Value Stream Mapping the Delaware Air Quality Permitting Process Bob Zimmerman State-EPA Symposium on Environmental Innovation and Results January 23-25, 2006

Delaware Value Stream Mapping Project Partners Delaware Economic Development Office Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership DNREC Office of the Secretary DAWM Air Quality Management General Motors Daimler Chrysler CIBA Specialty Chemicals ILC Dover, Inc. PPG Industries DuPont

Value Stream Mapping Process Objectives Improve the permitting process without weakening regulatory requirements. Capture the experience of those who have to meet the regulatory requirements. Process redesign activity would be transparent to the public and the regulated community.

Value Stream Mapping Process Why? Listening to voice of customer DEDO report on industry clusters to Governor - early 2005 DNREC asked to identify specific process - AQ construction permitting selected Stakeholders (Public/ Industry/ DNREC) Improve permitting process Reduce processing time/effort Create greater business certainty Optimize DNREC’s resources for other functions Improve environmental quality

Perspectives from Delaware’s Business Community Cost issues due to: Cumbersome and slow permitting process No allowance for “green companies” that are proactive and stay in compliance

Delaware Value Stream Mapping For public transparency we created a web page for the DNREC/ DEDO Value Stream Mapping project: http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/DNREC2000/VSM/Index.htm All materials are available on the web page

History DNREC / DEDO Value Stream Mapping Process June 05: Initial Scoping Meeting July 05: Planning Session Aug 05: 3 Day Training / Action Plan Sept 05: 30 Day – Progress/ Plan Review Oct 05: 60 Day – Progress/ Plan Review Nov 05: 90 Day – Progress/ Plan Review Jan ’06: 120 Day – Progress/ Plan Review

Mapping the Current State Created the goal for the session Defined what was in scope and out of scope Mapped the current state of the Air Quality Construction Permitting Process.

Goal for VSM Project Develop and implement an air permitting process that results in expeditious issuance of environmentally sound, operationally flexible and achievable permits in a timeframe not to exceed 90 days and ensure requirements are identified clearly prior to submittal reducing re-work in the process to 50%

In Scope Out of Scope • Interpretation of DNREC Rules, Policies, & Guidance Documents • Internal Organizational Structure • Internal Permit Process and Timing • Applicant Internal Process & Timing • Electronic Submittals • Application Content and Format • Permit and Technical Memo Format • Special Condition Content • Communication (Internal/External) Out of Scope • EPA Regulations • Interpretation of EPA Rules, Policies, and Guidance Documents • Modifying Existing DNREC Rules • Additional Resources • Permit Appeal Process • New Software/Computer Systems • Mandated Public Participation Requirements • Permits Involving Enforcement Action • Public Hearing Process/Officer

I know this is really small, I will provide handouts of this for each participant.

Mapping the Current State Lessons learned: Majority of process problems stem from the permit applications! First pass quality yield was < 1% Assuming perfect customer input, first pass quality yield was 18% Re-work was nearly 100%! Construction permits issued within 180 days

Mapping the Current State Identified opportunities for improvement called “Kaizen Bursts.” “Kaizen” are rapid improvement processes focused on eliminating waste, improving productivity, and achieving continual improvement. “Kaizen Bursts” were used to help create the Future State.

Again, I will pass out handouts for people to read

Creating the Future State Defined our future state – where we wanted to be in one year: Internal first pass quality yield - 80% Customer information quality - 80% Administrative completeness - 100% Technical completeness - 80% Re-work less than 50% Construction permit issued within 90 days

I will pass out handouts for people to read

Achieving Our Future State Identified and scheduled specific tasks to accomplish. These tasks included: create visual tracking boards; implement a First-In-First-Out system; create permitting checklists; seek applicant feedback; modify our applications to make them more user friendly; modify application review process; and collecting new performance metrics.

Visual Tracking Board

Project Highlights Surveyed applicants to discuss why they submitted incomplete applications and learned important information. Reduced our permitting backlog from 199 AQ construction permits on 8/24/2005 to 48 on 1/11/2006. Implemented a First-In-First-Out system. Now issuing AQ construction permits within 61 days of receiving a complete application I’ll update the backlog progress for this week before I send this to DEMEP.

What We Learned from Applicants Difficult to know which form to complete Difficult to know where and how to obtain information that is requested Difficult to know which questions to answer and which ones are not applicable Applicants would like help with engineering calculations Applicants would like to know why specific information is requested

Important Process Improvements Future State includes three important changes to the permitting process: Pre-Submittal Meeting Administratively Complete Gate Technically Complete Gate

DNREC Value Stream Mapping Air Permitting Process Cross Functional Communications Top Down Commitment PLUS: Employee Involvement Customer Focus and Communications First Time Quality Partnership Support Future State SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 05’ Reduced Waste in: MINUS: Motion Waiting Processing Rework Lead time Current State Created a permitting process that is environmentally sound, operationally flexible and achievable.

Next Steps We are still working on some of the action items required to implement the process. We are seeking volunteers (especially our permittees) to participate in the permit application redesign. We are reviewing/revising the metrics for permit processing.

Schedule Feb 06 - Complete drafts of all VSM action items Mar-April 06 - Train regulated community on new processes and documentation May-June 06 – Debug new processes July 06 – complete full implementation of new processes

For more information: Robert J. Zimmerman Office of the Secretary, Director of External Affairs Robert.Zimmerman@state.de.us 302-739-9000 Ali Mirzakhalili Program Administrator, Air Quality Management Ali.Mirzakhalili@state.de.us 302-739-9400 Amy Mann Environmental Engineer III, AQM Amy.Mann@state.de.us 302-323-4542

Lessons Learned by Nebraska, Michigan and Delaware Worth the effort Carefully select the situation or process There is a lot more waste than you realize Eliminating waste doesn’t mean eliminating people Goal-setting is critical Communications (before, during and after) Active and visible management support Be prepared for resource issues Follow- thru essential to keep on track