EXPANDED THINKING LEADS TO EXCITING BUSINESS RESULTS
Expand Thinking by Challenging Assumptions
Amethyst Associates training courses have a common theme: expand thinking by challenging assumptions. Why? Expanded thinking leads to exciting business results and new business opportunities.

When we say exciting we mean exciting as is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, increasing client satisfaction in giant leaps, reducing stress, saving hundreds of hours, cutting waste and so much more. Imagine how excited these employees feel about their jobs and their employers, as well as how happy their employers and managers are, and how delighted their customers are. Win-win-win! Everyone's loyalty skyrockets!

GOVERNMENT
Developers make money faster
The City of Redmond, Washington recently improved their approval process for Civil plans for new development in the city. Due to high growth and the complexity of the process, the original process took an average of 300 days and an average of 4 cycles for approval. The new process takes and average of 2 cycles and 100 days! The City of Redmond is now considered the model for this development process in the State of Washington! And city developers are truly delighted.

AIRLINE INDUSTRY
An airline actually delights customers!
Alaska Airlines has used the Zoom process on processes from aircraft maintenance to reservations. One example of their success is the process of checking in at the airport. During busy periods, up to 20,000 people will check in during a short period of time. In the past, Alaska’s very valued customers would wait in line between 30-40 minutes. Because this time was unacceptable to the airline, they performed a process improvement project for the check in process and reduced the wait time to 2-5 minutes. Their customers were truly delighted! And so were their Customer Service Agents.

MEDICAL INDUSTRY
Better Care Plus $600,000 Saved Annually
At a large medical center, a perinatal team eliminated duplication and multiple nurse-patient contacts by combining two nursing units. The savings added up to over $600,000 per year. Customers were delighted by consistent care of the same nurse.
Scheduling Improves By Up To 70%
A schedule team improved on-time surgery starts by 40% to 70%. Their solution so involved and excited everyone that surgeons are now helping to prep patients.
Delighted Patients
A kidney transplant team decreased the average length of stay by 8 days. The average charges dropped by $8,500.00. They created an outpatient service that delights patients and their families, and created a model for other improvements that decreased hospital stays through the use of outpatient services.
Saved $200,000
A blood center was about to spend $200,000 on machines to rock units of blood in order to eliminate clotting. A Zoom team examined the process and found that the clots and waste were the same with or without the machines. Clots were cased by another step in their process. Their data surprised everyone and saved $200,000.

TEAMS
Decreased Complaints
A meeting room scheduling team decreased customer complaints from 100% to 40% and decrease double bookings from 63% to 0.
Saved 500 Hours Programming Time
An information systems team saved 500 hours of programming time on their new computer system by improving a process before they automated it.
Saving 1 Day Every Month
Two human resource employees spent 8 hours to improve the new hire process. They eliminated rework and saved one secretary 8 hours of work per month.

MANUFACTURERS
Improved On-Time Delivery
An electronic company used Zoom accelerated process redesign to improve the on-time delivery of products after data showed that more than 80% of their shipments were late to the customer. They also discovered that when products were late, they were reworking other customer's products - effectively building it twice at double the cost. They developed a system that resulted in 95% on time shipments, eliminated the double cost and delighted their customers.
Reduced Order Cycle Time by Over 50%
A high tech company simplified the order cycle which reduced order cycle time by over 50%. The whole company is delighted.
Decreased WIP & Trouble Shooting Time
A large manufacturing company focused on the Work In Process for a board that cost $975/board. At the start of the project, they had 660 boards in WIP at a total cost of approximately $660,000. Through cross shift participation the team developed a troubleshooting guide which reduced the troubleshooting time by 46%. The overall Work In Process decreased from 660 boards to 6 boards - an incredible $554,000 savings.
Reduced Error Rate from 67% to 2%
A manufacturing company had 67% errors in rework in their instrument manufacturing process. They believed these errors were caused by their supplier and could not be fixed. Zoom graduates gathered data on the source of the error and found one mold instrument off by .001. They fixed the mold and reduced the error rate to 2%.
Delighted Customers, Reduced Stress & Money Saved
An irrigation products manufacturer moved their small package shipping in-house. Their shipping area was clogged resulting in delays and frustration. They had lots of special handling charges, and wasted much time and money.

After applying Zoom accelerated process redesign training they:

• Sped up data entry by changing shipping programs.
• Reduced freight billing process time.
• Implemented a new web-based tracking system.
• Reduced number of claims due to better tracking.

The results:

• One shipping day was eliminated.• Costs were cut dramatically.
• Several side benefits achieved saved them time and money.
• Reduced the stress level in the distribution area.
• Delighted their customers with faster, cheaper shipments.

MASTERING CHANGE TRAINING RESULTS
Dealing with Change Productively
Mastering Change was selected for the entire Nursing Administration group of Swedish Hospital. The change was related to a change of the Nursing Administrator after 18 continuous years, reorganizations around functional services, downsizing and health care reform. Participants were delighted with the active learning style, learning about change as a community, and reported a higher degree of understanding of the impact of change and how to deal with it in a more productive way.

Patient Charting Automated
Mastering Change was selected as a part of a project to automate patient charting at the bedside at a large medical center in Eastern Washington. Project planners recognized the need to give health care providers skills in change and transition as well as technical skills for this very significant change. Participants reported feeling more empowered to make decisions, a shift to a more positive outlook to the change, and more confidence in their ability to move forward.

Merger Becomes Motivational
A high tech company being merged into another company also selected Mastering Change. This highly entrepreneurial group found it very difficult to give up their identity, their processes and to find excitement and possibilities in the new environment. Master Change provided them with a framework for the future, generating vision and motivation. It helped to overcome the feelings of helplessness and moved participants to see a broader range of options for themselves and their careers.
What kinds of extraordinary results will your company have? See what's possible in our free Customer Delight: Building Customers for Life seminar.

Learn more about Amethyst Associates training programs and see out how to create wow! customer loyalty and much more in your organization.