Aug 14 2013
The Apparent Contradictions of Lean | Lonnie Wilson | IndustryWeek
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
See on www.industryweek.com
Aug 14 2013
3 Reasons You Need to Include Employee Engagement in Your Lean Improvement Efforts | Becker’s Hospital Review
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
“Done well, the Lean quality improvement philosophy can transform a healthcare organization when it comes to safety, quality, patient satisfaction and overall efficiency. So why aren’t healthcare leaders including employee engagement in the Lean mix? Here are three reasons you should.
1. Employee engagement needs to be on your radar screen daily.
Now more than ever, employee engagement is a game changer in healthcare. Every commitment we’re making to patients, our communities, the board, etc. depends on having engaged employees to deliver the services we are promising; therefore, engagement needs to be a recurring thought — not an afterthought…”
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
Makes you wonder what kind of “Lean effort” is not based on employee engagement from the start…
Aug 13 2013
Par Versus Kanban: Managing Variable Usage | Lean Hospital Group
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
If you have always wanted to know how hospitals managed their inventory of medicines, the article will both tell you the traditional method they have been using, and how the Kanban system can outperform it.
See on www.leanhospitalgroup.com
Aug 13 2013
The Measure of Efficacy of Spend is Value Adding | Bill Waddell | Manufacturing Leadership Center
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
In fact, the percentage of their money that goes to creating value for customers is the overarching measure of not just charities, but every organization.”
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
While I agree with Bill on measuring a charity by the percentage of its money that goes to the cause for which it exists, I don’t follow him in when he chides Levkoff Lynn for saying that P&G is not purely a manufacturing business but also a marketing giant.
While I am not familiar with P&G, I have consulted in the past for a competitor of theirs in detergents and personal products, and was told that, in this business, if you stop promoting a brand, it dies in six months. I don’t know whether this hypothesis has ever been tested, but the managers held it to be self-evident.
Even is you own a well-known brand in a mature market, you must keep advertising it, offering special discounts, and including toys in boxes. It is a massive direct expense, and it affects the manufacturing process, because the promotional materials are actually more difficult to procure and have longer lead times than the raw materials used to make the product.
See on www.idatix.com
Aug 10 2013
Guidelines for Fast Lean Transformation | M. Zinser & D. Ryeson | HBR Blog
See on Scoop.it – lean manufacturing
Michel Baudin‘s insight:
Scoop It just brough my attention to this 2 1/2-year old article by BCG consultants Michael Zinser and David Ryeson. Their key point is that a successful Lean implementation must start with a small number of well-chosen, pilot projects, and I agree.
I do, however, part company with them on two other issues. First, they only speak the language of money, relentlessly bringing up costs, savings, payoffs, metrics and incentives. I understand that this language is familiar and attractive to top management.
The article only cites examples of improvements that have a direct economic impact, but there are many aspects of Lean for which the relationship is indirect. Scoring a goal in tonight’s game has a direct impact on performance; building a championship team doesn’t.
Which brings me to my second disagreement with the authors: there is no consideration in their article of the need to develop the organization’s technical and managerial skills. They are just assumed to be there.
Lean is about developing a team that is able to compete at the highest level in your industry. If you already have such a team, you are probably not looking to implement Lean. If you don’t have it, you can’t start projects as if you did. Instead, you have to focus on projects that your team can do today and that will start it on its way. The biggest payoff and the practically possible do not always match.
This perspective is missing in their guidelines.
See on blogs.hbr.org
Aug 15 2013
Don’t ‘Lean’ on Me, Hospital Workers Say | Labor Notes
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“A sign in the newborn intensive care unit invited nurses to suggest changes that would speed up their work.
One popular suggestion: replace a sticky combination lock with swipe-card entry. But that would cost too much.
Instead, on a consultant’s recommendation, supplies were rearranged. Blue masking tape outlines now show where each item is supposed to go. A sign lists the “five S’s” of workplace organization (sorting, straightening, cleaning (shine), standardizing, and service). Each shift, one nurse is supposed to check them off.”
– See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/2013/06/dont-lean-me-hospital-workers-say#sthash.BUCnk306.dpuf
I had seen articles bashing Lean from a union perspective in manufacturing, but this is the first one I see about hospitals.
On the one hand, the author thinks that the work processes cannot be improved, and that the only way outcomes can be is by new equipment or more people. On the other hand, the “improvements” she describes are definitely L.A.M.E. (Lean As Mistakenly Implemented) rather than Lean: 5S as the most visible change, curtailment of communications between outgoing and incoming nurses as shift change, or reduction in the skill level of heart monitor operators, etc.
If that is what “Lean Health Care” boils down to, she has a point. But what about the use of Kanbans to manage supplies, as described in the “Par versus Kanban” article I scooped on 8/13?
See on www.labornotes.org
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By Michel Baudin • Press clippings 0 • Tags: Lean Health Care, Union