In 2011 Governor Andrew Cuomo convened the Spending and Government Efficiency Commission, a group of private sector leaders and legislators tasked with finding ways to make State government more modern, accountable, and efficient. One result of that effort was the New York State Lean Initiative (“Lean”), a process improvement strategy that empowers employees to identify and cut unnecessary red tape and improve customer service. Lean practices were first established in the private sector, and the State has worked with companies that pioneered these initiatives to train its own employees – with impressive results.

Lean entails the comprehensive reimagining of a business process to eliminate duplicative steps and waste. Line-level employees play a critical role in process redesign, and Lean encourages sharing best practices for similar functions across different bureaus and agencies. In 2013 the State conducted 10 pilot projects using Lean. Based on the success of these projects, the initiative expanded to include nearly 400 projects in 38 State agencies and public authorities. More than 8,500 State workers have participated in Lean workshops, and more than 600 have been trained as Lean practitioners. Lean has fostered a culture of continuous improvement and empowered employees to become advocates for improving their own agencies.

Lean programs are concentrated in agencies and processes with a focus on one or more of three common themes. First, many programs focus on agencies and processes with the greatest interaction with the public. For example, Lean has been part of how the Department of Motor Vehicles has slashed office wait times by more than 50 percent on average. In-office wait times to register a vehicle acquired through casual sale have gone from averaging 60 minutes to 39 minutes and, in select pilot offices, the average time to obtain a driver’s permit is 45 minutes, down from 172 minutes.

Second, Lean projects help to streamline and accelerate licensing, permitting, and registration of New York State’s two million businesses and 800,000 individually licensed practitioners. These functions, which cross multiple agencies, have had their timetables cut by about half on average. The Department of State has reduced processing times to license real estate brokers and agents from 20 days to 4 days. The Department of Health has reduced the time to process a certificate of need for a new health care facility from a median of 157 days to 100 days and for an operating certificate from an average of 137 days to 31 days.

Third, Lean increases general responsiveness to the public for services including processing of benefit claims, scheduling hearings, and investigating alleged wrongdoing. For example, the Department of Labor has reduced its backlog of unemployment insurance break in claims requests by 77 percent. The time from request to reinstatement has dropped from 42 days to less than 10 days.  

As new Lean programs continue to emerge, the State is beginning to explore how to export the Lean process to additional State entities, as well as local governments, which provide most of the services upon which New Yorkers rely. If the State’s experience is any indication, Lean can help local taxpayers benefit from more efficient and less costly services.