Deployment of a Lean Six Sigma Continuous Improvement Culture

Our client, Anglian Water Services (AWS), covers the largest geographical area in England and Wales, employing 5,000 people and supplying water and water recycling services to more than six million customers in the east of England and Hartlepool.

Business Challenge

ChangeWise were appointed directly by AWS in 2016 to support them in deploying a Lean Six Sigma continuous improvement culture across the organisation to improve efficiency, effectiveness and customer service. ChangeWise designed several Lean Sigma and Operational Excellence training courses, accredited by the Lean Competency System (LCS), called ‘Love Every Minute’, aiming to ‘Get it right first time, every time’.

Courses were delivered to more than 25% of employees, Alliance Partners and other strategic collaborators. Over a four year period, candidates attended tailored courses, sat online tests and applied learning to workplace practices to complete a project delivering tangible benefits in their own business areas. Employees were mentored throughout the process by ChangeWise, and assessed and scored on their submissions to gain industry-wide recognised qualifications.

Key people involved from client site

Front Line Employees

Water, Water Recycling and Customer Service Team Leaders

Heads of Operations and Support Services

Lean Solutions

Working closely with front line employees and customer service team leaders spanning a variety of departments, ChangeWise focused on Customer CTQ’s (Critical to Quality) requirements to deliver a series of bespoke training programmes, incorporating various Lean Six Sigma methodologies:

5 Principles of Lean, Voice of Customer, Kano Modelling, Value Stream Mapping, Value and Non-Value Add Analysis, 7 Wastes and 7 Service Wastes, Muda, Mura, Muri techniques, Kanban, Kaizen, Lean Time Metrics (Takt Time, Cycle Time and Lead Time), Theory of Constraints, Customer Journey Mapping and Agile practises.

Outcomes and Benefits

• Designed and delivered x4 tailored training courses to >25% of the organisation
• Coached: 489 Lean Practitioners, 226 Supporters, 457 Enablers, and 62 Optimisers
• Course average of 95% with excellent feedback
• So far 90+ candidates have worked on Lean projects and were certified to LCS Level 1c as Lean Practitioners and a further 100+ trained candidates are being mentored and coached whilst working on their LCS Level 1c project submissions.
• An internal Lean Academy has been established as a source of support on training, templates and various media to provide additional support
• Significant multi-million, sustainable operational cost savings were delivered with many more intangible benefits in the form of risk reduction, improved employee engagement and better customer service.
• Lean Six Sigma has helped AWS achieve:
  • Top rank in Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM) scores for 2018-19 and 2019-20
  • Top Performing Company for Service Delivery in the Ofwat survey of the 17 largest water companies in England and Wales,
  • A positive difference to the communities they serve; pioneering responsible water stewardship and environmental protection
  • Effective management of the impact of developer growth and climate change
  • Minimal accidents, incidents, pollutions & waste generation.
  • Recognition with an Employer of Choice award
  • Wide respect as a frontier performer in the UK

All of which are testament to what can be achieved when an organisation is dedicated to delivering the absolute best service to its customers through effective deployment of Lean Sig Sigma continuous improvement practices across all its employees.

ChangeWise believes employee engagement is the foundation for successful Change. Training and coaching your people to use simple continuous improvement techniques will enable your organisation to continuously adapt and stay ahead in a constantly changing and challenging environment. 

For industry updates and interesting Lean Change insights, connect with us on LinkedIn.

Find out more about our Training Courses by contacting us at info@changewise.co.uk