http://www.leadingedgescm.com/default.php en cobrien@leanscm.com Copyright 2012 2012-02-07T13:30:41+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/joe-aherne-speaks-to-the-irish-farmers-journal-about-the-rise-of-lean-in-th http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/joe-aherne-speaks-to-the-irish-farmers-journal-about-the-rise-of-lean-in-th#When:13:30:41Z Careers in agriculture and food, an industry much maligned during the celtic tiger era as unfashionable are enjoying a revival. Agriculture colleges are busting at the seams and the sector was one of the few beneficiaries of last week’s budget (cuts in stamp duty and capital gains tax on farmland). You could say that farming and the dairy industry is the star of the Irish economy. One in 7 Irish jobs is now created by the agri-food sector in which exports jumped 15% in first 8 months of this year. The range of skills across the agriculture sector is evolving rapidly. This includes a necessity to drive food production and distribute its harvest globally. At the core of this growth is the world’s expanding population. Ireland aims to produce enough food to feed 50m within the next 9 years, up from 36m today. The states food harvest 2020 report targets a 50% increase in milk production and a 40% rise in beef by the end of the decade, helping to increase agri-food exports from €9.25b to €13b by 2020. I believe that suppliers and processors need to sustain a relentless focus on costs and competitiveness issues. Industry must improve both their focus and capability in lean manufacture, new technology adoption, innovation and sustainability. The implementation of Lean manufacturing has become quite commonplace throughout manufacturing industries - and for good reason, as the Lean approach has proven itself invaluable in terms of increasing efficiency, productivity and employee morale. Lean thinking offers a fundamental shift away from traditional manufacturing towards a more systematic approach, focused on the reduction of any non-value adding or wasteful activities. Ten years ago (with a few exceptions), the food manufacturing industry was very much lagging behind in its pursuit of lean thinking; however, today's food industry is rapidly gaining ground and offering further proof as to the versatility of Lean. In the last 10 years international food executives have begun to examine manufacturing businesses in other industries with regards to driving efficiencies and productivity in their own organisations. They looked at high-performance work teams and cross-functional project teams and pushed decision-making down to well-trained operators close to the action. They explored outsourcing models that seemed radical departures for many companies and formed alliances with other firms. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. Lean manufacturing may be a buzzword in other manufacturing industries, but they’re not in the food industry’s lexicon. This methodology comes from the discrete manufacturing world and has a difficult time translating into the world of batch, where piece-by-piece measurements are difficult, if not impossible, and variability is a fact of life. Simply put, Lean is about removing waste from the process. Lean is “all about giving your customer exactly what he wants and only what he wants; maximizing the things that add value to your product and minimizing or eliminating the things that don’t. Companies spend millions of dollars a year on activities that add no value to the product in the eyes of the customer. However some of those overhead activities include food safety, traceability, regulatory compliance – things that are not possible to eliminate. Quota abolition in 2015 provides significant expansion potential for the Irish dairy Industry. An expansion in dairy processing at plant level will deliver the same economic benefits to the national economy as an equivalent investment from FDI. Operational efficiency will become more important and new operational challenges are emerging such as carbon reduction which will result in the introduction of new cost line items for dairy processing operations. The No. 1 reason for food companies not adopting Lean is ‘we don’t have the time, the money or the labour resources. Second is education — they just don’t how these programs work and how they can save their companies money.” Other food industry-specific reasons are a lack of pertinent data and poor measurement systems. In the food industry up to recently nobody was really doing Lean. In an industry already dealing with thin margins and high cost of raw materials, there is great potential for these incremental improvements. Companies making progress in these areas have significantly reduced their costs. For many food companies, maybe 70 percent of the cost is in raw materials and other direct costs. That leaves only 30 percent you can control. But even this 30 percent is a huge opportunity for companies who take Lean to the next level. These would include freight, information technology, procurement, maintenance, machine downtime. Today's advances in processing equipment and technologies have somewhat competed with the promises of lean manufacturing. Food processors can simply invest in more capital - newer, more advanced equipment that promises greater production and efficiency - and see immediate results. Of course, most food processors have (or soon will) discover that a "quick fix" is no substitution for continual, ongoing manufacturing improvements. The food industry is facing an explosion of product variation, serious food safety concerns, and increased raw material and transportation costs. The food industry has realized that old answers are not good enough for new questions. Lean may not be the only answer, but it's definitely part of it. While the reasoning behind the food industry's initial lean delay varies according to who you ask, most lean experts agree that lean plays an important role in present-day food manufacturing. Most senior food executives now agree that Lean plays an important part in present day food manufacturing. Progress in the food industry is often driven by example. If a food manufacturer sees its competitor achieving notable results with Lean manufacturing, it almost has no choice but to follow suit.   