Meijers Insurance is a highly respected Dutch insurance broker which was established in 1973. Ever since its founding, the company has seen strong growth and has been known for its service-oriented customer focus and specialized industry knowledge. Over the years, the growing workload was resolved by hiring more people. “We now have more than 260 employees, and, of course, we will continue to recruit good people because our growth ambition remains high,” says COO Cindy Weisscher. “However, adding more people is only part of the solution. Significant efficiency gains can only be achieved by optimizing processes. That’s why we have fully embraced Lean Six Sigma.”
Examining Existing Processes
Cindy Weisscher, who previously served as Director of IT & Operations at Loyalis and worked for Rabobank in the Netherlands and Asia, joined Meijers on April 1, 2019, armed with her knowledge and experience. Meijers aimed to elevate the organization to the next level of maturity to accommodate future growth. Achieving this required speeding up customer-focused
digitalization. They needed to make optimal use of data for innovative time-saving processes. “For the first three months, I had discussions with people, observed the processes, and asked many questions. Everyone was busy and working hard to please customers, but working harder is not always enough. We aim for a customer experience rating of 9+, which means everything needs to be well organized. Introducing structure and process improvements increases efficiency and customer satisfaction. Based on my findings, I developed a plan and shared the ideas for the change journey with the Executive Team. They quickly embraced our continuous improvement journey, but the challenge was to get the entire organization on board.”
Cindy explains that in her experience, serious change often initially faces resistance. “Why change something that, in the view of people who have been doing the work for years, has been going well? Good is the enemy of better, I always say. This means you need to communicate well and demonstrate that the steps you want to take make sense to create broad support.” Standardize and Automate by First Understanding Processes As part of the plan, T-MC was enlisted to work with Meijers to map existing processes. “Only after that can we establish standards and start optimizing. I had worked with T-MC before, so I knew they were the perfect guides for this. This formed the basis on which we could build further with the established working group, and we selected The Lean Six Sigma Company as our implementation partner. We engaged in discussions with several parties, but The Lean Six Sigma Company’s presentation aligned with our vision, and there was an immediate connection with Willem Pothoven, the Master Black Belt trainer. This is important when embarking on a long journey together.”
Awareness Is the Starting Point for Improvement
The goals of the journey were also determined by Meijers’ strategy and core values. “We wanted to align and reinforce them,” explains Willem. “In July 2019, we started a Capability Maturity Scan to assess the organization’s performance. What was noticeable is that the people side scored high, but the process side scored significantly lower. This corresponded with Cindy’s observation and was the starting point for WoW, Waanzinnig op Weg (Amazingly on the Way).”
“A Maturity Scan can be confronting,” Cindy says. “Especially when everyone believes things are going quite well. It’s about assessing where you are, ensuring everyone understands what it’s about, determining where you want to go, and how you can reach those goals. We interviewed people at all levels, observed how managers ran their departments, how work processes were recorded in systems, and began training the first Green Belts for a journey with no final destination. Our continuous improvement journey has milestones, but the destination is continually pushed beyond the horizon because there’s always room for improvement.”
Theory and Practice
The first Green Belt program began in September 2019 with eight candidates representing all departments. Besides the theoretical aspects of the training program, they immediately put their knowledge into practice. “The advantage of on-site training is that you can learn by doing,” says Willem. “We started with a workshop to get a good overview of the main processes (Target Operating Model). Following that, we walked through the work floor to see firsthand what was happening to get the most complete picture (Gemba Walk).”
In a subsequent Gemba Walk, the Green Belts in training were given specific tasks to focus on, enabling them to zoom in on the (work) processes with the ultimate goal of identifying and recording potential improvements.
“What I remember is that everyone was busy, but what they were busy with and why was not always clear. Standards were often lacking, and usable data was rarely available,” explains Christiaan Geurts, one of the first eight Green Belt trainees.
“In this phase, essentially, you are teaching people to look at things from a different perspective,” says Willem. “This is a significant learning moment for everyone. I don’t tell them what to do; I simply provide direction.”
Based on all observations and conversations, specific bottlenecks have been identified in various processes within departments such as sales, exchange, underwriting, claims, etc. Five improvement projects have been defined and executed by the Green Belts in training, with the coaching of Willem Pothoven where necessary.
Shifting the Course and Steering toward Success with Lean Six Sigma
In light of all observations and discussions, concrete bottlenecks were identified in various processes across departments such as sales, exchange, underwriting, claims, and more. Five improvement projects were defined and executed by the Green Belts in training, with the necessary coaching from Willem Pothoven.
Setting New Goals with the Second Generation at the Helm
With the second generation leading at Meijers and the new course in mind, they sought reinforcements from outside the insurance sector. “We looked for individuals with Lean experience and a fresh perspective,” Cindy explains. They also scouted externally.
