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Glendale rolls out Lean Academy; staff say program saved time and money in early projects
Summary
City staff described a Lean 6 Sigma training program that has certified 110 employees, produced completed process projects and identified recurring efficiencies including estimated annual savings in specific services.
Glendale staff presented the city’s Lean Academy at the Aug. 26 workshop, saying the program has trained municipal employees in Lean Six Sigma methods, certified 110 staff at yellow/green/black belt levels and delivered process improvements that produced time and cost savings.
Jenny Durda, director of organizational performance, and Jeff Bratcher, organizational performance program manager, said the academy launched in October 2023 and now reports 74 yellow‑belt, 31 green‑belt and five black‑belt certifications. Durda said the training provides a progression of skills and a formal pathway to lead process projects across departments.
Several project examples were highlighted: a housing recertification project that digitized a paper‑based packet and reassigned case workflows ahead of a software conversion; a capital‑asset workflow revision tied to a previous council change in the capital threshold that staff say will reduce annual record‑keeping labor; and an after‑hours water reconnect project that staff said saved about $20,000 annually in overtime and vehicle costs and more than 200 staff hours. "The cost of the Lean Academy training in a year is under $12,000. So this one project recouped the cost of the program," the presenters said.
Program approach and reach: staff said they have recorded 36 full Lean projects, with eight completed, seven active and 21 queued. In addition to formal projects, staff said they are using lean concepts in program evaluations and software integrations. Bratcher described a "Gimbal Walk" used by the IT team to simulate permit workflows with 40 participants across eight departments to identify integration issues before software rollout.
Staff said the city is launching a short all‑staff training called LeanCity and an "Ignite" portal to collect improvement ideas from any employee; ideas will be triaged by organizational performance and IT and routed to department leadership.
Council discussion focused on program scale, enrollment limits and whether more seats could be offered. Bratcher said the current schedule offers six class runs per year (three yellow‑belt courses with 10 seats each and three green‑belt courses with five seats each) and that the model is a train‑the‑trainer approach so certified staff can lead departmental improvements. The city manager and council members praised the program and asked staff to consider expanding capacity if demand grows.
