I was fortunate to have the chance to speak and visit at a few hospitals in Sweden back in February, 2010 (see my blog post from that year). One of those hospitals, St. Göran (in Stockholm), was recently featured in…
Thanks go to Hakan Forss, from Sweden, who sent me a link to an article he wrote about Lean, waste, and patient flow. He compares two healthcare systems–one that focuses on keeping silo-ed resources busy (which leads to long patient…
On a recent Sunday morning, I was watching cable news channels and two different commercials had a word jump out at me, words that are commonly used in the Lean management system. One commercial featured the term “mistake proofed” and…
TL;DR (2026): This interview with Masaaki Imai still matters because it captures an early, unvarnished view of how “respect for people” was practiced–not idealized–by Taiichi Ohno and Toyota. It reminds today’s Lean leaders that respect doesn’t mean being soft or…
When I was in Sweden in late January, I had a chance to visit the Capio Saint Göran Hospital in Stockholm. I saw many amazing things, including Lean practices and culture. I haven’t taken the time to write about this yet,…
When I was in Sweden, the one hospital I visited had an automated coffee machine that made a variety of drinks. In getting a cup of coffee, or trying, I found an example of everyday error proofing. When I first…
I had an incredible visit to a hospital in Stockholm yesterday, to walk the “gemba” (the actual workplace) to see their lean improvement efforts first hand. I’ll share some details and highlights over time here on the blog. One…
As I’m currently in Sweden, I was reminded of this video I found recently featuring John Black, a lean healthcare consultant and author who previously worked with Boeing and Gary Larson, a Vice President from Park Nicollet in Minneapolis (a…
