oEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency Lean' INTO CHANGE STATE OF LEAN AT EPA How Lean Is Making a Difference *4" X INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY WORKING FASTER AND SMARTER LEVERAGING OUR SUCCESSES April 2017 EPA- 231-R-17-002 ------- Increasing Efficiency and Productivity Lean principles and tools identify and eliminate non-value added activity - waste. HOW WETTHINKTIHIE PROCESS LOOKS HOW IT ACTUALLY LOOKS 1 i 1 1 t HOW WE WOULD LIKE IT TO LOOK Lean, Removes obstacles that cause inefficiencies Increases quality and accuracy Improves morale and encourages continual improvement Reduces rework Enhances transparency and clarity to internal and external audiences, including states and regulated industries State of Lean at EPA - 2 Increasing Efficiency and Productivity ------- "Staff light up when they realize they have some control over their work lives. Processes get done faster; we're saving time and money...and most exciting is seeing the people change as we go through this process." - Tamara Saitman, Office of Air and Radiation INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY ACROSS EPA Aggregated Results of Projects Reporting Progress Since 2013 Total Process Time i50% average reduction in how long a process takes from beginning to end (includes waiting) 252 Total projects (January 1,2013 - present) 2,544 staff and manager attendees in Lean awareness training Participant Satisfaction 2.3-M.13 increase (on a scale of 1-5) in the average participant satisfaction rating with the newly designed process Hi 2,417 total participants in Lean events (includes participants in multiple events) Total Work Time + 46% average reduction in total time spent actually working on the task - "touch time" (excludes waiting) 87 NPM Projects Q 15 designated groups in regional and program offices foster continuous improvement within their organization 165 Regional , Projects Increasing Efficiency and Productivity State of Lean at EPA - 3 ------- Working Faster and Smarter Streamlining EPA processes advances our mission to protect human health and the environment and deliver more value to customers. • Standardized inspection reports reduce delays, improve consistency, and boost stakeholder satisfaction. • Timely approval and issuance of required permits increases certainty for the regulated community. • Decision processes for environmental requirements, such as water quality standards, involve fewer steps and benefit from improved communication. Lean fosters a continuous improvement culture by empowering EPA employees at all levels to improve their jobs. • Lean summits, training opportunities, and projects inspire a growing community of employees to make EPA a high-performing organization by how they perform their daily work. • EPA has a cadre of internal Lean facilitators across headquarters and regional offices leading process improvement projects. • Employees generated over 230 ideas on how to make EPA more efficient through the Lean into Change GreenSpark Challenge. Lean improvements save time and resources in EPA operations, freeing up staff time to focus on mission-critical work. • From faster employee onboarding to triaging correspondence, Lean projects tighten EPA operations to reduce wait time and help staff meet deadlines. • Introducing standard templates and checklists into EPA operations, like purchasing equipment, reduces errors and shortens review time. • Lean Agile and Startup principles help EPA develop and integrate new technologies to streamline and automate business processes. Working Faster and Smarter ------- prOflra Transll Subsidy 5310,000 savings in one year! Region 4 Transit Subsidy Project Business Process Improvement Team PROGRAMMATIC SPOTLIGHT OPERATIONS SPOTLIGHT Saving Money Through Improved Transit Subsidies When budget cuts threatened Region 4's transit subsidy program, the region initiated a business process improvement effort to accommodate flexible telecommute schedules, reduce money spent on unused benefits, and relieve over-burdened transit support staff. The effort replaced separate transit contracts with one standard transit fare card and scaled subsidies for each employee. $310,000 in Annual Cost Savings 1,400' % Return on Investment after 1 Year, Based on $20K Initial Cost "The value [of Lean] is giving everyone- from the Administrator down to the staff-the chance to think about how work processes can be done better. Given that chance, everyone can both propose how we're going to do things and follow through." - William Rhea, Region 6 Improving Data-Driven Decision-Making The Office of Environmental Information and Region 8 are transforming data quality assurance at EPA. A Lean effort simplified the annual quality assurance reporting process by eliminating non-essential data from the collection requirements. The project prompted EPA to develop an enterprise reporting system that will enable real-time collection of quality assurance data. inn ¦¦ Developing an Electronic Reporting System 91% Reduction in Process Steps BEFORE Reduction in Wait Time ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ 72% Reduction in Total Process Time 265-^75 Calendar Days r Poor-quality environmental data can hinder decision-making, waste funds, and create unacceptable risks to human health and the environment Working Faster and Smarter State of Lean at EPA - 5 ------- Leveraging Our Successes EPA is leveraging project successes and partnering with states to spread Lean solutions. More efficient processes in EPA and the states ensure better service and less cumbersome transactions for the regulated community. 