In June 2012, Professor Ron Schulingkamp’s MBA students at Loyola New Orleans College of Business had a noble goal: help reduce the euthanasia rate in their parish animal shelter. The overall result of the pilot: a 30% reduction in the euthanasia rate and a 45% increase in adoptions.
To accomplish that goal, the students introduced the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter (JPAS) to the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. Working with shelter staff, the students designed a month-long pilot to improve the process of selecting homeless dogs for euthanasia, finding caring homes for 60 dogs who otherwise would have been put to sleep. According to shelter director Robin Beaulieu, the Lean Six Sigma project was an introduction to the Baldrige Criteria, which provided “the overall framework and mental model that focused on systematic performance improvement and alignment of all of the activities.” The pilot was the shelter leadership team’s first introduction to the Baldrige Criteria and “the knowledge required to understand and ‘operationalize’ the Criteria, including Lean Six Sigma, process management, and project management,” she said. The pilot has provided the baseline for improvement efforts ever since.
The MBA students taught the shelter about alignment and integration of processes and the basics of Lean, said Beaulieu. The Lean “5S” concepts were applied to reducing the time for potential adopters to select their new family members, from one hour to 15–20 minutes. This cycle time reduction was the result of the shelter director’s identification of a major “adoption bottleneck” that related to the animal selection process.
To eliminate, or at least reduce, the bottleneck, the shelter developed a process with the help of volunteers to profile shelter pets on the Jefferson Parish SPCA Facebook website, so that by the time an adopter comes to the shelter, he/she has an idea of a potential match. At this point, the shelter ensures that the pet is a good match for the forever home to reduce returns.
The shelter has also improved how supplies are organized (set in order) and the cleanliness of the kennels (shine). JPAS operates two animal shelters in Jefferson and Marrero, LA. The shelters hold lost animals for owners to reclaim, adopt out homeless animals to new owners, and quarantine dogs and cats that have bitten. In addition, the shelter investigates complaints of cruelty or neglect of animals. The shelters accepts all animals turned over to them. (read more)
Source: BLOGRIGE The Official Baldrige Blog https://www.nist.gov/comment/16286
Some Animals Owe Their Lives to Kind Shelter Staff—and the Baldrige Criteria October 2, 2014 By: Dawn Bailey
