This article caught my attention the other day, primarily because I like scotch, whisky (and whiskey and bourbon). The Japanese love scotch whisky and have long produced a product that’s a variation of scotch — Japanese whisky (the lack of a standardized spelling for whiskey is an endless debate). I’ll settle on “whisky.” The article: Japanese […]

Here’s another video in the series that Joe Swartz and I shot at Franciscan St. Francis Health back in October. See them all here or via a YouTube playlist. You might remember pharmacy manager Ronda Freije from two previous videos. Here, she talks about a concept called “Seven Days’ Grace.” It’s a concept that Joe Swartz and I […]

Today’s post is hosted over at LinkedIn, as part of my participation in the LinkedIn Influencers series. The post is titled: “The One Thing Google Should Show When You Search for a Hospital.” It’s not about Lean per se, but it’s about topics that I hope we’d agree are relevant: Transparency of quality and patient […]

MP3 File (run time 38:53) Our guest today is Alan G. Robinson, PhD, an award-winning author, educator, researcher and consultant. He has co-authored six books, including Modern Approaches to Manufacturing Improvement: The Shingo System, Ideas Are Free, and his latest, The Idea-Driven Organization. His specialties include managing continuous improvement, creativity, ideas and innovation, and Lean production, being […]

MP3 File (run time 45:11) Returning to the podcast after his first appearance in Episode #188 is Daniel T. Jones, founder and chairman of the UK-based Lean Enterprise Academy. You can find him on Twitter now as @DanielJonesLean. Dan collaborated with Jim Womack on the books The Machine That Changed the World, Lean Thinking, and Lean Solutions and […]

MP3 File (run time 46:37) Today’s guest is my friend John Ervin and we were able to sit down together here in San Antonio to record this episode. John has about 20 years of healthcare leadership experience, including military medicine and the civilian sector. He’s been a manager and director of operating rooms in many types […]

Here’s a fun video that I created for KaiNexus, based on this clever flow chart. The answer, most always, is YES! If your employees are human and you really want to improve, you should engage your employees in improving safety, quality, customer satisfaction, and your bottom line. And KaiNexus can help. About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban […]

Here is a 10-minute talk I gave at the 2014 Lean Transformation Summit. I’m introduced by Jim Womack and we do Q&A at the end. Looking at your own organization today, do you hold yourself back by making excuses or do you get creative and find new ways of doing things? Many organizations aspire to […]

This video contains clips of a talk I gave at the University of Michigan Health System in early 2014. I cover some basics about the Kaizen approach to continuous improvement and how that fits into the “A3″ problem solving model that is used widely at UMHS and other organizations. About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a […]

Normally, I like interviewing other people, through my podcast series (and this recent blog post with a hospital leader telling her story of putting patient safety first). Sometimes, the tables get turned and I’m the one being interviewed. Check out these two recent podcasts: Gemba Academy Podcast Thanks to Ron Pereira for having me back […]

I do my best to “practice what I preach” in terms of Lean and Kaizen principles and spirit. No, I don’t have tape outlines around the items on my home office desk (which would be, at best, a superficial copying of 5S practices). But, for example, I try hard not to blame. I use checklists […]

In yesterday’s blog post (“Safety is always our top priority” – From lip service to daily practice?“), I challenged hospital leaders to back up the “happy talk” with real action and stories about putting safety first. It’s easier said than done. I wanted to share a story from Karen Kiel-Rosser, Vice President/Quality Improvement Officer at Mary […]