29 Lean projects selected for transference in FY2017 23 Projects transferred changes, practices, or tools from previous projects 10% of EPA Lean projects have involved co-regulators THE LEAN ACTION BOARD (LAB) Commissioned in 2015, the LAB brings EPA and state environmental leaders together to advance the practice of Lean. The LAB identified Lean projects with transferrable solutions and is working with EPA and state partners to share successful results with other offices and regions with similar processes in need of improvement. STATE LEAN ACTIVITY LEAN PROJECTS COMPLETED OR UNDERWAY (2011-2016) BASED ON STATE INVENTORY CONDUCTED BY ECOS 1 1 . -¦¦¦ .® | - - fl . - -NC ¦ ^ ga ¦ 51-200 projects reported la MS H 31-50 projects reported ¦ 11-30 projects reported | 1-10 projects reported No reported activity or no response received when surveyed hi ^ ^ "As we continue our Lean work in the Agency; our efforts to recognize and embrace our partnership role with the states are critical to our collective environmental successes." - Becky Weber, Region 1, Director, Air & Waste Management Division State of Lean at EPA - 6 Leveraging Our Successes ------- Faster Site Cleanups with PCB FAST A RCRA FIRST Toolbox training held in Region 7 in July 2015 TRANSFERENCE SPOTLIGHT Streamlining Cleanup Decisions with RCRA Corrective Action Through the RCRA Facility investigation Remedy Selection Track (FIRST) project, Region 3 and Region 7, along with state and industry partners, streamlined the process for investigating contamination and deciding on cleanup actions at RCRA corrective action facilities. To help other EPA Regional staff and state partners take advantage of the efficiency and quality gains using RCRA FIRST, Regions 3 and 7 created a toolbox with how-to guidance, process flow maps, and tools and templates to make it easier to complete different parts of the approach and monitor its effectiveness. Since completing the toolbox, Regions 3 and 7 have held a series of mini-Lean events and trainings to help other organizations adapt and incorporate the tools and lessons into their processes. For Regions 3 and 7 Facility Investigations For Regions 3 and 7 Remedy Selection OXD 10-20 Years OXD Years OXD <5.1 Years OXD Years Lean event participants in Region 9 map the PCB cleanup process Region 9 is working with other regions to reduce delays in PCB site cleanup approvals. Incomplete applications, inadequate site characterization, and poor communication resulted in major slowdowns of approvals. After creating a streamlined process using Lean principles, Region 9 developed the PCB Facility Approval Streamlining Toolbox (FAST) with guidance and tools for regions experiencing similar delays to implement the solutions. The PCB FAST approach: Reaches agreement up-front on project plans before application submittal. Incorporates routine communications early and often. Provides a checklist to prevent errors on application forms. Encourages completion of a site characterization before submitting a cleanup application to avoid a formal amendment delay. I Reduction in application Improved Communication approval time from 80 days to 64 days Leveraging Our Successes I State of Lean at EPA - 7 ------- ADVANCING LEAN AT EPA: THE NATIONAL LEAN PROGRAM The National Lean Program in the Office of Policy provides a variety of services to promote the spread of process efficiency and foster a culture of continuous improvement across the Agency. Visit the EPA Lean website at www.epa.gov/lean or our intranet site at intranet. epa.gov/lean for more information, including: • Lean case studies, success stories, and project results • Training materials and resources • Information on state Lean activity • Lean in Government Starter Kit, Lean and IT Toolkit, and other publications Train facilitators who lead Lean Projects Share and transfer successful practices Conduct monthly Lean overview trainings Organize a Lean Community of Practice to promote peer-to-peer best practice sharing Support Project Planning & Implementation Provide Training Connect Lean Practitioners Track Results Produce practical tools and resources Manage a network of Lean Advocates responsible for deploying Lean in each organization Collect project results through LeanTrack, a new, searchable Lean results tracking system SEPA EPA publishes Lean Manufacturing and the Environment Report United States Environmental Protection Agency Iowa and other states begin using Lean 15 YEARS OF LEAN AT EPA EPA publishes first version of Lean Starter Kit Region 7 completes EPA's first Lean event EPA begins collaborating with states EPA signs MOU with ECOS on Business Process Improvement EPA launches first round of priority Lean projects "I EPA convenes National Lean Summit EPA creates National Program for Lean EPA launches staff- generated GreenSpark challenge EPA adopts Lean Practices Policy EPA implements 50th Lean project E-Enterprise Initiative begins EPA and state partners form Lean Action Board 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 State of Lean at EPA - 8 Advancing Lean at EPA ------- |