SHOW LOW – An initiative that has reduced wait times at Motor Vehicle Division offices is one of the big results of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s commitment to continuous improvement. But even finding a better way to fill a water tank used for treating roadside weeds is helping ADOT provide better service for Arizonans.

Examining their processes and how to improve them, Show Low-based maintenance workers noted that it took 45 minutes to refill the 300-gallon water tank on their truck when they were spraying for weeds. It also involved driving back to the maintenance yard for refills because the three-quarter-inch connector was designed for a garden hose.

Creating a new 2-inch connector out of PVC pipe now allows them to fill the tank in about 10 minutes. Because of the new connector, they also can also refill the tank from a water truck or fire hydrant without having to drive back the maintenance yard.

The result: less time needed to treat weeds along highways and more time available to tend to other maintenance needs in the Show Low area.

All four herbicide trucks used by maintenance crews in ADOT’s Northeastern District now have the refilling system.

It’s one more way continuous improvement is helping ADOT increase its value to Arizona by making more efficient use of time, resources and taxpayer dollars.

For more information, visit azdot.gov.

PHOENIX – Taking the road test for a driver license has long involved showing up at an Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division office early in hopes of getting a time slot to take the test that day. And often plenty of waiting.

That’s changing as of this week. Customers are now able to schedule road tests up to 30 days in advance through ServiceArizona.com for 11 office locations in the Phoenix metro area and northern Arizona. MVD will be bringing remaining offices online over the next two weeks.

The change, part of MVD’s efforts to continuously improve its customer focus, adds to online appointments launched in April for those converting a driver license or ID card to a Voluntary Travel ID.

“This new feature will provide a lot of value to our customers by allowing them to fit the test into their schedule instead of spending half a day at an office waiting to take it,” ADOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen said. “This is another step forward in achieving MVD’s vision of getting customers out of line and safely on the road.”

To schedule an appointment, visit azdot.gov/roadtestinfo, which has step-by-step instructions for arranging road tests. Customers can fill out and submit a driver license application online, get a list of documents needed to obtain a standard driver license or Voluntary Travel ID and schedule their road tests on ServiceArizona.com.

Once at the MVD office, those with appointments can check in at a kiosk rather than waiting in line at the information desk.

Applicants must meet all requirements before taking the road test, including passing the written test. Appointments are only for road tests, not the written portion of the exam.

As part of ADOT’s agency-wide commitment to continuous improvement, MVD is experimenting with other ways to reduce wait times, an effort that has led to process improvements that include printing temporary credentials at customer service windows instead of sending customers to a separate line. Customers who need to retake the driving test now go directly to the testing area instead of first waiting in line to re-verify their applications with a representative.

An experiment at MVD’s West Phoenix location has found that having customers line up rather than relying on the number-calling system dramatically reduces wait times, and that innovation is rolling out to other large MVD offices. MVD has also seen positive results in experimenting this summer with expanded office hours in the Tucson area.

“All of the process improvements, like road test appointments, help make MVD more efficient and customer-oriented,” Jorgensen said. “All aspects of MVD are on the table as we continue to experiment and innovate to improve the overall customer experience.”

For more information, please visit azdot.gov/mvd.

TUCSON – At most urban Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division offices, customers begin lining up around 7:30 a.m. in anticipation of an 8 o’clock opening, aiming to avoid a wait. Those who don’t often try to squeeze in MVD visits during lunch breaks, creating a rush that can lead to longer waits throughout the afternoon.

As part of its efforts to improve the customer experience and reduce wait times throughout the state, MVD has started opening its three offices serving the Tucson area at 7:30 a.m. to give more people the opportunity to visit before work and to even out the flow of customers throughout the day.

“We want to provide more opportunities for customers to get their business done quickly with MVD,” ADOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen said. “We are committed to improving wait times and making the overall customer experience better.”

MVD will be monitoring the effectiveness of this experiment throughout the summer.

Reducing wait times at MVD offices is a key part of ADOT’s agency-wide commitment to continuous improvement. Other MVD experiments toward this goal include moving customers through the west Phoenix location without calling out numbers.

MVD’s efforts have already yielded process improvements that include printing temporary credentials at customer service windows instead of sending customers to a separate line. Also, customers who need to retake the driving test now go directly to the testing area instead of first waiting in line to re-verify their applications with a representative.

To accommodate opening earlier, employees at the Tucson MVD offices are working alternative schedules. The evaluation includes testing different schedules in order to have offices open longer.

With the new Tucson hours in place for only a couple of weeks, MVD has already noted improvement in wait times at the Tucson Regional office on South Broadmont Drive. In the course of planning, doing and checking results to continuously improve, MVD is prepared to make further adjustments to hours.

“Our approach of experimenting and assessing MVD’s processes has yielded and will continue to yield improvements that benefit customers around Arizona,” Jorgensen said.

For more information, visit azdot.gov/mvd.

PHOENIX – The West Phoenix Motor Vehicle Division office is often a noisy scene when a customer lines up to check in and then takes a seat to wait for an automated system to call his or her number.

On this day, however, it’s unusually quiet and no numbers are being called. After checking in, customers line up along a path through the lobby marked by yellow tape. While one MVD employee walks down the line to make sure customers have what they need to complete their transactions, another directs people to the next available customer service window.

It would be natural to think that the automated system is broken, but in fact it’s been modified to stop audibly calling numbers so employees here can see if trying a different approach reduces wait times.

