Last summer Xerox Corporation's director of Lean Six Sigma deployment, George Maszle asked master black belt, Dr. Nabil "Bill" Abu Gharbieh, to volunteer his time to the Greater Rochester Quality Council to help the city of Rochester, N.Y., cut down on crime and increase safety. Dr. Abu Gharbieh eagerly accepted the assignment, and never imaged he'd have more to learn about Lean Six Sigma. After all, he was one of the original master black belts for GE's renowned Six Sigma program, and, possessed a rich past in quality process improvement before he joined Xerox in 2004.

"This project became an additional cycle of learning for Bill, where he used the Lean Six Sigma process in new and different ways," says Maszle. "Xerox employees like Bill are not only enjoying the opportunity to give back to the community, but they are stretching their leadership skills in new dimensions."

Lean Six Sigma incorporates lean manufacturing techniques with Six Sigma, a disciplined quality process corporations used to cut waste in business. Much like martial arts, master black belt status comes when you achieve utmost proficiency in the program.

The Greater Rochester Quality Council includes representatives from local companies that have an expertise in quality processes like Lean Six Sigma. The Council raised its hand to help Rochester government officials with their most challenging issues. Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy was quick to accept the offer, seeking help with the city's hiring cycle for police officers and firefighters. Mayor Duffy needed more trained police officers and firefighters on the streets faster. Achieving these goals meant cutting down police and firefighter hiring cycles from approximately 18 months to six.

For Abu Gharbieh, this Lean Six Sigma project was a far cry from the corporate world. "This was about much more than crunching numbers and achieving productivity. The results of this project meant helping improve the safety of the city," he said. Abu Gharbeih's job was to lead two parallel Lean Six Sigma projects at once, working to drastically reduce the city's police and fire departments hiring processes cycle time and still allow for the flexibility needed in such a process.

Under the guidance of Deputy Mayor Patricia Malgieri and human resources manager Donna Turner, the Lean Six Sigma team included Abu Gharbieh, members of the city's human resources organizations, and representatives from legal, police and fire departments. Initially, the team confronted cumbersome hiring procedures that didn't die easily. "Making sure each stakeholder group within the departments had a common set of goals was key to this Lean Six Sigma project's success," says Abu Gharbieh. "And sometimes there were constraints that we needed to work around."

Although the beginning and end of the recruitment cycles are similar for each department, many things in the middle were different. "It all starts with a test, and ends with training, but the police have very different hiring requirements than the fire department, and deal with many more applicants and issues," adds Abu Gharbieh. The Rochester police department can receive as many as 4,000 employment applications, and sign on only 25-50 for training at the police academy. The fire department receives much fewer applicants and recruits 10 to 15 firefighters.

The team worked on integrating a rigid Lean Six Sigma methodology into the current process. It included the popular Define Measure Analyze Improve and Control (DMAIC) model, one that uses phased "tollgates" that give a periodic reality check to the team's findings, analysis and recommendations. Before the team moves on to the next phase, they need to make sure all changes are agreed upon in the previous phase. Through a disciplined process that relied on detailed fact-based assessments, the team was able to propose totally new, streamlined procedures for both departments that would achieve the mayor's goal of reducing the hiring cycle to six months.

In December 2006, the plan rolled out with the first class of police officer testing with solid results. The team remains confident the Lean Six Sigma-driven changes will cut the hiring cycle in half, eventually achieving the six-month goal.

For Xerox, one of the best contributions we can give our communities is the time and talent of our people. It's a commitment fulfilled through Xerox's volunteer initiatives like its Science Consultant Program and Social Service Leave.

For Abu Gharbieh, the experience brought new meaning to the power of Lean Six Sigma. "It's fulfilling to know that in our small, process-driven way, we're helping to keep the people of Rochester safe."