Aman Bisesser, a Business Analyst in the IT department, is one of the eight Green Belts from the first batch trained by The Lean Six Sigma Company, and, like Christiaan, he is now theoretically certified as a Black Belt. “I applied here because Meijers is a family company with all the benefits of personal attention. A few weeks in, I was allowed to participate in the first internal Green Belt training, enabling me to build from the ground up, which is especially fulfilling.”
We Don’t Put Out Fires; We Embrace the Problem and Work Toward a Solution
“You get the time here to thoroughly investigate and organize matters,” says Christiaan. “People possess knowledge of their own work processes and, based on years of experience, they know how to solve problems. However, it can often be done even more efficiently. By first examining the root causes of problems, you can prevent future issues and achieve structural improvements.”
Just like Aman, Christiaan came on board in early 2019, and both participated directly in the initial phase of the project and now guide other Green Belts as Black Belts. “We both work in the IT department, but the group of Green Belts consists of individuals from various departments. This fosters valuable cross-pollination. We’ve made significant progress and are increasingly capable of making data-driven, well-founded decisions.”
The DNA of Meijers
Green Belts are given specific assignments, and over the coming years, all processes will be standardized and improved. “In 2021, the fourth group of Green Belts will be trained and certified, continuously enhancing our capabilities,” Cindy says, not without pride. “Customer focus and engagement have always been part of Meijers’ DNA, and process improvement and thinking are becoming integral components.”
Success Encourages More Participation
Standardizing processes and working according to fixed procedures greatly assists in Meijers’ challenging, specialized work. The initial Green Belt projects yielded impressive results. Especially at the beginning, even the smallest successes were celebrated to demonstrate that this approach works and encourage more people to get on board. “Now we go all out. We organize the Meijers World Café twice a year, an initiative by Willem, where Green Belts and Black Belts present their projects to the rest of the organization. You can feel the enthusiasm. Even those who were somewhat skeptical at the beginning are now volunteering to participate in the next Green Belt training. Success motivates.”
Daily Start-Up Ensures We Know What Everyone Is Working On
“Remote work was rare at Meijers before the pandemic,” Willem Pothoven explains. In 2020, the pandemic forced Meijers to change its course, speeding up the transition. “This led to a kind of sprint. While the company quickly got its systems and security in order, learning how to adapt to this new way of working was another challenge. I provided coaching and introduced the daily start-up. Each department now begins every day with an online team session to share personal goals and expectations in a 20-minute session. For maximum visibility, I manually created dashboards, and in collaboration with Meijers’ IT department, these were digitized for optimal ease of use.”
Practicing What You Preach
Sometimes, companies use Lean to impose top-down pressure, with the primary, sometimes sole, goal of cost reduction. “That’s not our style, and that’s why The Lean Six Sigma Company fits us so well. Of course, it’s about process optimization with the focus on both employee and customer satisfaction. At some point, you need to work smarter to accommodate growth instead of constantly working harder. Cost savings through improved efficiency are seen as a welcome bonus. The management is actively involved, making it easier to get everyone moving. It’s a combination of evangelizing, sharing successes, and setting a good example,” Cindy argues.
Pace of the Journey
The division of roles between T-MC and The Lean Six Sigma Company was clear, and the collaboration proceeded smoothly. The Lean Six Sigma Company provided training and guidance on the new way of working. Cindy explains, “Willem and I were aligned in our ideas, which is pleasant when you’re on this journey together. However, it’s not about blindly following but keeping each other sharp. We sometimes had disagreements along the way, but it’s precisely these differences that propel you forward. Willem coached the Green Belts and, later, the Black Belts, ensuring we maintained momentum and followed the right path based on the developed strategy. He’s an excellent teacher, knows how to establish it internally and gets people excited.”
Black Belts Ensure Continuity
The second and third waves of Green Belts were trained by Willem during the pandemic, and it had to be done remotely. The same applies to the Black Belt program, which commenced in September 2020 for continuity. “This way, I make myself redundant. I trained the Black Belts through interactive Zoom sessions. Modern technology makes it feel like you’re in the same room together. A combination of training and coaching ensures that what’s learned is applied in practice. Having a case beforehand makes it all very practical, and you experience the results yourself.”
In conclusion, the management has been trained and coached so that they are well aware of the expertise available and how to optimally utilize the Green Belts and the necessary conditions to be established for optimal performance. “This relieves the Black Belts, allowing them to focus on coaching the Green Belts, particularly in terms of their soft skills. The organization is now capable of continuing the journey independently. It’s wonderful to see how Meijers embarked on this journey in 2019 and how enthusiastically they have progressed with Cindy as the driving force.”
