Case Studies in Transactional Environments
Future State Map 1 Case Study: American Fidelity Assurance Company Insurance company—claims processing Figure 17.5 is a Future State Map from American Fidelity Assurance Company. It shows a claims-processing value stream that, for the most part, functions exactly as a production process does. However, due to the push at the front of the process, where the customer is also the supplier, the employees within the value stream must react quickly when demand on the service increases. This fluctuation in demand and the minor differences between claims received from various parts of the country became the focus of the project team as a future state was being envisioned. Through kaizen, the Lean initiative team was able to significantly reduce claim turnaround time. One year prior to this improvement event, average department turnaround was 4 days, but different processing teams serving various areas of the country were averaging 3 days, 4+ days, and 5+ days, respectively. Within one month of implementation, turnaround was consistent across teams at 2 days. The initiative team accomplished this through balancing the workload (smaller teams pull fewer claims than larger teams), eliminating motion (no more sorting and resorting), and reducing excess processing (replacing a 100% audit process with simpler, more meaningful controls). By implementing these changes and standardizing procedures, the project team estimated that up to 15 defects identified in the current state would be eliminated or greatly reduced. In addition to the very visible results presented here, American Fidelity was able to ensure that employees were provided uninterrupted time each day to process claims by dedicating staff to this task on a rotating basis. Teamwork has become a very visible part of the department since the Lean changes have been made, and two of the employees have had enough time made available that they are now assigned part-time as Lean facilitators working on Lean improvements throughout the organization.
Future State Map 2 Case Study: Path Links Pathology Services Health care organization—histology laboratory Figure 17.6 is a Future State Map from Path Links Pathology Services in the United Kingdom. The Path Links Lean team attacked the histology laboratory