Printed Article 2012-02-07T13:30:41+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-expands-lean-training-to-uk-with-university-of-kent http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-expands-lean-training-to-uk-with-university-of-kent#When:07:59:21Z The Leading Edge Group, have finalised an agreement with the University of Kent to provide accredited continuous improvement training programmes using Lean Thinking principles. The programmes will be available to all students interested in achieving an internationally recognised qualification from a leading UK University. The company will open its UK office at Medway Campus in Kent and the deal is set to generate in excess of £250,000 for the Leading Edge Group in the first 12 months. The programmes will be delivered on-line with mentoring support. Further details are available on their website www.leadingedgescm.com or by calling the Cork based office on 021-4855863. Pictured left to right : Joe Aherne, CEO, Leading Edge Group, Dr Marian Garcia, Kent Business School and Professor Andrew Fearne, University of Kent Joe Aherne, CEO of the Leading Edge Group said “We are delighted to announce the further expansion of the Leading Edge Group. Not only will this assist in our expansion in the UK, it will further enhance our global reach. The University of Kent is a tier 1 university and we are delighted to be associated with them”. The University of Kent was ranked as one of the top 30 universities in the UK in the 2011 Guardian University Guide. Kent has long-standing partnerships with over 100 universities in mainland Europe. The University also has centres in Brussels and Paris this ensuring a European dimension for the programme. “This is another first for the University of Kent and an important initiative for Kent Business School”, said Professor Andrew Fearne of the University of Kent on announcing the agreement, “expanding our offer to businesses through a blended learning platform that combines the world class training tools that Leading Edge has developed over the last decade with our own world class research and education programmes in value chain management” Dr Marian Garcia, Director of Kent Business School’s flagship MSc in value chain management, is looking forward to incorporating the Lean programmes into the university’s value chain management programme “This partnership will give us the opportunity to offer modules in bite-size pieces to businesses who want to use Lean thinking in their day-to-day operations whilst offering their staff a carefully structured and post-effective route to a recognised qualification, from a postgraduate certificate through to a full-blown MSc”.   2011-10-11T07:59:21+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/launch-of-lean-healthcare-network http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/launch-of-lean-healthcare-network#When:12:29:33Z The Leading Edge Group have launched Lean Healthcare Connect, a free collaboration network for healthcare professionals. Lean Healthcare Connect (LHC) will provide you with continuous access to up-to-date collaborative data and information on Lean Healthcare and process improvement best practice as well as the opportunity to interact and network with fellow members to share experiences and ideas. The LHC is driven by its members’ collective requirements for clarity and extra knowledge on Lean Healthcare and process improvement approaches. It will also help answer some of the challenges facing healthcare professionals today: How can we design the process of care to flow more smoothly? How do we learn about improvement techniques in healthcare? How can we reduce the patient journey time through our emergency departments? Can we improve our operating theatre turnaround times? How do we keep up to date with global healthcare initiatives? What healthcare organizations should we be benchmarking against? Can we reduce our costs while actually increasing quality of patient care? How can we adopt the philosophy and tools of Lean into Healthcare? To join, simply go to www.leanhealthcareconnect.com and complete the application form. 2011-09-09T12:29:33+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-ceo-takes-up-role-as-cpa-vice-president http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-ceo-takes-up-role-as-cpa-vice-president#When:15:32:25Z http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpaireland/5792636145/in/photostream 2011-06-30T15:32:25+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-green-belt-blended-delivery http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-green-belt-blended-delivery#When:11:13:56Z The Leading Edge Group’s Lean Healthcare Green Belt program can now be undertaken through a blended mode of delivery that combines on-line learning with classroom instruction. This option is available to organizations that wish to register a cohort of 10 or more participants. Registrants receive full on-line access to the program while five days of on-site classroom training are scheduled to explore – in detail – the content and how it relates to the organization itself, while supporting and focusing on various aspects of the Green Belt improvement projects being undertaken as part of program assessment. For further details, please e-mail info@leanscm.com or contact John Whelton on 416-637-5074. 2011-03-14T11:13:56+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/making-quality-of-care-the-top-priority http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/making-quality-of-care-the-top-priority#When:09:59:45Z A recent study carried out by the Harvard school of public health on board chairs representing 1,000 US hospitals has identified some fascinating results in relation to quality of care*. Some of the key findings from the study include: When asked to rank their top 2 priorities less than 50% rated Quality of Care in their top 2 priorities Quality Performance review is on the agenda of 63% of the board meetings on average. Financial performance review is on the agenda in 93% of every board meeting held on average 72% of boards review Quality dashboards regularly While the study was primarily focussed on quality of care and linking it to the US federal HQA (Hospital Quality Alliance) program it also provides very solid evidence that supports Lean thinking and strategy. The study compares the highest performing hospitals against the lowest performing ones across a number of criteria. By studying this section we can see a number of structures that the high performing hospitals have in place: Clearly defined agenda’s that enable robust discussion on high priority topics Formal training for board members on clinical quality Boards have recognized their own influence on quality of care Have established goals for improving care and are more likely to publicly disseminate these goals These structures that high performing hospitals have in place may seem like common sense but it is clear that only the high performing organizations are doing it correctly. This is where the link to Lean thinking and strategy can be made. Lean recognizes that to implement sustainable robust change in an organization it must be implemented and role modelled from the very top of the organization downwards. If the board of directors (or trustees) spend their focus on finance primarily then this behaviour will cascade right down to the patient interface. In the case of this study the focus was on quality of care. Lean recognizes that quality of care is a high priority, along with cost, delivery and safety. Any serious Lean initiative in an organization must start with the very top of the organization. It is much easier to cascade the right behaviours downwards than to try to influence from the bottom up. Supporting the top level management through upskilling, coaching and structure development will help to support the correct behaviours. Taking the time to think strategically and to work with the top level may result in a longer preparation time for an initiative but will provide the best platform for sustainable future success. *Hospital Governance and the Quality of Care by Ashish K. Jha and Arnold M. Epstein. [Health Affairs (Millwood). 