It didn’t take long for the city of Kawartha Lakes, in Ontario, to see a significant savings. According to a recent article from MyKawartha, the city began a Lean Six Sigma initiative about six months ago and, through an initial round of projects, identified more than $3 million in savings. The savings included actual financial savings, as well as increased value in productivity as well as cost avoidance.

The city staff underwent training in Lean Six Sigma before beginning the initiative. The first round of projects included five black belt projects, each designed to save $120,000, the article stated, as well as nine green belts projects that involved individual managers finding efficiencies within their departments. There was an additional, sixth black belt project that had a financial savings of more than $200,000 and a cost avoidance savings of $1.8 million.

One of the things that the staff working for the city of Kawartha Lakes discovered during these initial projects was that the amount of paper used by just a portion of the city’s printers would equal the height of the Eiffel Tower. Managers have found a staff that is eagerly embracing the principles of Lean Six Sigma and is planning to train an additional 22 individuals during the next couple of months.

A staff that takes its training and responsibility seriously and the efficiencies uncovered and realized through a Lean Six Sigma project are a powerful combination. All over the world, governmental organizations, public and private companies have used this combination to find millions of dollars of savings. Would you like to know how your company and your staff can do this too?


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