Healthcare Kaizen Events Survey, Part 3
Here is part 3 of the results from my online survey about Kaizen Events in healthcare. You can find Part 1 and Part 2 in previous posts. One thing to keep in mind, and I’ll comment more on this another…
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All posts from Mark Graban’s LeanBlog.org, including podcasts, announcements, articles, and more.
Holiday Blog Break
I’ll be mostly away from the blog through January 2nd. Happy Holidays to all of you… here’s a little photo treat from one of my hospital colleagues. All the Type A’s were hung by the patient with care? :-) If…
"Overproduction" of Snail Mail
Snail mail is definitely not a “level loaded” process during the year, this is a peak time. You can tell that by the overstuffed USPS box I attempted to use yesterday (to mail something for work, not nearly-belated Christmas cards.…
Toyota Expects Its First Loss in 70 Years
Article – NYTimes.com Marketwatch.com article Breaking news (but not entirely unexpected if you’ve been following the news in the last week): Toyota Motor, the Japanese auto giant, announced Monday that it expected the first loss in 70 years in its…
Healthcare Kaizen Events Survey, Part 2
Following up on Part 1 of the survey results, we’ll now explore some of the results and lessons learned from event-driven Lean activities in hospitals and health systems (done under names such as Kaizen Events, Rapid Process Improvement Workshops, and…
"Viable" by March 2009?
Bush Gives Emergency Loans to Automakers – NYTimes.com Detroit News Article I don’t understand this at all. What is the operational definition of “viable”? What will/can change in three months? I’m honestly asking those of you who have been following…
Healthcare Kaizen Events Survey Results, Part 1
Last month, I conducted a non-scientific online survey about the use of event-style Kaizen methodologies in healthcare. There were 41 responses, gathered from the following sources: www.leanblog.org The mailing list for my book, Lean Hospitals The Healthcare Management Engineers (HME)…
Wegman’s Cuts Wasted Energy and Costs, not "Wasted" Time Serving Customers
By Jason Turgeon: In the last couple of weeks, Mark’s been hammering the midwestern grocery store chain Meijer for ruthlessly timing employees on checkout time “efficiency” (post 1, post 2). Instead of rewarding employees for delivering fantastic customer service, management…
Another Article on Firms that Don’t Use Layoffs
Some Firms Cut Costs Without Resorting to Layoffs – WSJ.com Here’s a follow up to my recent post on layoffs (or not to layoff). There was a lot of good discussion and I’ll amplify my point that it’s got to…
Jason Yip’s Japan Trip
I’d love to go on one of these Japan lean study missions at some point. Blogger Jason Yip, who writes about Lean software development and comments here sometimes, wrote about the trip he took with Enna. Japan Lean Study Mission…
To Layoff or Not To Layoff — That Really is a Question
It seems like all we’re hearing now is layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. This article reports that Danaher, considered by many to be the best Lean company outside of Toyota (with its famed Danaher Business System), is laying off employees. Danaher Corp (DHR,…
Gary Convis for "Car Czar"
No Detroiters Need Apply – Automotive News First off, I hate the whole “czar” term in our government. Ick. But if we need a “car czar”, I can’t think of a better candidate than Gary Convis, formerly of Toyota and…
