Ensuring Success: An Insurer's Experience Using Lean Six Sigma to Refine the Dwelling Review Process
- Publication:
- Six Sigma Forum Magazine
- Date:
- May 2013
- Issue:
- Volume 12 Issue 3
- Pages:
- pp. 14-19
- Author(s):
- Hill, Kurt M.,
- Organization(s):
- Nationwide Insurance, Canton, OH
Abstract
In order for insurers to efficiently determine which homes to inspect, the renewal inspection ordering (RIO) criteria were developed. The RIO criteria replaced old criteria that resulted in over half of inspections returning no actionable items. Since inspections that return no actionable items are a waste of money, the goal was to determine which homes were likely to have actionable items. The RIO criteria were developed by applying the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) framework to renewal inspection orders. Pilot inspections increased the number of insurance to value issues uncovered by 33.4 percent and the number of hazardous conditions by 186 percent, and the number of inspections returning no actionable items was reduced by 46.7 percent.