Lean in St Andrews:
3 years on
29 March 2010
University of St Andrews
Agenda
• What was the problem?
• What we’ve done
• What’s next?
University of St Andrews
The goal…….
• Need to achieve more with less in the face of
– Increasing customer demands
– Pressure on funding
• Need to improve working culture
– Voice of academia in support issues
– Professional services needed to stand up
– Challenge reverential view of the past
University of St Andrews
The problem……
University of St Andrews
What is Lean ?
• Lean manufacturing
– Getting it right first time, everytime
• Measure and understand
• Elimination of Waste
– Duplication, error, loss or no value
• Focus on customer need
– Ignoring organisational silos
– End to end process reviews
• Continuous improvement
University of St Andrews
Lean is not…..
• just business process review
– but a framework for culture change
• a computer programme or about IT
• a silver bullet
– quick fix
– rapid cost cutter
University of St Andrews
How we did it
• Clear focussed leadership essential
– Focus on long term improvement
– Recognise the challenge to manager
behaviour
• Built an internal team
– External resource to fit
• Approaches need to be tailored
– HE sector very diverse
– Governance very different
University of St Andrews
Process
• Identify area
• Scope and set ‘pant wetting’ target
• Gather data to understand the current
process
• Blitz
– Map current process, identify waste
– Redesign the process without the waste
• Implement solution
• Re-measure and review
• Start again!
University of St Andrews
Ongoing Resources
• Two full-time members of ‘Lean
team’
• Pump priming money
• Time from staff
• Dedicated space
University of St Andrews
Challenges
• Being ‘Leaned’ seen as a punishment
• Quantifying the intangible (our service can’t
be measured)
• Identification of failure seen as criticism of
past (or existing management!)
• Perception of removing or down grading jobs
• Time intensive- results in short term backlogs
• Unclear incentives for getting engaged
• Embedding culture change
University of St Andrews
Benefits
Days taken / Days released
2000
Staff Days
1800
1600
One-off staff days
taken
1400
Recurring staff days
released
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2006-2007
2008
Year
University of St Andrews
2009
Notable Successes
Travel service
– sales Feb 09- £22k, Feb 10£68k
– same resource base
Library Cataloguing & Re-shelving
– 10 weeks to 2 days
– 3 months to 4 hours
University of St Andrews
Notable Successes
Student Confirmation Letters
– 10 days to 2 minutes
– Now self-service on-line
Student absence management
– 5 staff keying 10,000+ forms – GONE!
– Now self-service on-line
– No change in absence patterns
Finance processing
– Bank ‘Recs’- 3 days to 1day per month
– Adhoc payments 20 per hour to 60 per hour
University of St Andrews
What do we need to do now?
• Accept that times will get tougher
• Extend to all areas
– Strongest resistance in areas of most need
• Improve measurement of progress
– People need evidence of their
achievement
• Move from engagement to commitment
• Land the cultural change
– from “we’ve been Leaned” to “it’s the way
we do things here”
University of St Andrews
Summary
• Beware of the blockers
– Including the passive ones
• Get the scope for review right
– Ignore the silos
• Lean is not a quick cost cutter or an easy fix
• Lean will give you:
– Customer focussed services
– Engaged and motivated staff
– Challenge to management practice and
requirements
– Higher standards
– Efficient and effective processes with results that
matter
University of St Andrews
Contacts
Derek Watson
Quaestor and Factor
Quaester@st-andrews.ac.uk
Heidi Fraser-Krauss
Director of Business Improvements
hmfk@st-andrews.ac.uk
University of St Andrews