2010;29(1): published online 6 November 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0297] 2011-03-11T09:59:45+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/assembly-required-health-care-from-the-toyota-factory-floor http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/assembly-required-health-care-from-the-toyota-factory-floor#When:10:02:07Z Assembly required Health care from the Toyota factory floor Author: Dr. Tim Hill, Senior Lean Consulant, Leading Edge Group David Ng and his colleagues used to look sheepishly at the hospital advertisements across the river in Detroit, colourfully promoting emergency-ward wait times of as little as 29 minutes – and free sports tickets for patients forced to wait longer. At Dr. Ng's Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital of Windsor, Ont., on the other hand, residents of the car-industry city had to line up in emergency for hours, with not even a remote chance of compensation. His team finally found a treatment for those chronic backlogs, though, and now the idea behind it -- borrowed from the auto industry itself --is taking Canadian health care by storm. A study just published by Dr. Ng's team suggests that adopting an assembly-line process pioneered at Toyota Motor Corp. had slashed the emergency department's lengthy wait times, results many others are hoping to match. Toyota is making headlines these days mostly for production defects, but its so-called Lean manufacturing philosophy has been adopted in one fashion or another by close to half of this country's health-care facilities in the last two to three years, one expert estimates. The Windsor study appears to be the first Canadian research in a peer-reviewed journal to report scientifically on the front-line impact of the system. The Toyota principles have also been used, though, to eliminate delays plaguing pathologists in Ottawa, boost cancer-screening productivity at a Moose Jaw, Sask., hospital and get new mothers home faster after being discharged from a Vancouver maternity ward. "I believe strongly that we are creating a new norm," says Tim Burns, who oversees an Ontario government program aiming to apply the Toyota system to 90 of the province's hospitals by 2011. "There is evidence that it works. It's a pretty enduring fad." As the concept becomes de rigueur, however, some red flags are going up. One consultant says that many health-care facilities are being offered a watered-down version of the system that may line the pockets of the advisors hired to help them but will bring about little lasting change. "A lot of health-care facilities are getting ripped off," said Tim Hill, a veteran Lean expert based in London, Ont. "There is a lot of hit and miss out there.... You need to instill a problem-solving culture, so you can get to the root cause." The Toyota production system, coined "Lean" by the American authors of a 1990 book on the company, was developed by the car maker after the Second World War, its goal to focus efforts on only what offers value to customers, largely by cutting waste and empowering employees to devise efficiencies. The multi-stage process includes: "value-stream mapping," where the organization's production process is laid out in detail to help identify glitches; "Kaizen" meetings at which front-line workers brainstorm efficiency ideas; just-in-time delivery of supplies; and the concept of using visual cues to help employees streamline their work. The idea was widely applied in the U.K. and U.S. health-care systems in the early 2000s – and across the manufacturing industry a decade or more earlier, Mr. Hill said.   To read the full article please click here 2011-03-10T10:02:07+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/we-are-recruiting http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/we-are-recruiting#When:11:50:19Z The Leading Edge Group is rapidly expanding its operations in Ireland and Canada. We immediately require a number of contract senior Lean consultants to support upcoming consulting work in Ireland. These professionals will work alongside our own full time consultants and will adopt the Leading Edge project management methodology. Successful candidates will preferably be qualified to a Lean Black belt level with a formal university qualification in business or engineering. They will have at least 5 years managerial experience working in either in a leading management consulting company or manufacturing or services multinational. Excellent communication and facilitation skills are of the upmost importance together with proven report writing ability. For further information or to apply please email us -  contracts@leadingedge.ie stating your experience and location.  2011-02-09T11:50:19+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/review-of-leading-edge-group-publication-applying-lean-in-healthcare http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/review-of-leading-edge-group-publication-applying-lean-in-healthcare#When:11:15:55Z Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies Joe Aherne and John Whelton (editors), Productivity Press, 2010, 247 pp. This book, organized into 13 chapters, provides an introduction, 11 chapters of case studies and a closing chapter on the future of lean healthcare. It also contains a glossary and acknowledgements for contributors and editors. Aherne and Welton are principals of the firm Leading Edge Group and the case studies are examples from their practice. The case studies add a cultural twist to lean implementation ranging throughout the U.K., Ireland, Brazil, Canada, Oregon and Colorado. The introduction in chapter 1 makes a rapid jump from the origins of lean thinking to identifying typical real-life wastes in healthcare scenarios. The first case study is from a cancer care facility in the U.K. Detailed explanations of lean principles are woven into the story, demonstrating points considered important by the authors. A short summary of results and lessons learned conclude the chapter. As I read the remaining chapters, I realized the practitioners were telling their own stories, and, in some cases, using local terminology and phrasing not common to me. The book offers examples of real tools used in the case studies, including current state and future state value stream maps, spaghetti diagrams, action plans and fishbone diagrams. The final chapter, The Future for Lean Healthcare, emphasizes the need for a sustainable culture change and the requirement to drive change based on facts, not biases. I recommend this book’s short case studies to healthcare