In the world of continuous improvement and Lean management, clear and respectful communication is crucial. Let’s take a moment to examine two different approaches to communicating a simple instruction regarding the operation of a centrifuge, as seen in the images…
Today, I'm giving a talk at the International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT) conference in Toronto. I was invited by the company Quotient to participate in a panel presentation and discussion with some laboratory professionals from the U.S. and the U.K.
The others are presenting examples of how they have improved flow, productivity, and quality in blood collection and hospital blood bank settings. Lean often gets portrayed as just being about efficiency or flow, when Toyota's definition of the Toyota Production System talks about how flow and quality go hand in hand.
I was specifically asked to give a short talk titled, "What Do Cars Have to Do With Healthcare? How to Adopt and Adapt Lessons From Manufacturing."
Recently, I wrote about an on-site event that I helped the Iowa Lean Consortium and Mary Greeley Medical Center (MGMC) organize… here is my first post about the morning of that event, if you missed it: Celebrating & Sharing Continuous Improvement…
It’s probably, ahem, not the most closely watched election race in the United States today, but it will be interesting to see if Washington reelects Governor Jay Inslee, pictured at left, a big support of “Lean Government” efforts in that…
Continuing my series of blog posts about my July trip to China, today’s post is about my first significant walk through a hospital during the trip. My group had a chance to visit the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University.…
How many times do we hear people say things like “We don’t have time for Lean” or “We don’t have time for Kaizen“? It happens a lot, right? As I’ve said before (and this video) a “lack of time” is a problem to solve...
To close out the year 2013, I once again need to close some browser tabs that are full of things that I was maybe going to write about, but don’t merit a full post. So, the latest in my occasional…
I think this was my sixth consecutive year attending the annual Society for Health Systems Conference, held this year in New Orleans. In the next few posts, I will share at least one key point from the talks and sessions…
Podcast #104 is a discussion with Dr. Peter Patterson (@IDrPete), a friend of mine and the Lean Blog the past few years. He wrote a guest post for me back in 2009 (A Breakthrough in Training: Call it “Near-TWI”) and…
Why do you need a “be careful” warning message when you’ve already error proofed something? For liability’s sake? I am going to be flying back and forth to the UK a lot this summer, so I needed an airplane power…
