Research & Insights

Navy Medicine recognized that to effectively address workforce challenges such as burnout, engagement, retention, and process inefficiencies, leadership needed insights into the root causes as they are experienced by the workforce. At the same time, fragmented data collection and inconsistent feedback mechanisms made it difficult to identify trends and take decisive action. To address this need, NOVACES designed and deployed VOCAL (Voice of Customer Analysis Learnings)—a scalable, data-driven approach to stakeholder engagement, data collection, and advanced data analysis and synthesis to transform raw feedback into actionable insights that drive sustainable change.

The founders of NOVACES were pioneers in helping U.S. shipyards successfully implement Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. Today, our research focuses on integrating the Theory of Constraints with Lean Six Sigma for industries characterized by high demand variability. This combined approach delivers a system-level perspective that focuses efforts on managing constraints to maximize throughput. This is particularly beneficial for maintenance operations, hospitals, high-tech companies, and similar sectors. The integration of TOC and Lean Six Sigma has already yielded significant improvements across diverse industries.

No economy operates in isolation. In the wake of a disaster or during times of significant change, leaders at all levels require accurate, timely, and actionable data to inform their strategic plans. The NOVACES team of Certified Economic Developers (CEcD) identified a persistent challenge: economic development planning and recovery efforts are often hindered by insufficient or fragmented data, making it difficult to implement cohesive, evidence-based strategies.

When communities seek to boost employment, attract industry investment, increase tax revenue, or diversify their economic base, the typical question is: “How can we attract new businesses?”