Establishing Global CI Impact & Sustainability
Background
LGC is a leading, global life science tools company, providing mission-critical components and solutions into high-growth application areas across the human healthcare and applied market segments.
- LCS Impact Award category: Team
- Team name: the LGC Lean Academy
- Award title: Establishment of an Impactful and Sustainable Global CI Organisation and Infrastructure
Activity
Based in the UK and led by Simon Leonard, the LGC team of David Kilroy, Samantha James & Roland Gilliam, established the newly formed ‘LGC Lean Academy’ as a centre of excellence to support the roll-out of sustainable Cl activity across the global LGC footprint.
Under normal circumstances this alone might be considered unremarkable, however the Academy was created during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic with all travel restricted, teams working from home wherever possible, supply chain challenges and a backdrop of unprecedented increases in customer demand for COVID-19 related diagnostic products.
During this period the LGC Leadership and their teams were primarily focused on responding to huge increases in customer demand with long term CI seen as a strategically lower priority. It’s not surprising therefore, that this business backdrop provided a huge challenge for the Lean Academy team to engage the organisation with a strategic and sustainable CI approach.
Impact
Despite the prevailing business headwinds, the first challenge for the team was to move from a face to face to an online delivery model delivered for the
Despite the prevailing business headwinds, the first challenge for the team was to move from a face to face to a global online delivery model delivered from the UK.
All of the training materials needed to be re-imagined and this was successfully completed with complimentary investment in a purpose built training facility utilising the latest digital and learner management technologies. The global time zones (up to + 9 hours) meant that the delivery model and the working practices needed to be adapted.
The range of remotely delivered support services developed covered both short and long term impact including: a point of impact service, initial awareness training, Leadership training, a practical managing for daily improvement process, an applied green belt programme and a lean reward and recognition system.
Quality assurance was ensured in associated with becoming an LCS certification centre and Pearson Assured training Centre.
The organisation and infrastructure has so far delivered 149 people trained in Cl methods across all production, commercial and support functions in each geography (EU, US & APAC), across ten Production Sites and seven non-production function, growing organisational Cl capability. In addition, 60 Green belts have generated £495K of bottom line benefit with a further £420K in progress.
There are many benefits from remote delivery in terms of saving time and cost. Some aspects of developing a CI culture are still best done face to face and as most of the world begins to open up again, the LGC Lean Academy will move to a hybrid approach – building on the existing delivery model to take it to the next level of performance.
Lean Programme Sustainability
Background
GuideWell is a mutual insurance holding company based in Florida, primarily focused on health insurance. GuideWell companies include: Florida Blue, GuideWell Health (a healthcare delivery company), GuideWell Connect (a healthcare consumer marketing company) and GuideWell Source (an administrative and claims processing company for state and federal healthcare programmes).
Its mission is to help people and communities achieve better health, and it is at the forefront of the evolution of health care, forging ahead by innovating, collaborating and advocating for better health care. GuideWell became LCS accredited in 2020.
Activity
2020 saw the development and implementation of the lean architecture that has allowed it to rapidly lay the foundations for a sustainable CI culture, An extensive lean program included the introduction of a Green Belt course, which delivered 6 classes for the year. The program value was formalised and Lean certified staff were in 23 of 127 departments of the business and a community of practice for 200 staff was established, with 73 Certified Green Belts.
In 2021, the Green Belt course was expanded to 9 classes a year and Lean leadership seminars were offered 3 times in the year for all areas of the company, focussing on how to manage lean resources. A Brown Belt Program was developed to create 20 internal coaches a year, deploying in November and a Black Belt program with a selection process was developed to accept 20 candidates, also starting in November. A ‘Lunch and Learn’ round table seminar developed for deployment in December and the first annual Corporate Lean Awards event took place on December 16th.
The executive leadership has requested an expansion of the programme in 2022 Plans for 2022, which includes making Green Belt CI certification a requirement for five business areas and Green Belt OpEx certification a requirement for three additional business areas
Impact
GuideWell’s Lean Programme that has created real impact in a comparatively short period of time and lean is beginning to be seen as part of the company’s ethos. The creation of an enthused community of practitioners has been a key ingredient to building momentum and making it sustainable.
Several factors have contributed to this, including the entire lean training programme and especially the Green Belt course and the many certifications it has delivered, plus a range of communication mechanisms, such as leadership seminars, lunch and learn sessions and the awards event.
The programme has positive senior management buy-in – commonly quoted as the most important factor in creating sustainable lean success – and importantly, there is a shared understanding of what represents value, especially in terms of hard savings and cost aversions, and a widely understood and applied method to identify that value, with improvement projects having formal management sponsorship and therefore appropriate strategic alignment.
Key highlights:
- $2.3 Million in cost aversion was generated by certified Green Belt in 2020
- Program was expanded based on request from executive leadership
- Lean certified staff were in 58 of 127 departments of the business
- Community of practice of over 850 members of the company
- 277 Certified Green Belts (as of date 12/31/22)
- 12.1 Million in cost aversion was generated by certified Green Belt for 2021
Programme Director Effectiveness
Background
Eduardo is a highly experienced lean practitioner, who has held senior roles with Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Resource Solutions and currently with GuideWell, where he is Lean Programme Principal and responsible for developing and implementing the company’s lean programme. He has several lean related qualifications and holds the highest LCS award – the Level 3b certificate.
Activity
- Led 13 large scale projects over 2020-2021 to reduce 100,000 hours of waste company-wide
- Led deployment of culture change in the company via grassroots movement
- Built ties with community in and outside of the company to show value of Lean and LCS accreditation
- Established an internal community of practice with more than 850+ current active members
- Established a curriculum and registration process that was full 9 months prior to deployment
- Established curriculum and framework for Brown Belt and Black Belt programs with application process
Impact
Eduardo made a significant impact through mobilising internal change champions, developing a sense of urgency and creating a structured methodology for implementation and project management. His championing role has involved motivating, guiding and spearheading the effort and galvanising his colleagues into action.
In particular, his development and application of structured methodology for problem solving and a robust program architecture provided direction and clarity, through linking projects to bottom line impact, such as hard savings and especially to cost aversion. Together with his energy and passion, he created a positive sense of urgency, helping and assisting everyone on a widespread scale.
Key highlights:
- Certified 225 of 247 Green Belts (created 58 team huddles)
- Lead all three annual Lean Leadership seminars
- Formalized expansion plans to develop within company culture
- Worked with Executive and Senior leadership to establish requirements for job competency roles
- Integrated in to 58 current departments with another 50 planned in 2022
- Fostered Online community via LinkedIn to showcase value as corner stone of sustainability
- 44 of 247 Green Belts promoted due to lean skills and certification
- Received 39 awards for recognition
- Received 2 Value Awards from Executives
- Received 4 letters of commendation for various business areas champions