leaders wondering what to do next to improve service and value delivered. These examples demonstrate the success achieved in widely differing healthcare situations while also energizing organizations just beginning the journey. Bill Baker Speed to Excellence Santa Fe, NM View the orginal review online http://asq.org/quality-progress/2011/01/reviews.html 2011-01-25T11:15:55+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/irish-minister-for-enterprise-trade-and-innovation-urges-companies-to-go-le http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/irish-minister-for-enterprise-trade-and-innovation-urges-companies-to-go-le#When:12:29:11Z Irish firms must adopt Lean principles in order to drive sustainable international competitiveness, according to Ireland's Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Innovation, Batt O'Keeffe. "Irish firms must have the price, cost, quality, speed, flexibility and innovation to successfully compete in international markets," said Mr O'Keeffe, "The use and adoption of lean principles and techniques is essential to driving sustainable international competitiveness.Ensuring that companies are now ‘lean’ and the use of ‘lean business’ concepts can help address the serious question of maintaining and building competitiveness in the face of these pressures. Lean tools and techniques are helping companies across the globe to address competitiveness issues in their businesses by building the capability of their people to identify problems and improve operations." The Minister continued to outline the governments backing of  Lean implementation programs "Enterprise Ireland, the Government agency under the aegis of my Department with responsibility for the indigenous sector, has introduced the Lean Business Offer which provides significant ‘lean’ support to client companies to ensure they build sustainable competitive businesses on international markets.It is designed to encourage clients to adopt lean business principles in their organisation to increase performance and competitiveness. tIn particular: The Lean Start Programme provides an introduction to lean concepts, tools and techniques in a short, focused engagement and lays a foundation for future lean or productivity improvement projects; The Lean Plus Programme supports medium-term business process improvement projects which will result in sustained use of lean techniques and related methodologies by the firm and will achieve significant measurable gains in capabilities and competitiveness. The Lean Plus assignment will deliver significant productivity improvement and cost reductions, embed a culture of business improvement and lean techniques to a cohort of trained staff and introduce a programme to pursue company-wide improvement. The Lean Transform Programme is a large-scale extensive and holistic company transformation programme which aims to embed the competences necessary for ongoing competitiveness gains in the firm. Additionally, Enterprise Ireland’s Company Health Check Service provides firms with a benchmarking system which provides clients with an objective view of how good their competition is and where their own strengths and weaknesses lie." The Leading Edge Group is an approved provider of the Enterprise Ireland Lean programmes. We can work with your organization to design and implement Lean programmes to suit your specific needs,  for further details please contact us on 021 4855863 or email info@leanscm.com 2011-01-18T12:29:11+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/certificate-diploma-in-supply-chain-management-ireland http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/certificate-diploma-in-supply-chain-management-ireland#When:10:30:51Z The Diploma in Supply Chain Management programme, at the University College Cork, provides a structured approach to the key elements of supply chain management. It has been running since 2002. The programme runs over 2 academic years (September to May); on the successful completion year 1 students may exit with a Certificate or continue and graduate with a Diploma on the successful completion of year 2. The Certificate year includes Lean SCM Green Belt modules offered in conjunction with the Leading Edge Group and accredited by the Irish Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). This part-time Diploma meets National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Level 7. The programme aims to support industry and career development in Supply Chain Management. The programme appeals to a variety of people working in wide range of industries, such as: pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food and drinks, electronics, utilities, distribution and services. Programme participants work in various functions including: procurement, logistics, production, planning, quality, accounts & finance. There are six modules in each year and each module will be delivered over a two-day seminar/workshop series in UCC (on a Wednesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) complemented by a half-day review session (Saturday morning). Usually one module is covered per month. We have found this delivery format is better than evening lectures in that it allows for more discussion and group work, is not as tiring as evening lectures can be and does not interfere with family life to the same extent. The cost of the course is €3,500 p.a. (which is payable in two instalments: Oct and Jan each year). Entry requirements can be found at: http://www.ucc.ie/scm/dipscm/apply The closing date for applications is September 10th 2010. A programme flyer and brochure can be downloaded from: www.ucc.ie/scm/dipscm/FlyerBrochure/ 2010-08-10T10:30:51+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/skillnet-funded-lean-sigma-program http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/skillnet-funded-lean-sigma-program#When:10:21:39Z The Life Sciences Skillnet in association with the Leading Edge Group are now offering a funded in-house Lean Six Sigma program for Q4 2010. This program is open to the Pharmaceutical, Medical and Food Sectors. The cost of a funded 10 seat program is €10,100 i.e. an individual student cost of €1,010 for a Level 9 accreditation! Please note that funding is available between now and Christmas for a total of five programs on a first come first served basis. For full details please view the Lean Sigma Green Belt Brochure. 