Salina, Kansas
Salina, KS, (pop. 48,000), the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, was recognized in 2009 by Business Week magazine as the “The Best Place to Raise Kids.” The community is home to a number of cultural and historical attractions, including the Salina Art Center and the Smoky Hill Museum.
After the Great Recession, slightly declining tax revenues and other reductions threatened full implementation of the city’s proposed new pay plan for its employees, and layoffs seemed imminent. At the same time, expectations that the city would continue to provide quality public services persisted. While the tax decline soon subsided, it was replaced with a long-term financial stagnancy that exists even today. Salina needed to quickly discover other options for generating revenues.
To address the community’s structural revenue/expenditure imbalance and combat the immediate and long-term effects of the recession, Salina required a set of strategies that went beyond such typical local government budget repair tools as targeted expense reductions, strategic use of attrition, conservative salary decisions, a focus on performance indicators, and a conservative approach to service delivery. Under the direction of City Manager Jason Gage, the city joined the more than 50 percent of Fortune 500 Companies and handful of U.S. municipalities that integrated Lean Six Sigma (LSS) into their operations.
Hybrid Model Approach
In early 2011, a Salina resident and efficiency expert stepped into the city manager’s office and politely suggested that the local government consider implementing Lean Six Sigma (LSS) into its operations. Following his initial introduction to LSS, City Manager Gage asked the city’s governing body to approve his request to hire an expert to assist in the implementation of LSS within the local government. The city hired Process Improvement Director Bryon Johnson to oversee Salina’s LSS Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) program.
While application of these methodologies is commonplace for many “best-in-class” industries, it has been fairly unique to local government. Salina’s approach combined a basic continuous process improvement (CPI) framework with aspects of Lean Six Sigma, which resulted in a successful efficiency model.
Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve operations that involves becoming faster, better, and more responsive by defining, measuring, and modifying processes. Salina created process templates that document the best way to complete each local government task. Lean tools focus on eliminating non-value-added tasks, maximizing process speed, and reducing complexity.
Results and Projections
Salina employees have documented 728 processes, made 237 process efficiency improvements, and increased organizational capacity by 4,652 hours. During 2014, the city realized $302,800 in one-time cost savings and $107,200 in ongoing savings. With just two years of hard work using the CPI model behind them, Salina staff project a five-year impact of $2.5 million in total cost savings through efficiency gains, and that number is expected to increase in time.
Meet the Manager
