Quick Glance Case Study: Process Review Permit Application

“The team are now familiar with the concept of Lean and regularly challenge a task or activity to ensure it is value adding for the customer. This is a shift in thinking and will facilitate continuous improvement”

After completing a ChangeWise Lean Practitioner training course one candidate submitted the following work-place project to gain their qualification to LCS Level 1c.

The Business Challenge

In order to ensure our client satisfied their legal obligations regarding environmental impact, their Environment Quality Team were required to regularly apply for specific permits from a regulatory authority.

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The application process was complex and inconsistent, involving duplication of effort across stakeholders. This was often a source of frustration for the team and the customer. The candidate worked with their team to complete a full end-to-end review of the process.

Key people involved from client site

Representatives from the Environmental Quality Team, Operations Team and Environmental Permitting Specialists were involved in the review.

Lean Methodology Employed

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analise, Improve, Control)

The candidate completed a full Lean review of the end-to-end current state process.

Various Lean methodologies were employed, specifically Voice of Customer Data, SIPOC, Value Stream Mapping, Value and Non-Value Add Analysis, 7 Wastes and 7 Service Wastes, Root Cause Analysis (fishbone diagram), Gap Analysis, 5S

Key Current State Findings

After completing a SIPOC exercise, the team quickly identified duplication of effort in the pre-application stage, over-production in the creation of site plans and out of date work instructions.

A Current State Process Map also helped the team fully understand the tasks undertaken by all stakeholders, highlighting that permit applications were carried out inconsistently. There were also questions around who should take ownership of various environmental aspects, as this was sometimes carried out by both the permit authority and the client.

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A Waste Analysis exercise identified the value-add, non-value add and regulatory steps. It was clear that the regulatory steps were causing significant inefficiencies in the process. However, the client’s strong relationship with the permit authority meant that these issues could be documented and discussed with the permit authority for potential improvements – resulting in efficiency wins for both parties.

Key Findings:

• Only 44% of process steps were considered value add
• 36% were considered regulatory or essential
• Variation in lead-time was significant between permit applications (from 3 months to over a year)
• Barriers during the pre-application phase, such as missing information or miscommunication between stakeholders, are the key causes of delays. However, the complexity of the application is an unavoidable contributing factor.
• Constraints included: lack of accurate information provided upfront by the permit requestor, inability to identify correct operational staff for liaison during the process, and chaotic folder/admin and team mailbox structure
• Little standardisation due to a lack of best practice examples to follow for a consistent approach

Benefits and Outcomes

Various Lean techniques were applied, enabling the team to achieve some quick, simple wins:

• Simplify: simplification of site plans (clarity from permit authority and use of team template)
• Eliminate: all non-value-add steps reviewed to reduce waste and reduce unnecessary transfer of information between stakeholders
• Combine: one set of data rather than multiple spreadsheets
• Automate: Creation of a Best Practice Guide for environmental modelling shared with the permit authority and client

Workplace organisation (6S)

• Sort, set in order and shine: the team dedicated a day to sort through archive and folders to retain relevant files only.
• Standardise: Update of local work instructions to help team carry out process consistently and reduce errors.
• Safety: Health & Safety audit of team work area highlighted a number of improvements that could be implemented.

Runners/Repeaters/Rarities

• Process steps categorised based on complexity and frequency.
• Indicates that the team are multi-skilled, but should have ability to carry out specialist tasks on a less frequent basis

In Summary

Following the Lean review, all who touch the process have a better understanding of how it works holistically. Time consuming tasks have been standardised and there is a clear identification of skill-sets across the team, along with a clear and orderly work environment.

These changes enabled our client to set a precedence for the continuous improvement culture they set-out to achieve.

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Frustrated by the overly complicated effort involved in your legal, regulatory or mandatory processes? Contact us at info@changewise.co.uk and let’s talk about how we can help.

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.

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