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24 | november/december 2014 | Facilities Manager HOW HAVE A FEW HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL FACILITIES TEAMS LEARNED TO HARNESS THE 4PS OF LEAN? Let's hear from our peers: Case study #1: A large public institution with not enough resources How many of us are faced with doing more work with fewer people? That was the case at a public university on the West Coast. The facilities department was faced with an increasing number of projects amidst an already stressful, excessive workload. To top it off, the department lacked funding to increase capacity to match its project load. Along with those demands, staff and leadership needed to lower the cost and improve the timeliness of project delivery, improve customer experience ratings, and somehow create a healthier workplace with less stress. This required more than a best-practice technical solution; it was an adaptive chal- lenge that needed a system-wide solution. So, the university decided to pursue a Lean approach. To tackle this challenge, the associate vice chancellor of capital programs brought together the entire department and its customers to understand the core purpose of the Capital Pro- grams department and to assess honestly how it was performing to serve its customers (the purpose of their daily work). This was the beginning of the staff's Lean journey that has changed the perspectives, skills, and capacity of the organization. By under- standing people's unique experiences, Capital Programs was able to see together where the biggest costs, time, and stress were occurring. Staff identified six processes that, if improved, would have the largest impact on decreasing their workload and improving customer experi- ence. As staff worked on the technical challenge of improving each process, they were also coached to learn a new way of thinking and acting to increase value, reduce waste, and respect people. This catalyzed more than process changes; they were connecting to purpose (what custom- ers valued and the related strategy of the department), making performance visible (so they could see problems), and each one of the people involved was developing his or her ability to under- stand and tackle problems. They also were able to see that the structure of the depart- ment was sometimes getting in the way. Instead of simply draw- ing a new organization chart, Lean thinking helped them design a structure so that roles were clear and processes flowed more smoothly (e.g., taking out approval bottlenecks). They have now begun to match peoples' capabilities and areas of satisfac- tion with their work assignments—and this also contributes to improving capacity. As the department harnessed the hidden power of Lean, it achieved impressive results: • 76% improvement in data accuracy of work orders • 75% improvement in time needed to respond to customers about work order requests • 23% improvement to the work order process • 50% reduction in time for project initiation (from 3-4 days to 1-2 days) There are additional benefits that are hard to quantify but just as valuable. As the staff continue on their Lean journey, they are experiencing transformational change in which people are addressing some of the most critical problems and alleviating many of the stress-inducing tensions on a daily basis. People have shared lessons such as, "I didn't realize how much occurred before the financial piece, and how many handoffs there are!" and "Process standardization is freeing up resources," and "This was a collaborative, gratifying process." In short, they are creating a healthier workplace and getting more done. Case Study #2: A large private university chipping away at deferred maintenance Some lucky institutions have been able to regularly increase the percentage of resources allocated to facility op- erations and capital renewal on an annual basis. More often, that level of funding is only enough to keep up, not enough to catch up. The Department of Facilities Management was limited financially in its ability to maintain and renew assets in a way that aligned with the department's mission and vision and provided better service to building occupants. At the same time, emergency and unplanned maintenance was on the rise, with 75 percent of all work orders spent on costly unplanned or corrective maintenance. Planned preventive maintenance (PM) was completed on time only 60 percent of the time. Making progress would require fundamental changes to the depart- ment's approach and mindset—an adaptive challenge. So, the university enlisted the Lean process to help. The project goal was to identify ways of decreasing long- term capital renewal needs and daily operating costs by redirecting facility maintenance staff time from corrective maintenance to preventive maintenance. Using Lean thinking, and starting with the premise that the root causes of problems were not fully understood, the facilities staff set out to examine the current state of its systems and processes. The Lean funda- po • • 75 cus • 23% imp g n. By under- y rams me, erat ofte not e t The Dep financially i y h li d