2010-08-04T10:21:39+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-scm-black-belt-ireland http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-scm-black-belt-ireland#When:13:22:01Z The Leading Edge Group in association with University College Cork, Ireland, are offering a blended Lean SCM Black Belt program for Irish based professionals. The closing date for the next UCC Lean SCM Black Belt program (Postgraduate Diploma in Supply Chain Management) is 30th July 2010. This programme is aimed at career minded practitioners who work in either supply chain or related functions at management level and who have responsibility for continuous improvement within their organizations. It would also suit those who have some experience in Lean management and wish to develop knowledge and skills in this area. The programme addresses an identified need in multi-national and indigenous companies for a part-time educational programme for managers that have responsibility for strategic and operational development of supply chains. This programme adopts a blended learning approach, incorporating both classroom and distance education. On-line resources will be provided prior to workshops with further on-line resources provided after workshops. Each module will be supported by a 3-day workshop. For further details please contact Claire O'Brien on 021 4855863 or email us at info@leanscm.com. 2010-06-14T13:22:01+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/a-quickstart-lean-method-to-cut-the-clutter-and-get-your-hospital-back-into http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/a-quickstart-lean-method-to-cut-the-clutter-and-get-your-hospital-back-into#When:22:59:02Z Location: University of Colorado Hospital, Denver, Colorado Project Background The United States Hospital is the region’s leading specialty care and referral center. It is a family-focused hospital that offers patients the most advanced medical treatment and the finest amenities available. Since 1992, there has been a continual move (unit by unit) from one campus location to another because of lack of space. Space is at a critical premium when running all the functions within a hospital facility, and even more so when a large hospital is moving from one campus to another. The 5S tool provided a solution to space issues without downsizing staff or incurring large-scale capital building costs. A transition team was formed to develop and implement ways to remove paper waste, stationery supplies, biomedical supplies, and equipment waste from the hospital system before it was loaded onto tractor trailers and taken to the new location. Problems to Address One of the first steps in the 5S project was to survey employees to determine what issues they were experiencing around the move. They identified the following high-level issues: Low employee morale Reason: The employees felt that they were no longer involved in any decision-making processes that affected the financial stability of the hospital. This evolved after the hospital decided to: Change campuses without explaining why they were not expanding. Locate and merge units that had never been together before. Low employee opinion scores. Reason: Over the past five years, the hospital has used employee opinion surveys. The low scores were attributed to the change and transition that employees were experiencing. Employees stated that they felt they had ‘little control’ over what was happening. No process improvement initiatives. Reason: Current management was and is involved in day-to-day administrative issues, which keep it from focusing on process issues that have existed at the hospital for many years. Low room cleanliness and workstation scores. Reason: Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores showed that patients were not happy with the room and workstation layout and cleanliness (because patients felt the rooms were cluttered). The above article was taken from the Lean Healthcare publication - "Applying Lean in Healthcare - A Collection of International Case Studies" 2010-06-09T22:59:02+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/bon-secours-health-system-ireland-complete-lean-healthcare-program http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/bon-secours-health-system-ireland-complete-lean-healthcare-program#When:09:33:28Z The Bon Secours graduates of our Lean Healthcare Green Belt program were recently presented with their certificates by Joe Aherne, CEO, of the Leading Edge Group at a ceremony in Cork, Ireland. The successful candidates were Paul Foley, Marie Brennan, Siobhan Walsh, Claire Buckley, Adrienne Tobin, Mary Forde, Andrew Kenny, Donal Sheahan and Eamon Counihan. Siobhan Walsh received a gold star award with a 90% assessment score and was presented with a free copy of the book “Applying Lean in Healthcare; A Collection of International Case Studies”. Eamon Counihan, Quality Improvement coordinator, Best Practice Department at the Bon Secours Hospital Cork, hosted the event. The Bon Secours Health System is the largest private healthcare provider in Ireland. It has some of the most technologically advanced hospitals in the country located in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Tralee and the Mount Desert Care Village, Cork. All of the hospitals are accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI). With a total complement of more than 800 beds, the Bon Secours Health System provides best in class technologically advanced diagnostic and treatment facilities at all its locations. 2010-06-09T09:33:28+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/official-launch-of-leading-edge-group-lean-healthcare-book http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/official-launch-of-leading-edge-group-lean-healthcare-book#When:09:29:58Z The European book launch for “Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies” was held on Thursday June 3rd at the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin, Ireland. The guest speaker was Dr. James Reilly Irish opposition spokesperson for Health and Children. The publication presents a first-hand account of how Lean principles can be implemented in healthcare and includes a host of practical tips for overcoming everyday obstacles in a healthcare system through a variety of different international case studies.The book is co-edited by Joe Aherne and John Whelton of the Leading Edge Group and features a foreword by Jeffrey Clothier MD, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “Applying Lean in Healthcare” demonstrates how honest appraisal, intelligent planning, and vigilant follow-up have led to dramatic improvements in a variety of healthcare settings across the world. It teaches us how innovative organizations can find sustainable solutions to seemingly intractable problems by following a path guided by Lean Thinking. Lean methods may not solve every healthcare problem, but as these cases prove, changing a culture rather than personnel results in more effective sustainable change. The book was published by CRC Press. Based in Florida, USA and part of the Taylor & Francis Group, CRC Press is a premier global publisher of technical and scientific work. 2010-06-09T09:29:58+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/frontline-personnel-disenfranchised-and-ignored-irish-healthcare http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/frontline-personnel-disenfranchised-and-ignored-irish-healthcare#When:08:44:52Z Many of the frontline staff working in the Irish health service feel disenfranchised and ignored by key decision-makers and can make a far greater contribution to service