The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is getting “lean” with a business plan that has all the characteristics of a good diet: Reduce unnecessary consumption, eliminate wasteful habits, and maximize energy use to improve short- and long-term health.

These are the values at the core of Lean, SEPTA’s initiative to increase productivity and improve customer service with fewer resources.

The scope of the program covers all operations-related facilities and offices throughout SEPTA’s multimodal system, which serves nearly one million riders each day throughout the Philadelphia region.

“Lean is a culture change—a change in the way SEPTA does business,” said John R. Jamison Jr., SEPTA’s assistant chief mechanical officer and chief Lean architect. “It isn’t a tactic or a cost reduction program, it’s a new way of thinking and acting for an entire organization.”

While Lean is larger than a specific effort to cut costs, Jamison said it will pay dividends for years to come through the efficiencies it creates. For example, a major component of the program includes simplifying work spaces for employees so they have the tools and resources they need to do their jobs. This helps increase productivity while also improving the quality of the work being done.

Lean events at SEPTA facilities over the last few years have consistently backed up the initiative’s core philosophy. In one instance, Lean observers saw a chance to achieve better results and reduce hours needed to rebuild the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system on a rail car. They suggested such minor adjustments as reorganizing tool kits to provide easier access to materials, replacing and adding certain materials, and eliminating a test on the unit performed at another shop. A follow-up inspection after the Lean recommendations were implemented showed a 32 percent decrease in staff-hours needed for the HVAC rebuild.

Additional Lean events at SEPTA repair shops and other facilities led to similar results. Lean recommendations also resulted in a streamlined bus inspection process.

“These efficiencies will help with SEPTA’s efforts to control and reduce costs,” Jamison said. “We’re also creating more value for our customers and using fewer resources to do so.”

Lean complements standard work instructions already available to SEPTA’s 9,000-plus employees, providing added resources to help them complete their tasks in an efficient manner.

“We’re all on the same page,” Jamison said. “Everyone—directors, managers, mechanics maintenance workers—they know what’s expected of them.”

Jamison said Lean is a constant work in progress and that he expects SEPTA’s talented employees to implement their own creative ideas and additions in years to come.

“We’re moving from an old way of thinking to a ‘lean’ way of thinking,” he noted. “This requires a complete transformation in how we conduct business, and that takes a long-term perspective and perseverance.”

John R. Jamison Jr., SEPTA’s assistant chief mechanical officer, conducts a seminar for the agency’s managers about the Lean initiative.	A SEPTA wire train crew at work on the regional rail system. The goal of Lean is to streamline processes throughout the transit system, repair shops, and offices to increase efficiencies.