Focus

Reflecting on our lean healthcare journey

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Case studiesJun 27, 2019
Grey Dube
CASE STUDY – The CEO of a hospital in Johannesburg looks back to the last five years to reflect on a lean healthcare transformation that is creating positive outcomes for patients.

Kata in the NHS

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Case studiesJun 18, 2019
Ann Hill
CASE STUDY – Starting with a series of pilot sites, the NHS is hoping to engage the Kata coaching approach to really spread an improvement culture to staff and patients. 

Learning at takt time in Thales

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InterviewsJun 11, 2019
Norbert Dubost
INTERVIEW – A former VP of Operations from Thales tells Catherine Chabiron how he and his team turned around their department by committing to lean thinking and focusing on people development every day.

Industry 4.0 or Lean 4.0?

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InterviewsMay 28, 2019
Pieter du Plessis
INTERVIEW – Atlantis Foundries was able to achieve zero defects for three months in a row thanks to machine learning. Here’s why the human component can’t be discounted.

Defining lean is useful, lean definitions are useless

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FeaturesMay 16, 2019
Russell Watkins
FEATURE – In this article, the author reflects on how his understanding of lean thinking evolved over time – as did the way he defined it.

Our new, leaner Cancer Center

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FeaturesMay 2, 2019
Jacopo Guercini, Alberto Sobrero, and Franca Martelli
FEATURE – The renovation of one of its departments gave a hospital in Italy the perfect opportunity to redesign his oncology care with lean healthcare principles in mind.

The Sunday-night barista

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FeaturesApr 30, 2019
Karen Gaudet
FEATURE – The author looks back at her time at Starbucks Coffee Company and reflects on the role of leadership in facilitating the spread of lean thinking across the organization.

Learning A3 thinking to become a better doctor

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FeaturesApr 19, 2019
Laura O'Donohue
FEATURE – A student in a medical school recently completed a rotation based on A3 thinking. She tells us what learning to use this problem-solving method has brought her.

Blue-sky thinking

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Case studiesApr 11, 2019
Kristian Zurek, Paweł Krawiecki and Rafał Mazur
FEATURE – Successfully engaging people and building a solid daily management system is allowing a Velux factory in Poland to fulfill its strategic goals.  

Banking on hoshin

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FeaturesApr 2, 2019
Victor Catisse and Robson Gouveia
FEATURE – What a Brazilian bank has learned from its first few steps in adopting hoshin kanri through structured problem solving and people development.

Paying our dues

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Case studiesMar 28, 2019
Piotr Kowalewski and Aleksander Ciesielski
CASE STUDY – This Polish debt collection company is refocusing its work around true customer needs and increasing problem visibility by implementing hoshin kanri.

Teaching A3 skills to medical students

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FeaturesMar 26, 2019
Dr Jack Billi
FEATURE – Problem solving is a fundamental part of being a leader, which is what led this medical school in the United States to include A3 thinking in its curriculum. 

The hands of many

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Case studiesMar 21, 2019
Fiona Keogan
FEATURE – A dedicated pathway and the introduction of lean healthcare principles is bringing people together to provide better care to older, frail people in an Irish hospital group.

Lean caters for our product development needs

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FeaturesMar 19, 2019
Catherine Chabiron
NOTES FROM THE GEMBA – This French company has completely transformed its approach to designing and introducing new products to market by embracing lean product development ideas.

Supporting the Australian service industry

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InterviewsMar 16, 2019
Alister Lee
INTERVIEW – What skills do coaches need to successfully support lean transformations in the service sector? Our colleagues from Australia tells us about their experience.

Lean as a two-step engine

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FeaturesMar 14, 2019
Michael Ballé & Nicolas Chartier
FEATURE – One of the things making lean thinking so hard to explain in general terms is its dual nature as both an organizational and managerial approach. The authors explain how to handle this tension.

Flexible by design

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Case studiesMar 12, 2019
Anna Villalta-Hernandez & Carles Rocafort Roca
FEATURE – By leveraging lean product and process development principles, Nichirin Spain is becoming more flexible managing last-minute changes in product design requested by customers.

The energy to get things done

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FeaturesMar 7, 2019
Eivind Reke, with Niku Jalkanen
FEATURE – When people become enthusiastic about improvement work, there's no limit to what can be achieved. Join the author on a visit to a Finland-based manufacturer, whose lean efforts range from production to customer service.