muda), process
variation (Mura), and poor work conditions (Muri).
Some key assumptions of Lean:
1.It is possible to determine value and waste from a customer's
point of view, so that wasteful activities in the process can be
defined.
2.There is a defined and measurable benefit to the organisation
in reducing non-value adding activities; in the private sector this
has been a reduction in cost, or an increase in competiveness
against the peers
3.Freeing up resources helps the business grow and flow of
material, customers or information.

Public versus Private Sector

Issue

Private Sector

Authority

Public Sector

Authority is generally invested in

one CEO
Can operate in any sector / market

Authority is often shared between Senior Officers/

Mangers and professional people (politicians,
lawyers, doctors/ surgeons, academics etc..).

Overall Goal

Profit

Create and sustain citizen satisfaction

Economic, efficiency and effective
Value for Money

Accountability

Through clear objectives

Owners, shareholders
Legal reporting requirement

Central Agencies, Parliament/ politicians, citizen

Information generally acquirable (e.g. Access to
Information laws)
Role of media

Primary stakeholder

Shareholder is dominant
stakeholder

Budgets

Flexible, based on expected Profit,

ROI, EVA
Budgets subject to significant
changes

Conflicting and shifting stakeholder interests and

dominance
Potential with conflict with government policy
Public media opinions influence decision making
Relatively fixed, stable budgets
Frequently budget based on previous year plus
inflationary adjustment

Conclusions
Although there are initial efficiency gains of Lean in public
services, there is a question whether the - unadapted - transfer
of Lean tools and techniques will continue to deliver further
gains at the systems level.
Two crucial assumptions are violated when directly transferring
Lean, at the systems level, into public services:
Clear understanding of who the customer is: Defining value
Reinvestment of released capacity: Developing flow

Lean in Public Services currently focused on efficiency and

cost cutting: Reduction of waste
Lean is not context-free
Not manufacturing to service but private to public