Bladridge information
When I think about government, the words efficient, competitive, or cost effective don’t come to mind. But it was these principles that were key to Irving winning the Baldridge. In 2006 they applied private sector principles to government operations by implementing lean six sigma processes to their local government. By embracing the “voice of the customer” philosophy, which is a pillar of six-sigma, there were able to gather and analyze information from their customers. Whatever problems came their way, this principle set a foundation that would hold firm against the biggest recession that this country has known. They endured the recession of 2008 and did this with no lay offs of their 2100 employees.

By having unprecedented turnouts at town hall meetings Irving was able to see what their customers and employees wanted. At these meetings customers were able to call in, attend, or send email questions in. It was the canalization of this information that allowed Irving to start implementing this data and see results. Not only did they listen to their customers but also they did the same with the city employees. They built cross-functional teams that were before singular. An example of this would be they reduced crime in some parts of the city by 75% in some areas. Most would think this was done solei by the police force. But it was a cross-functional team built of police, codes department, and animal services, combining their expertises and really attacking the problem.

The decrease of city employee’s hours without having to lay people off to reach their numbers is a direct result of strategic Planning. This was a natural course once they began working in these teams and attacking their problem areas. They eliminated hours by reducing street projects that took 16 weeks and cutting them down to 8 weeks, street sidewalk repairs that took 14