As a guy who started his career in manufacturing before moving to healthcare in 2005, I don’t get many opportunities to visit the “Gemba” at a factory very often anymore. I get to occasionally visit a Toyota plant (in the…
Mark’s note: Today’s post is something that Drew Locher originally published in his email newsletter (sign up here), but he’s allowing me to post it here. I’ve met Drew through the Lean Enterprise Institute, as we’re both LEI faculty members, and…
My two previous trips to Japan have been incredible experiences, both personally and professionally. I'm planning to go back in December with a tour group I'm helping organize with Kaizen Institute. When people go to Japan, I think they are expecting to see perfect Lean practices. But, no...
Mark’s Note: Today’s guest post is by Paul Critchley and while it shares a story from a manufacturing company, I could see a situation like this taking place in healthcare or in any large organization that doesn’t quite get what…
I love what I do and I travel a lot… the travel can sometimes be a drag, such as last Monday’s flight delays with storms in Chicago, arriving in Toronto three hours late (after midnight). But, sometimes things work out…
I saw this story when it originally appeared online as part of a local public radio station in California. It was now picked up nationally by NPR and a number of you emailed me about this Lean healthcare piece about UCLA…
It’s time for another Throwback Thursday where I revisit a blog post from the past. To the left, that’s a baby Mark Graban… probably not actually thinking about Lean. I referenced this post in my recent Keith Olber-Lean parody video……
I’ve been studying and working with Lean for 20 years now and I love Lean because I’m still learning and getting better at this craft. I love seeing other people get excited about Lean when it’s new to them, when…
A collection of creative videos was recently brought to my attention and I’d like to share them here. They are created by Dr. Mark Harrison (@leanpsychiatry), a psychiatrist for an NHS Trust. He created the videos by taking photos of…
Back in 2007, I had my first opportunity to travel to England, a country I really love visiting. I had the chance to attend the “First Global Lean Healthcare Summit” that was produced by Dan Jones and the Lean Enterprise…
tl;dr: The blog examines the pitfalls of poorly executed Lean methodologies, using an analogy of a cheeseburger to discuss unhealthy implementations. It argues for a nuanced approach to Lean, acknowledging its limitations and ‘horror stories’ in order to effectively achieve…
As often happens, I have too many open browser tabs full of articles that I was going to potentially blog about. Too much WIP (a problem that Jim Benson will discuss in our upcoming Boston workshop). So, it’s time for…