delivery and reform. That’s according to Joe Aherne, co-editor of an international healthcare efficiency book recently published and CEO of Leading Edge Group who work with healthcare providers in the USA, Canada, UK and Ireland. Launching "Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies" at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dr James Reilly TD, Fine Gael Health Spokesperson, said: “Anything which can bring increased efficiency to the health service has to be of interest. ‘Lean’ thinking has been used widely in the car industry and has been applied successfully to healthcare systems. “I believe the book published by CRC Press will be keenly studied by anyone who would like to see our health services eliminate waste on the management and organization side so that frontline services can be protected and delivered efficiently.” For his part, Mr. Aherne said: “Our experience of staff working in the Irish healthcare system is of a caring and committed community who are not empowered or given the freedom to make the positive changes they see are required. We need to recognize the talents and contributions of all members of staff – those in support positions such as administration, catering, hygiene, laundry, management and transport as well as clinical professionals. “At the moment, staff and patients feel disempowered by the decision-making process. There is a real concern that the patient is no longer the central consideration in these decisions with financial and other performance targets to the fore. Skilled and experienced people within the Health Service Executive could make a real impact on patient outcomes but only if they are given the opportunity. This can be done alongside tackling the cost of care delivery – the two are not and cannot be mutually exclusive. Errors and waste can sometimes rival actual care in terms of generating costs in the health service. “The primary objective in healthcare is that every single patient receives the best possible care, every single time. While it originated in manufacturing, Lean in healthcare can make a tremendous contribution to reaching this goal. Lean is all about increasing patient satisfaction through - for example - providing better care without delay; decreasing length of stays; releasing in-patient bed days; eliminating unnecessary x-rays and fundamentally improving staff morale.” Mr. Aherne, whose company has offices in Cork and Toronto, added: “Frontline healthcare staff are in the best positions to initiate, implement and achieve the type of improvements that deliver savings and – more importantly – improve the overall patient experience and outcome. “Healthcare organizations – whether in the public or private sector – need to empower these frontline staff and ensure they have the appropriate knowledge and expertise to make the necessary changes and then give them the responsibility and opportunity to implement reforms. In Ireland, frontline healthcare personnel have been involved in external management consulting projects but have never been asked to implement the recommendations that these exercises generate. Some have not even seen the detailed reports they inputted to. As a result, they are extremely demoralized at the lack of progress being made in Irish hospitals. “I have personally spoken to these people and they articulate a number of changes that should and could be made within 24-36 months. These include treating day care surgery as the norm for elective surgery, releasing thousands of in-patient beds each year; managing variation in the patient admission process could significantly cut the number of operations cancelled each year for non-clinical reasons; applying a uniform approach to care for people with long-term conditions could prevent thousands of emergency admissions to hospitals and re-designing staff roles, rostering and responsibilities in line with efficient patient pathways could free up GP/consultant time and create a significant number of extra patient interactions per week.” Mr Aherne who said his company are keen to apply their overseas experience – especially in the Canadian healthcare system - more widely in Ireland added that incoming Health Service Executive (HSE) chief executive Cathal Magee who takes up the role in September will need to draw on his considerable business transformation and human resources experience to deliver real and lasting change. “There’s a huge prize to be achieved here – the double win of better patient outcomes and increased efficiency delivering cost savings. A June 2007 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found 35% of consecutive stay sequences in US hospitals were associated with quality of care problems and/or fragmentation of services – costing Medicare US$4.5 billion in 2004. Similarly, 11 per cent of individual stays within consecutive stay sequences involved problems with quality of care, admissions, treatments or discharges - costing Medicare US$1.4 billion.” In his foreword to Applying Lean in Healthcare: A Collection of International Case Studies, Dr Jeffrey Clothier, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said: “Systems and processes need to be streamlined to fully support the delivery of high quality care. Commitment and support for any Lean initiative needs to not only come from top healthcare management but, even more critically, from the ‘bottom up’ for implementation. Decision making and system development need to be pushed down to the lowest levels of any healthcare organization.” 2010-06-02T08:44:52+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-black-belt-enrollments-now-open http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-black-belt-enrollments-now-open#When:13:22:40Z The Leading Edge Group are now accepting applications for the current cohort of the Lean Healthcare Black Belt program.  This six-month distance learning program aims to provide participants with a practical application of Lean tools and techniques within the healthcare sector, as well as developing the appropriate process improvement, leadership, and project management skills to drive the changes that are necessary for a successful Lean transformation. The program is aimed at doctors, consultants, nurses, administrators, allied health professionals, and other professionals in the healthcare sector who have responsibility for driving or supporting quality or continuous improvement initiatives within their organizations and also those who wish to further develop knowledge and skills in the area of Lean Healthcare. Further details of this program including program content and mentor profiles are available in the Lean Healthcare Black Belt program brochure. Entry requirement criteria, course prospectus, module descriptions etc are available by emailing johnwhelton@leanscm.com or by contacting either our Toronto operations center at +1 4166375074 or Irish operations center at +353 21 4855863. A discount of 10% on the quoted price is available if you register by June 30th, 2010. 