EVOLUTION OF A COMPETITIVENESS INITIATIVE FROM DISCRETE PROGRAM TO A CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT CULTURE THE ANCHORAGE WATER AND WASTEWATER UTILITY'S EXCELLENCE ADVENTURE

摘要

Following five years of constant utility rates, the Anchorage Water and WastewaterUtility found the challenge of sustaining service levels and efficiency improvementsnecessary to continue to avoid rate increases increasingly difficult. To add new energyand ideas, the utility made the decision to involve employees in the strategic planningprocess and the efficiency program. The utility lead program, named the ExcellenceAdventure, achieved early, impressive gains through formation and recommendations ofemployee re-engineering teams, under the guidance of a cross divisional, organizationand labor group Competitiveness Steering Team. After operating the ExcellenceAdventure for approximately three years, the utility hired a consulting team to acceleratethe program to achieve the financial and cultural change goals.The Brown and Caldwell consultant team conducted evaluations of the utility and itscompetitiveness program as the basis for developing a 2002 Action Plan. The focus ofthe plan was both short-term, to meet cost savings goals, as well as long-term, to evolvethe cultural changes necessary to ensure the savings were sustainable. The Action Planfocused on evolving the utility’s efficiency initiative from a discrete program to itscomplete integration into the utility.This paper describes the development of the 2002 Action Plan and its first six months ofimplementation. The paper also describes the successes, challenges, and the lessonslearned in integrating the continuous improvement culture into the organization whileretaining the benefits accrued in the initial years of the Excellence Adventure program.