The initial results are promising: On this day, customers got in and out in 30-35 minutes on average versus the usual average time of more than an hour.

As part of the Arizona Department of Transportation’s agency-wide commitment to continuous improvement, MVD has turned the office at 51st Avenue and Indian School Road, one of its busiest, into a laboratory of sorts as it works toward a goal of reducing door-to-door times at all locations from an average of one hour to 28 minutes. Repurposing the automated number system is one of many ideas that employees will try here in the coming months to identify process improvements that can be used at all MVD offices.

What’s happening at the West Phoenix office may be the most visible way MVD is seeking to becoming more valuable to customers, but this commitment to continuous improvement applies to all facets of its operations.

“Nothing is off-limits as we and others at ADOT answer Governor Ducey’s call to operate at the speed of business,” ADOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen said. “We’re ready to experiment with any element of MVD.”

The roadmap for continuous improvement begins with planning. What played out in the lobby on this day began with brainstorming sessions in a large employee training room downstairs that’s become an innovation center for a team made up of staff from the West Phoenix and other MVD offices, MVD leadership and ADOT’s continuous improvement specialists. It’s a place to literally throw things on the wall and see what sticks, as the walls are covered with color-coded sticky notes identifying dozens of processes being studied, along with challenges and potential improvements.

“We are looking at everything from driver licenses to titles and registrations and brainstorming possible solutions to issues with those processes,” said West Phoenix MVD Office Manager Steven Parra, who in addition to his other duties oversees the experimentation here. “It’s exciting to be a part of a venture where we get to actually test the ideas we come up with to see if they work.”

The next stages of continuous improvement are doing and checking. The results of the changes to the automated number system on this day will be studied, as will those of other experiments aimed at reducing customer wait times.

Some ideas will work. Some won’t. Both are part of a process that will lead to the final step of continuous improvement: acting, in this case by identifying ways that all MVD offices can reduce customer wait times.

In addition to innovations that will come from the West Phoenix office, MVD has already made several changes through its continuous-improvement process. These include printing temporary credentials at the customer service window instead of sending customers to a separate line. Also, a customer retaking the driving test now goes directly to the testing area instead of first waiting in line to re-verify his or her application with a representative.

“Our vision to get customers out of line and safely on the road is not just something we say,” Jorgensen said. “What’s happening at our West Phoenix office isn’t the beginning or the end of our efforts to improve at MVD. It’s an expression of how committed we are about better serving our customers and becoming more efficient.”

For more information, visit azdot.gov/mvd.

PHOENIX – In the not-so-distant past, someone retaking a road test at an Arizona Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division office had to stand in line – not to retake the test but to re-verify the application, a process that required spending several minutes at a window after taking a number and waiting to be called.

Today, that returning individual will retake the test first. Once he or she passes, a customer service representative will then process the rest of the application.

The change, which saves time for the test-taker as well as other waiting customers, is just one of the ways MVD is innovating to achieve its strategic vision of getting customers out of line and safely on the road.

“We’re continually looking to see where we can save time or even a visit to an office,” ADOT Motor Vehicle Division Director Eric Jorgensen said. “’Out of line and safely on the road’ is the way we’re doing business to benefit the residents of this state.”

Jorgensen, who became MVD director in March 2015, said there are several reasons behind the push to streamline processes and create more value for customers, starting with a philosophy his father shared.

“He would tell us, ‘If you see something that needs to be done, do it,’” Jorgensen said. “That saying has stuck with me, and I use it every day.”

He shares that philosophy with employees, noting that suggestions and feedback from those working at MVD offices have driven process improvements.

Another philosophy that drives Jorgensen is “a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.”

“It’s important to build momentum. Sometimes we have to build the race car while in the race,” Jorgensen said. “We have identified a lot of projects at MVD that will help us build that momentum and carry us to greater things.”

MVD’s vision is part of an agency-wide commitment to continuous improvement that involves every aspect of ADOT operations.

For MVD, finding new ways to leverage technology is another way to get customers out of line. That starts with expanding what can be done through ServiceArizona.com. The website and the 43 ServiceArizona kiosks at MVD offices and courthouses around Arizona offer more than 20 motor vehicle services such as vehicle registration renewal and ordering replacement driver licenses and specialty license plates, with more to come.

ServiceArizona initiatives include rolling out online appointment scheduling for all MVD offices. That’s already happening on a smaller scale for those wishing to convert driver licenses to the new Voluntary Travel ID at select MVD offices.

“We live in a time where technology allows people to conduct a lot of business anytime and anywhere,” Jorgensen said. “We want to do the same with the MVD and reduce or even eliminate the need to physically come into an office.”

An innovative approach is allowing MVD to modernize its computer system over the next few years through a partnership with IBM, which maintains ServiceArizona.com. A portion of all sales through ServiceArizona.com are going toward computer system improvements that will make motor vehicle services more accessible and efficient.

MVD also continues expanding options and convenience for customers through Authorized Third Party providers, with 165 businesses statewide providing services including a growing number offering driver licenses.

Ultimately, getting customers out of line and safely on the road is about helping people get what they need from the MVD in a timely and efficient way.

“Like most people who become public servants, MVD employees ‒ myself included ‒ want to help others, make things better and be part of a solution,” Jorgensen said. “It’s happening here at the MVD. We’re making a difference every day.”

To learn more about the Motor Vehicle Division, visit azdot.gov/mvd.