2010-06-01T13:22:40+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/no-more-paper-slips-a-kaizen-event-to-introduce-an-electronic-referral-syst http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/no-more-paper-slips-a-kaizen-event-to-introduce-an-electronic-referral-syst#When:12:56:02Z Author: Siobhan Walsh, MISCP, Physiotherapy Manager, Bon Secours Hospital, Cork, Ireland The Physiotherapy Department in the Bon Secours Hospital Cork is staffed by a team of 17 Chartered Physiotherapists. Services are available to both inpatients and outpatients. Inpatients must be referred for physiotherapy by their attending Consultant. Averages of 375 inpatient referrals for physiotherapy are received each calendar month. This results in approximately 1600 inpatient physiotherapy consults per month. Physiotherapy requisitions were traditionally made via a handwritten referral system. When the need for physiotherapy was identified by a consultant, a requisition form was completed by nursing staff and hand delivered to the physiotherapy reception area by the ward care assistant. In order to achieve continuous improvement in the referral system, DMAIC was the quality system used. This allowed identification of the problems that the Kaizen event would focus on, namely delays in receiving referrals, lost or multiple referrals, illegible details on referrals, physiotherapist's and clerical officer's time wasted in reworking the process. A Kaizen team was selected consisting of physiotherapy staff, nursing staff, IT manager and clerical staff. As team leader, I was responsible for planning, implementing and tracking the progress of the electronic referral system. Combining the two tools of Lean Thinking and Six Sigma, the aim was to eliminate time wasting by the efficient delivery of information electronically, while optimizing flow and eliminating variation as the mandatory fields must be completed before the requisition can be submitted. It is hoped that this will ensure that accurate patient information will be delivered on the physiotherapy referrals in a faster more efficient manner. Value stream mapping provided a method of identifying inefficiencies in the current handwritten referral process, and subsequently the future state map created a vision of quantified improvements achievable. Training was completed with nursing and physiotherapy staff in May 2009; they were also encouraged to practice on the test page. Cross-training provided physiotherapy staff with the ability to assist nursing staff in the completion of the electronic referrals at ward level also. A Kaizen event took place in the Physiotherapy Dept of the Bon Secours Hospital on May 25th 2009, with the introduction of an electronic system for physiotherapy referrals and the discontinuation of the old paper system. This was preceded by a pilot of the system on St. Mary’s Ward from May 5th - May 18th 2009. The DMAIC tool to this Six Sigma project identified the problems on which to focus, and following the introduction of the electronic system, the following are the improvements: Increased efficiency as the referral cycle time is significantly reduced from an average of 6 hours to 0mins. Decreased patient waiting time reduced from 29 hours to 3½ hours. Decreased waste of resources for care assistants and clerical officers with no duplication of referrals, thus optimising physiotherapy time with patients. Electronic grouping of referrals allows for easy identification of the wards sending most referrals and also the specialty of physiotherapy most requested. This will assist in planning future allocation of resources within the department. Improved risk management to ensure the correct patient receives the correct physiotherapy as relevant patient information is mandatory. This also ensures that referrals are consultant ordered as per hospital policy. As suggested by the Control phase of the DMAIC process, a policy has been drafted in accordance with the hospital best practice guidelines. This policy outlines how the process of referring an inpatient for physiotherapy should be carried out. The electronic referral process for physiotherapy requisitions has been a tremendous success to date. It has subsequently been adapted and introduced in Dietetics, Occupational Therapy, Discharge Planning, Sleep Study and Respiratory departments. Going forwards, I anticipate implementing it in Cardiology, Endoscopy and Radiology, in an effort to discontinue the circulation of ‘paper slips’. It is hoped that this will ensure that accurate patient information will be delivered in a faster more efficient manner, resulting in greater patient and care provider satisfaction. The Kaizen event to Introduce an Electronic Referral System for Physiotherapy Requisitions was undertaken by Siobhan Walsh as the project element of the Leading Edge Group Lean Heatlhcare Green Belt program assessment. The project went on to be a finalist in the 2010 Aramark Healthcare Innovation Awards. 2010-06-01T12:56:02+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/applying-the-tipping-point-philosophy-to-organizational-change-by-mary http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/applying-the-tipping-point-philosophy-to-organizational-change-by-mary#When:12:30:35Z “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.” Jack Welsh Many people are familiar with Malcolm Gladwell’s best selling book ‘The Tipping Point’ first published in the year 2000. Drawing on epidemic theory, Gladwell provided insights into how social trends and programs tipped from a small beginning to widespread adoption. In doing so he popularised the term tipping point, that ‘magical moment when ideas, trends and social behaviours cross a threshold, tip and spread like wildfire’. Less well known is the work of Andrea Shapiro who has applied the same concepts to create a simple model of organizational change. Shapiro’s model provides a common language for those engaged in implementing change enabling dialogue on the actions required to help move people from being disconnected to being committed to a change. The end point of a change is sometimes defined in technical terms e.g. the project is complete, new equipment or technology is installed, training is complete etc: however change is successfully implemented only when people have adopted the new ideas and are using the new ways of working to do their jobs. The tipping point model of organizational change postulates that the spread of a change is analogous to the spread of an epidemic. The spread of a flu epidemic is dependant on contact with a carrier of the flu, the virulence of the flu strain and the environment in which the epidemic occurs. In an analogous manner, the rate at which a new change is adopted requires contact with advocates of the change, a compelling content of the change itself and appropriate environmental support for the change. These factors interact and either reinforce or compete against each other. To read the full text please click here. 