Lean Implementation included a series of Kaizen Events, with the various Lean tools applied in the proper sequence (such as mistake proofing, cell design and 5S)

Lean and Green™ Manufacturer of Collectibles and High Volume Products

We facilitated a session with our client’s Team to ensure a shared high level of understanding of Value Mapping techniques that would be required for effective Future State Implementation. The Current State was completed and analyzed. A Future State (FS) and a detailed Future State Implementation Plan was developed.

LEAN Healthcare Interview - CBCNewsworld

Measuring Lean Results In Healthcare

Over the last couple years, we have been working with Healthcare organizations to adapt Lean to their complex processes in laboratory and hospital environments. Predictably, there was much skepticism from Clinicians and administrators alike - and rightly so. They were perfectly justified in asking - 'how does a thinking that grew mainly out of the automotive industry apply to the healthcare environment?'

Lean Healthcare - The Values Driven Approach

There's a lot of excitement today in the health care field about the benefits that Lean practice can bring. This is especially critical in an environment where patient care needs are climbing while the pool of skilled resources and reimbursement for services shrink. Lean Advisors Inc. is working various organizations in the healthcare industry to help them implement Lean in order to be able to do more with less while doing it better. The key is to apply Lean methods in an environment driven by the unique values that surround patient care.

Lean Healthcare - Lab Processes

The Lean team at Saint Marys Hospital, a Mayo Clinic hospital in Rochester, Minn., came up with a simple but clever strategy to manage what had become a chaotic paper order system for lab work in its ICUs. The team executed a "bus route" schedule in which specialized phlebotomists on a vascular access team drop by patients' rooms at designated times to collect blood for lab testing, including arterial blood gases. The technicians also perform point-of-care testing and place intravenous lines.

Lean Healthcare - Private Practice

A widespread problem in physician practices is excessive wait time in the reception area and exam room. At Fallon Clinic, the team found that they could greatly reduce the number of complaints about wait time by merely informing patients when physicians were running behind schedule. Just by communicating with patients about delays, staff members could lose far less otherwise-productive time fielding complaints and apologizing for long wait times.

Hospital - Surgery Prep Center

Surgery Prep Center faced enormous challenges that included significant growth in demand creating lack of space and rooms, resource variation from procedure to procedure and from surgeon to surgeon.

Hospital - Phlebotomy

The results obtained such as reduced TAT and streamlined processes have permitted the Laboratory to further efficiently meet the demands and expectations of its customers.

Hospital - Maintenance

The results have been astounding. In an afternoon, they managed to free up over 600 square feet or about 75% of the room.

Hospital - Laboratory Specimen Receiving

Within the 1st week, the end-to-end process for some tests had improved by 25%. The lab is receiving 75% more with 33% less staff, and delivering the last specimens 1 hour earlier.

Hospital - Haematology Laboratory

The results obtained such as reduced TAT and streamlined processes have permitted the Laboratory to further efficiently meet the demands and expectations of its customers.

Hospital - Food Services

They are introducing 'meals-on-demand', giving patients an opportunity to place orders for food around their schedule, rather than the hospital dictating the schedule.

Hospital - Emergency Room (ER) Call Triage

The emergency room was constantly being interrupted with phone calls. They wanted to be able to answer the calls that they should deal with and not be interrupted by calls that weren't meant for them.

Hospital - Emergency Department Receiving and Admission

Implemented a number of changes to improve flow in the emergency room to reduce patient wait time and overall stay from arrival to discharge. They have reduced patient wait times by 25% to 40%.

Hospital - Cytogenetics Laboratory

There were no formal limits on slides produced. If analysis rate dropped, the number of slides awaiting analysis grew. Now there is a visual cue to show optimum number of slides available for analysis.

Hospital - Core Laboratory

By focusing on improved flow, labs have discovered that they have eliminated waste in their processes with a significant positive impact on cost. Reported numbers show a 25-30% reduction in labor cost per test.

Hospital - Behavioral Health

In six weeks the backlog (85 patients) was gone. Patients calling in were assigned to a worker and given an appointment within a week; this was down from the 5 weeks that were initially required.

The Importance of Lean in A Quality Environment

Think that it's a matter of one or the other: quality or Lean? Sometimes Quality initiatives take a back seat when Lean activities get going.

Deming and Lean

One of the things that we all have in common at Lean Advisors, is admiration for the work done by Deming in the area of 'Management Science'

Flow in Job Shops

It is commonly thought by Job shop management that "Lean isn't for us". "We build to order" and "We don't build 1,000 widgets a day every day".

Lean and MRP: Q&A

4 Day Kaizen Event yields $2,000,000 in Savings

OEE - Overall Equipment Effectiveness

We have found that there are some misconceptions regarding the calculation of OEE that can lead organizations to Mass Production behaviors.

Dealing With Bottlenecks

Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.

Do Not Implement a 5S Program

Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.

When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work

Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.

Mixed Model Value Streams

Does your value stream produce more than one product? Does it produce many products in any given month, or week or hour?

Sustain Lean Improvements by Building Business Maturity

The impact of systemic change on human dynamics, if not properly managed at the outset, can jeopardize the success of your Lean implementation.

A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping

Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.

Lean is Transformation

Lean is a change in the organization's social system rather than simply the application of a few tools and techniques.

