Appleton Post-Crescent: Little Chute company sees a sharp future Here’s another story about a small company in Wisconsin — they’re using Lean to get more competitive. Valley Grinding & Manufacturing (nicknamed “VG”) makes equipment that’s used to sharpen blades and…
Sometimes people ask me, “how does Lean apply in a hospital?” The critical issues in a hospital are more often about culture and environment (although using technical lean methods for improving processes and flow are important also). Many hospitals, unfortunately,…
Sometimes, I have a collection of news stories or links that I either don’t have time to blog about, assume you don’t have time to read about, or don’t really merit a full blog post. So my “WIP” of “draft”…
Leadership Symposium (Iowa) It sure seems like Iowa gets mentioned here on the blog quite a bit, for lean manufacturing and lean healthcare. John Touissant, of ThedaCare (in Wisconsin), is speaking at an Iowa healthcare symposium April 22 (unfortunately, it…
‘It’s never just one thing’ that leads to serious error – Los Angeles Times This is a stunning headline, it’s pretty amazing (in a good way) to find an article that doesn’t focus on blaming individuals. “It’s never just one…
Oshkosh Northwestern – Systems turn to ThedaCare There’s a great sense of community and sharing in the hospital space — something the manufacturing world can learn from, I think. Sure, it’s possible to spend your whole career working in a…
Running a hospital: Our Joint Commission Report The headline is my modification of a Deming expression, that management’s job is prediction. Statistical process control was one way of predicting future outcomes of a process (if you have a statistically stable…
Episode #23 of the LeanBlog Podcast features a panel of Lean leaders from the Group Health Cooperative, a consumer-governed, nonprofit health care system that coordinates care and coverage. Based in Seattle, Group Health and its subsidiary health carriers, Group Health…
