When UHN began offering the Lean Six Sigma course in 2024, Erica Tong, Michener’s Director of Facilities, knew it would benefit Michener and her team’s workflow.
Lean Six Sigma is a certification offered across industries to help professionals improve everyday operational processes. The goal is to tighten up workflow so that teams can work efficiently and produce the best results for their organization.
This past November, Erica completed the five-month Lean Six Sigma course and achieved the second level (Green Belt) of the certification. The course required five full-day classes on site at Toronto Western Hospital, a work-related project and a written exam. For Erica, it was the work-related project where she could apply her leadership skills and focus on improvements that would directly affect the Facilities team and the Michener staff experience.
“I’ve always been interested in process improvement, and I saw an opportunity to enhance the Facilities work order completion times,” says Erica. “It was a project that made sense for Michener.”
The Facilities department is responsible for all maintenance of Michener’s building, and a large part of the team’s workload is responding to work orders from staff through the digital portal Angus Anywhere. Because of the time-consuming process in place, work order completion times ranged from 12 hours to almost 10 days depending on the request type.
“The goal for my project was to reduce the work order completion time by 25% in six months,” says Erica. “An important part of my job is to maintain a high level of service without wasting resources or increasing budget. My project goal was ambitious, but manageable.”
With the team’s buy-in, and a focus on clear communication and building moral, Erica and the Facilities staff identified the bottlenecks in the work order process. They committed to learning how to use Angus more efficiently and cross-training team members so that multiple employees can manage work order intakes.
In the end, the Facilities team surpassed their goal and reduced work order completion times by 24% in just two months.
“Our process worked. And because we now communicate more as a team, we understand each of our roles better and this improves productivity and morale,” says Erica.
Erica presented her project outcome at a poster fair in November, and she’s grateful for the opportunity to take the course and think through better processes for her team and for Michener.
“The course directly changed my team’s day-to-day work, and it’s a perfect opportunity to share my learning,” she says.
