City Awarded Continuous Improvement Excellence Award

The City of Mississauga was awarded the 2018 Continuous Improvement Excellence Award by Leading Edge Group based on the progress and commitment it has made to sustainable continuous improvement over the past three years.

“Mississauga is a mature, fast-growing city that offers high-quality programs and services to families and businesses that call our city home,” said Mayor Bonnie Crombie. “We are committed to continuous improvement efforts that demonstrate value for tax dollars and ensure that the City is running efficiently and effectively. Despite budget pressures, we continue to find significant savings and efficiencies through our Lean Program that reduce the tax burden on residents and keep our city competitive.”

• The award criteria focused on five pillars of overall operational excellence in continuous improvement:
• Strategy
• Capability
• Capacity
• Improvements that have been realized
• Improvements that have been sustained

“This award validates and recognizes the hard work and commitment we, as a municipality, have placed on continuous improvement to better develop innovative and cost-effective ways to deliver services to our residents and businesses,”

said Janice Baker, City Manager and Chief Administrative Officer. “As one of Canada’s largest cities, our continuous improvement efforts represent the most comprehensive investment in Lean thinking in Canadian municipal government. We have a long history of examining our services to ensure they’re being delivered efficiently and effectively.”

Baker added, “Since 2016, we have developed and deployed our Lean Program to improve the speed of our business processes, improve customer experiences and reduce costs. It has also been a key priority for our annual Business Planning and Budget process.”

The City’s Lean program focuses on creating improvements to business processes, enhancing customer-focused thinking and strengthening the City’s culture of continuous improvement.

“Since its inception, we’ve seen some great strides with our Lean program. Beyond just financial savings, the program has also improved our customer service and experience, provided environmental benefits as well as enhanced the quality and safety for both customers and those performing the work,” said Gary Kent, Commissioner of Corporate Services and Chief Financial Officer. “Staff are diligent in applying Lean concepts to work smarter. Using these tools and establishing it as a way of work, we have improved and eliminated a number of unnecessary tasks and looked at more efficient and effective ways of conducting our day-to-day business. To date, our Lean Program has saved and avoided more than $9.2 million in costs without any impacts to existing service levels.”

The City will be receiving the award from Joe Aherne, Chief Executive Officer, and John Whelton, Vice-President of North American Operations, Leading Edge Group on Tuesday, November 20.

Background:

City of Mississauga’s Lean Program
The City’s Lean Program was established as a permanent resource in 2016 following a small pilot, with the goal of strengthening the culture of continuous improvement across the organization. The Lean Program is managed by the City’s Corporate Performance and Innovation Section within the Corporate Services Department.

• City’s Lean Program Highlights (as of November 2018)
• 97 completed Lean projects, with an additional 42 projects underway
• More than 2,000 “just-do-it “small improvements have been completed
• More than 2,500 City staff have received introductory White Belt Training on Lean concepts and thinking
• 27 certified intermediate Yellow Belts
• 53 certified advanced Green Belts

The Leading Edge Group Continuous Improvement Excellence Award
The Leading Edge Group has specialized in business transformation programs globally for more than 20 years. Established in 2017, the Continuous Improvement Excellence Award formally recognizes excellence across an organization in adopting sustainable continuous improvement programs.

Award Criteria
Assessed by an adjudication panel and chaired by Leading Edge Group Board Chairman, David Skelton, the Award is based on overall operational excellence including strategy, capability, capacity and improvements that have been realized and sustained. It specifically focuses on those five pillars as defined through Leading Edge Group’s operational excellence framework.