Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Project – Healthcare Services
Customer Transport Credential Process – Cycle Time Reduction
Business Challenge
Customers were spending excessive time at the front desk to validate transport credentials. At the same time, the process was consuming significant administrative resources, affecting both customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. The project had de cumprir os requisitos legais sem investimento significativo.
Project Goal
Improve the operational performance of the credential validation process by reducing cycle time and process variability, while maintaining compliance and improving the customer experience.
Methodology
The project followed the DMAIC methodology – Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. Customer and Business voices converged on the same requirement: reducing the time and resources consumed by the process.
Measure & Analyse
A sample of 687 transactions was analysed. The initial mean cycle time was approximately 1.04 minutes, with considerable variation.
The analysis identified that 37.5% of credentials contained problems, with outdated credentials representing the dominant cause of delay. Furthermore, 90.7% of the errors were associated with transport providers, strongly influenced by batching several customers and/or several days into the same interaction.
Improvements
The improvement phase focused on eliminating batching and redesigning how credentials were handled. Supporting actions included 5S and Visual Management, revised Standard Operating Procedures, staff training, alignment with software requirements and the creation of new performance metrics and a Control Plan.
Sustainability
The Control phase introduced KPIs, control charts for waiting and processing time, regular team reviews, continued Lean Six Sigma development and periodic reassessment of process performance.