Since 2007, Cape Coral, Florida, has adopted a mission to eliminate waste in all processes and operate in a more effective and efficient manner. Since then, the city has achieved more than $2 million in cost savings and performed 18 kaizen events to reduce costs and increase productivity without affecting the quality of services delivered to the local citizens.

The lean government program is the most valuable program that was ever brought to the city, according Terrance Stewart, Cape Coral’s former city manager.

With the help of an outside consultancy, city government teams were created to map and streamline processes by eliminating any unnecessary steps. The success in this phase of the lean implementation is in having the employees suggest the changes, after all, they’re the ones who know what the process is about, Stewart says.

“Lean government infuses employees at all levels into the improvement process. It taps the resources, the knowledge, the skills, the ability and the experience that they bring to an organization. It allows them to have buy-in, it allows them to have ownership to what is being done,” he says.

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