Steve Spear shares lessons from Hajime Oba, who founded Toyota’s Supplier Support Center (TSSC) and became one of the most influential teachers of the Toyota Production System in North America. In this episode, Spear describes how Mr. Oba looked at…
Joining me for Episode #370 is Edward Blackman, the founder and managing partner of Kelda Consulting. He has previously had Lean and process improvement-focused roles at organizations as varied as Whirlpool, Amway, and Spectrum Health. Today, we are discussing behavioral…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients It’s been 20 years since To Err is Human, the seminal report from the Institute of Medicine, was released, estimating, to many people’s surprise, that almost 100,000 deaths per year in hospitals could be prevented. …
W. Edwards Deming’s ideas about systems thinking, measurement, psychology, and leadership remain highly relevant for healthcare improvement today, even decades after they were first articulated. Why Deming Still Matters in Healthcare Today Healthcare leaders continue to struggle with quality improvement…
Hi All – Summer in Manitoba requires part-time work, as the precious weeks of glorious weather need to be savoured and stored up for the grueling winters. As such, I give you a summary of the most frequently clicked links from…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Healthcare innovation is prone to continuous pilots of improvements that are already proven and a half-hearted embrace of meaningful change. Sachin Jain, CEO of CareMore Health provides us with a sense of urgency and duty to close…
Ryan and I are co-sponsoring a workshop that I’ll be presenting on “Measures of Success” in Winnipeg on May 10. Learn more. Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients A hospital in India continues to develop world-class surgical practices at a…
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patients Ontario is betting big on an untested hypothesis of reorganizing and consolidating healthcare operations and budgets predicting it will result in patients “seamlessly” moving through the health system. Time will tell, but the history has…
Mark’s Note: I’ve known Ryan McCormack for many years now, thanks to his previous work in Lean healthcare and his attendance at Lean Healthcare Transformation Summit events. He’s been sending out an excellent curated email on Operational Excellence. You can…
Tomislav Mihaljevic, MD was named CEO of the Cleveland Clinic just over a year ago, replacing long-time CEO Toby Cosgrove, MD.
As I've blogged about (and podcasted about), I've been impressed with the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model and their approach to continuous improvement, problem solving, and Lean management.
Dr. Mihaljevic has written a blog post about the power of "tiered huddles"...
Healthcare – Creating Value for Patient Canadian healthcare is still mired in a system of outdated technology (including reliance on faxing and pagers) in a world where consumers expect total transparency and availability of data. Canadian doctors agree that patients should have…
Joining me for Episode #307 of the podcast is my friend Andre DeMerchant, the President of DeMerchant Healthcare Solutions Inc., based in Kitchener, Ontario. We first crossed paths when we had the chance to work together with an American healthcare client via our then-affiliation with Pascal Dennis and Lean Pathways.
In today's episode, we talk about Andre's history working for Toyota in Canada and what he learned there -- and why it's important that he learned about "how flow works" at Toyota. We chat about the terms "Lean" and "The Toyota Production System" and what those words mean to him. How does TPS "transcend culture and language," as well as industries?
We then shift to talking about healthcare and some of the common challenges, including "financial hardships," that are faced in many countries. Why are hospitals "poorly prepared for change" in many cases? Another main theme is "cost cutting" and why you can't cut your way to success.
