The Best Always Do Better – The New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s Operational Excellence Program (OpX)

Operational Excellence (OpX) is an innovative public-private partnership between the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Veolia Water, North America (Veolia) to address a broad array of procurement, technology, work force, materials and revenue strategies for achieving substantial budget savings, without outsourcing or privatization. OpX is an effort to be smarter about how DEP manages operations by streamlining work flows, boosting productivity and finding efficiencies. Over 100 initiatives ranging from contract negotiation, deploying Mini-Excavators for field operations to process optimization at our treatment plants resulted in a $15 million dollar budget reduction for the first year of implementation. This contributed to the lowest water and sewer rate increase in 8 years. In addition, OpX provided a venue for cultural improvement, engagement and morale building for the Agency’s employees.