By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Business leaders from a variety of industries have relied on Six Sigma for 25 years to help lower costs and boost profits. But the business efficiency program only recently was adopted to help solve budget problems for government. Erie County is one of the first. But other municipalities are paying close attention and might follow their lead. Friday, in the final part of our series on Six Sigma, WBFO's Joyce Kryszak looks at whether or not the program is paying off for Erie County.
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Five County employees are among the students in Thom Marra's Six Sigma advanced black belt training class at UB. Peaking inside during one lesson though, might make you wonder if Six Sigma really can translate to government.
Immediately it's clear that entitlement isn't the naughty word it's sometimes considered in government. Like Marra said, it's a good thing. It's a benchmark. And these students are learning how to identify those benchmarks and resolve problems to get there.
The county is using this process with 27 different projects - in more than a dozen different departments. Bill Carey is the black belt who was hired by the county to lead those projects. He said it all starts with data - lots and lots of data. He takes us into the "war room" to have a look.
He shows us hundreds of sticky notes - pink ones, blue ones, yellow, green and purple stickies - all tacked on the wall along the entire length of the room.
Carey explains that each color represents a different kind of delay for just one application. It took more than a month for the person who applied to get an answer about their request for food stamps. He said the process allows them to physically see where the application got bogged down - with no debates or excuses.
Carey said the process is helping them identify ways to eliminate delays and process applications more quickly. He would like to get the response time down to less than a week.
But how does that save the county money?
Carey said they often have to pay workers overtime for all that wasted time. He said they are finding the same problem in other areas too, such as Child Protective Services.
But is quicker always better and is it worth all the effort? Right now, Carey admits it's hard to prove.
Until recently, his team was unable to develop a tracking system that could provide lawmakers, the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority, or the public with any hard numbers.
The administration claims nearly eight million dollars has been saved since the program began in 2008. Lawmaker Maria Whyte said she is waiting to see the proof in the budget. But she is even more concerned that the county could be sacrificing quality services to save money.
Carey said they will be able to deliver a lot of that information in the next budget report. And he said the 2010 budget does show an actual reduction for overtime in the department of social services.
Still, some employees wonder if Six Sigma is worth the expense.
So far, the control board has given the county roughly $900,000 to cover Carey's salary and ongoing training for other Six Sigma team members for three years. But what about the costs that are not being counted?
County dietician Denise Szymura was asked by her union to oversee the roll-out of the program. Szymura sees time wasted when workers are pulled away from their jobs. "A lot of the projects they do could be, just do it," said Szymura.
But experts caution it's not that simple. In fact, some experts say having more rather than less support is crucial.
Robert Kluttz is a black belt process manager for a national financial services company. When told that Erie County is running the program with only three black belts on staff, managing dozens of new yellow and green belts and five fledgling black belts - Kluttz was concerned.
Still, the sheer boldness of the county's effort is winning converts - and attracting attention.
Carey said he gets calls about every other week from officials from other counties, around the state and the country. He said even Australia called asking for information about the county's program. Carey said the economy is forcing municipalities to look at new strategies.
Fort Wayne, Indiana is already trying it. So is the United States Department of Defense. Closer to home, the town of Clarence has signed on. That's a lot of sticky notes going up on walls. And officials hope a lot more money sticking in taxpayers' pockets.
More information is available at Erie County Six Sigma Initiative.