The origin of the project goes back to June of 2011 when the Louisiana Department of Public Safety hired Lean Six Sigma consultants to come in and help with the backlog of nearly 700 cases in the Louisiana crime lab. It worked considering the crime lab is now completely caught up and working in real time.

Another success story is how the Department of Motor Vehicles is now using methods that speed things up and have set up different lines of responsibility by instituting daily management routines and leadership scorecards to hold all levels of management responsible for operations.

Now, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety is taking more initiative and putting Lean Six Sigma to use again. Lean Six Sigma is classified as the elimination of waste by identifying seven different types of waste, which are; Defects, Overproduction, Transportation, Waiting, Inventory, Motion and Over-Processing.

Using these tools, efficiency is becoming more and more important in Louisiana state departments. Other state departments currently in the line to use the system are the The Deparment of Corrections, Department of Health and Hospital's Office of Public Health and the Department of Children and Family Services.

They will be assigned Lean Six Sigma engineers, six key employees are currently certified LSS engineers. These people are trained in efficiency and work tactics and can pass along the knowledge to improve other work environments.

The LSS team is trying to get the time to process offenders in the Department of Corrections. Thet are also trying to improve the timeliness of inspections done by the DHH Office of Public Health. The Department of Children and Family Services is getting help by trying to improve the time it takes to process applications for provided assistance such as food stamps.

Colonel Mike Edmonson, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Public Safety said,

“The creation of management dashboards has permeated all departments, giving management the ability to quickly see the status of their operations. Lean Six Sigma is creating a culture of transparency, accountability, efficiency and quality throughout state government. The foundation has been secured and construction is clearly underway.”

 

 

 

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