I’ve gone to Japan twice now with Kaizen Institute to study Lean with healthcare professionals from around the world. I first went in 2012, as a paid attendee, and I went back in 2014 as a partner and co-facilitator to…
My guest for podcast episode #223 is Christian Wolcott, a senior advisor and director of Kaizen Institute North America and their director for Japan tours. Christian was an integral part of the team for the Japan Lean Healthcare Tour that…
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…
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…
Last week, I wrote a post (part 1) looking back at our visit to the Toyota Tsutsumi factory that was part of our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series. I’m going to try to…
I’ve been overdue in writing more posts about our Japan tour that took place two months ago now. See previous posts in this series. I’m going to try to do one post a week on this topic. It’s always fascinating…
A friend sent me a link to this article, “7 cultural concepts we don’t have in the U.S.,” and he told me to check out item #5 in the list – Kaizen in Japan. By the way, if you ever…
The ideas, principles, and methods that we’d recognize as “Lean” aren’t exclusively of Japanese origin. Many of us, myself included, draw inspiration from Toyota, reading books about them and visiting their factories. For me, I’ve had a chance to visit…
This tweet and photo made me chuckle the other day… If it’s “your right” or “your left” as you’re going up or down the stairs, collisions are going to happen if everybody followed these instructions: In Japan, during our…
I’ll be blogging a lot more about my recent trip to Japan with Kaizen Institute, including the site visits and our lessons learned. I had a few days of tourist / vacation time in Tokyo before and after the trip,…
TL;DR: Quality Circles are still thriving in Japanese hospitals and companies–rooted in the philosophy of developing people through structured problem solving. What some in the West now call “A3 Thinking” or “PDSA” is alive and well in Japan as a…
TL;DR: A Toyota tour guide at the Tsutsumi plant once added a small hook to a catwalk railing because she didn’t like setting her bag down. Her manager approved it. A colleague installed it. No ROI analysis was required. That…