Internal Advocacy and Customer Focus in Managing Lean Change

Whether you apply Lean in manufacturing or in a service industry, the principles stay the same although the tools you select may be different.

Lean Food Processing at Gorton's Seafood

Looking at ways to eliminate waste using the same essential techniques to enhance flow that Taiichi Ohno invented fifty years ago.

Lean Implementation at Medtronic Xomed

Customer-Focused quality is their highest priority and Lean Manufacturing is its methodology.

Lean Challenge for Management

True Lean Value can be achieved if our business culture overcomes the urge to professionalize and compartmentalize Lean practice.

LEAN in the Haematology Laboratory

The Hospital for Sick Children is Canada's most research-intensive hospital and the largest centre dedicated to improving children's health in the country.

Lean Implementation at Active Burgess Mould and Design

A successful job shop (low volume, high product mix) that produces prototype and production moulds for automotive and non-automotive industries.

Macro Value Stream Mapping at Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin

There have been six Value Stream Mapping events with 19 improvement opportunities which will reduce lead times by over 40%.

Lean Aerospace Implementation at Messier Dowty

The Messier-Dowty Aerospace Montreal plant is dedicated to the manufacture of big gears for the Airbus A340 and the Airbus A320 families.

Lean Office Implementation at MDS Nordion

3 months after starting Value Stream Mapping, our change notice paper flow is 7 days instead of 28, a remarkable 75% improvement!

Exciting Chaos

Striving to improve competitiveness by providing customers faster and better products/services will accomplish more than worrying about the next crisis.

Lean Supply Chain

Simplified production by going from 3 floors to 1 to solve problems with communication and product flow.

The Lean Journey - The Never Ending Story

No matter how well your lean journey is going, it's not good enough. Competitors will embrace lean and erase your competitive advantage.

Are Quality and Value The Same?

Is there a difference between 'quality' and 'value'? Should we have two teams, one for continuous improvement and one for Lean?

Troubled Waters Require Capable Leaders

Lean leaders need to look beyond the horizon and chart the future. In stormy times, true leadership skills emerge.

Lean and State of The Art Healthcare

Implement Lean in Healthcare in order to be able to do more with less while doing it better.

Value Stream Mapping Cuts Through The Fat

Value Stream Mapping is used to draw out the entire process, identifying the flow and showing the time it takes to move through the system.

Lean Healthcare - We Got The Money...Now What?

Politicians are dividing up a pot of new found money for healthcare and the public is wondering why the waiting lists are so long.

Continuous Improvement

How do Continuous Improvement teams fit in with your Lean initiatives?

SMED

When applied 'right', SMED can make the difference between profit and loss, and being able to meet the changing demands of your customer.

EOQ

A planning tool used with some MRP systems is the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ).

Lean Production And Implementation

Job Shops, Continuous Processing, and Discrete Processing Businesses. Are they Different?

Value Stream Mapping Common Mistakes

We have noticed some common mistakes with first time mappers. When the mistake is made, it is not recognized and the tool is called into question.

The Challenge For North American Organizations

North American companies have ever increasing material and healthcare costs, with relentless pressure from customers to significantly reduce costs.

Einstein And The First Law Of Business Strategy

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Ex. Competitiveness for Canadian business.

Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma

"How do we integrate Six Sigma and Lean?" or "We have implemented Six Sigma, how will Lean fit in or vice versa?"

Lean Strategies For Lean Leaders And Their Teams

Assess the business goals, needs, and priorities of those you are trying to persuade to come on side. Make sure you select the key benefits of Lean.

Lean Manufacturing Beckons Low-Volume Operations

Because of unprecedented competitive and cost pressures, more companies are turning to Lean for reductions in waste and productivity improvements.

Lean Configuration Management

Recording, managing positions of components to the whole system in design, development, production, support of a product throughout its life cycle.

Edson Puts The Squeeze On Waste

"We've totally embraced Lean. I firmly believe that unless all of North American manufacturing adapts Lean, we face grave consequences."

Why We Think Too Much About China

We need to look at the China phenomenon in context. The customer comes first and unless we become Lean, we will lose the competition game.

Lean Corner

Businesses want more cash to invest in new equipment and technologies. They need the right resources to leverage innovation and growth.

The Two Driving Questions in a Visual Workplace

A visual workplace is populated by hundreds or thousands, of visual devices and mini-systems, invented by a workforce that knows how to think visually.

Can Lean Match Your Structure?

One of the first comments we get from most companies is that they are unique. And they are right. They are not Toyota. They are unique.

A Strong Loonie

"If people aren't involved in lean manufacturing, fold up and go home because you aren't going to survive."

Cultivating The Right Culture

"Everyone resists change," and "Everyone buys in as long as it doesn't impact them," or "Why do we have to change?" or "We've always done it that way."

Assessing IT's role in lean environments

Ledalite is a small manufacturer who has adopted Lean and also makes extensive use of ERP technology to run their businesses.

SMED/Quick Changeover - The Payoff

Managers contemplating using the Lean tool SMED/Quick Changeover often ask "What is the payoff?

KAIZEN Institute Lean Advisors is a global consultancy offering lean training, lean manufacturing training, lean healthcare consulting, lean office support across all sectors and industries.

Ottawa: 1(613) 821-4545
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Phoenix:1(480) 285-3535

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