Participating Organization Profile:
Health system with more than 20 sites of care, serving communities from a 70-mile radius in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.
Number of Program Participants: 14
Key Objectives:
- Improve patient flow on 1st Floor
- Increase customer satisfaction
- Improved productivity/profitability
Measurable Outcome Summary:
The participants implemented 24 projects in several different areas of the hospital including: Admissions, Ambulatory Services/Infusion Center, Cardiology, Customer Service, Diagnostic/Imaging Services, Fiscal Services, In-Patient Care, Laboratory, Emergency Room, Outpatient/Surgical Services and Radiology.
- Annualized monetary improvements from projects implemented ranged from $4,615 (Laboratory) to $1,180,000 (Admissions).
- Total measurable improvements were $1,313,846 annually.
- Assuming a typical "life span" of five years for such improvements, the potential savings and increased revenue is in excess of $6.5 million.
- Other improvement projects resulted in:
- Increased customer satisfaction and improved productivity in the areas of Diagnostic/Imaging and Admissions, Cardiology, In-Patient Care, Laboratory and Radiology
- Improved patient safety and compliance requirements in the areas of Diagnostic/Imaging Services, Emergency Room and Outpatient/Surgical Services
- Met certification requirements/compliance in several areas.
Participating Organization Profile:
City Government (est. pop of 12,000)
Number of Program Participants: 12
Key Objectives:
- Increase revenue by increasing utilization of city facilities and services through improved promotion, quality of service and enhanced user experiences.
- Reduce costs by maximizing the use of existing resources, elimination of waste and reduction of reliance on paper processes and manual procedures.
- Enhance economic development opportunities through increased awareness and participation by involving all facets of city operations.
- Make the city a better place to live, to work and to do business through continuous improvement in communication, interaction, and service by all facets of city government.
- Implemented thirty-two (32) ideas for action with a first year savings to the city of (net of implementation) $524,400.
- Assuming a typical "life span" of five years for improvement projects implemented, the potential savings for the city (net of implementation) is $2,622,000.
"The program was designed to have everyone stop and think how they're doing things," said the City Administrator. "For department heads to see how they can save money and improve community services. Adopting new ideas that are practical, tangible and achievable, should not be limited to the private sector. These things can be done as an overall benefit to an entire community."
Participating Organization Profile:
Restaurant and Catering Business
Number of Program Participants: 10
Key Objectives:
- Profits every month
- Increase dollars spent per customer
- Increase restaurant and catering sales
- Cut costs while maintaining quality
Their Ideas for Action resulted in $325,000 in dollars returned back to the business in the form of revenue-generating initiatives or cost containment. Some of the ideas implemented by participants:
- Brand awareness to additional segment of market $45,000
- Re-engineered kitchen processes $12,000
- Created incentives for wait staff to up-sell to customers $50,000
- Improved vendor relations resulting in an additional $80,000 in savings or support for special events
Participating Organization Profile:
Full service direct mail and fulfillment company with two facilities and over 500,000 sq. feet of office and warehouse space.
Number of Program Participants: 15
Key Objectives:
- Eliminate customer credits
- Document processes to facilitate training
- Eliminate duplicate processing
- Ability to respond positively to customer asking about improvement programs
Their Ideas for Action resulted in $325,000 in dollars returned back to the business in the form of revenue-generating initiatives or cost containment. Some of the ideas implemented by participants:
Location #1:
- Implemented nine (9) ideas for action with a first year savings of $330,624.
- Quantified another ten (10) ideas for action worth $736,775 in first year savings following implementation.
- Total savings: $1,067,399.
- Implemented fourteen (14) ideas for action with a first year savings of $143,425.
- Quantified another seven (7) ideas for action worth $166,792 in first year savings following implementation.
- Total savings: $310,217.
- Implemented twenty-three (23) ideas for action with first year savings of $474,049.
- Quantified seventeen (17) additional ideas for action worth $903,567 in first year savings following implementation.
- Combined savings: $1,377,616.
Participating Organization Profile:
The manufacturer is the leading supplier of tarp systems to the trucking industry in the USA and is a family owned business with 270 employees and annual revenues of around $28m. Patents on one of their main product lines had expired and they were faced with increasing competition in an area where they had once had 100% of the market share.
Number of Program Participants: 32
Key Objectives:
- Increase throughput that results in increased profitabilityh
- Improve material cost/handling in order to increase profitability
- Improve corporate health & employee wellness in order to increase profitability and make it a great place to work.
- Over 90 improvement ideas were implemented, for example:
- $700 per annum saving on the stocking system used to ensure the constant availability of stainless steel D rings
- $466,000 per annum saving by having a component for one of their product lines painted instead of anodized.
- Total first year savings of $1.394 million with benefits repeating in subsequent years