2010-06-01T12:30:35+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/effective-management-of-healthcare-consumable-inventories http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/effective-management-of-healthcare-consumable-inventories#When:13:40:38Z As healthcare costs increase at a faster rate than other products or services, healthcare providers, in particular hospitals, are under continuous pressure to dramatically improve service, reduce costs, improve patient safety and reduce waiting times. However, hospitals are not making the necessary improvements in cost and quality across their internal and external supply chains. The cost of inventory is continuing to rise across industries tying up valuable cash as well as impacting on the cost base of the organization. This is especially true for healthcare where inventory costs are already high and specialty items can be extremely costly to acquire and manage with expiration dates a particular concern. The cost of management of this type of stock, be it ‘consignment stock’, or non ‘bill of material’ items can be high in terms of lot code tracking, expiration date monitoring and so on. These organizations are constantly seeking ways to reduce waste, increase efficiency and improve the supply chain management process. The tendency is to either keep stocks unnecessarily high (unnecessary expense) to avoid stock outs or to not have enough which can lead to costly stock outs The majority of healthcare organizations avail of consignment stock and computerized Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) where the vendor provides the inventory on consignment and manages it on behalf of the customer. However since consigned stock is owned by the manufacturers, but located at the customer’s facility, it can be difficult to manage and the stock is not on the customers system as it effectively does not belong to them. A Solution – Genesis VMI Genesis is a special web based inventory solution used for managing products outside standard inventory management systems. It is ideal for consumables and high value critically important products and applications. The user logs on to the inventory system (using an access control card) via the Genesis provided touch screen PC/barcode scanner located in a controlled secure location in the clients premises, scans each item taken and once completed, the data is uploaded real time to the Genesis secured servers. The client & vendor set minimum levels for each item and the vendor gets real-time reports to allow them to monitor stock levels. Genesis uses access control to link transactions to the user. It captures this data and provides it in a user friendly format both to the manufacturing company and the vendor. The system automatically alerts the supplier and the customer by email /text message when items need to be re-stocked preventing costly stock-outs. The benefits to the healthcare organization are many: Large reduction in consumption by users - 27% by one customer Transfer of ownership from the customer to the supplier of the stock resulting in less working capital No redundant stock for the customer to worry about Elimination of stock write off’s Management by the vendor of the items under his control, expiration date control is the vendor responsibility Equally the supplier also benefits by having stock visibility at all times live on the web; it receives automatic alerts; all items used are instantly billable to the customer and it prevents date expiry issues. Please see our “Events” section for notice on our upcoming 1-hour webinar on “Effective management of Vendor Managed Inventory”.  General 2010-04-16T13:40:38+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-welcomes-nick-tulloch http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-welcomes-nick-tulloch#When:13:07:31Z Nick Tulloch is an International Business Manager with over 15 years of Customer Care and Major Account Management experience. Nick has Diplomas in Mechanical Engineering and Business Management and has worked in a vast array of industries relating to Consultancy & Training services. Nick has managed large Business Development teams promoting Prince 2 Programme Management Consultancy, sold multi-million dollar IT projects to Investment Banks in London, New York and Paris, secured a global induction online program for Dell where he was also one of the key courseware designers and created innovative training products for GSK UK. More recently Nick was the Business Development Manager for a Health & Safety Consultancy, Training and eLearning firm and had overall responsibility to introduce new training products. Nick stated ‘Since my arrival at the Leading Edge Group I have been extremely fortunate to attend a number of our training programmes, in particular the Yellow Belt Healthcare program hosted by OHA in Toronto, Canada. Thanks to all of those in attendance who made me feel so very welcome. We are fortunate to be experiencing an unprecedented demand for our range of consulting and training services. I look forward to meeting with you." 2010-04-16T13:07:31+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-celebrates-15-years-in-business http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-celebrates-15-years-in-business#When:13:36:40Z This month the Leading Edge Group is celebrating 15 years in business. The company was established in April 1995 to provide niche management consulting solutions to organizations on a global level. The Group is located in Toronto, Canada, and Cork, Ireland and works throughout Europe and North America where they have successfully conducted over 800 process improvement engagements in the past decade. They currently have more than 100 global clients engaged in Lean initiatives. In 2004 the Leading Edge Group established a separate Lean Healthcare Division in response to the need expressed by global healthcare organizations to support their management and staff in Lean best practice through consulting, education, and training. The company has developed a number of certified Lean Healthcare White, Yellow, Green and Black Belt Programs in conjunction with Daniels College of Business, University of Denver; the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA); the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the Canadian Professional Logistics Institute. These programs are also fully supported by international Lean luminaries such as Dr. Tim Hill; Dr, Jeffrey Clothier and Professor Peter Hynes. Leading Edge Group clients include major public and private healthcare authorities, medical diagnostic organizations, blood transfusion services and acute/non-acute hospitals. A sample of our healthcare clients include Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, USA; Kaiser Permanente, USA; Waitemata District Health Board, New Zealand; Interior Health, Canada; Vancouver Coastal Health, Canada; NHS, UK; Health Service Executive, Ireland and Oregon Medical Laboratories, USA. As part of the celebrations the Leading Edge Group has completed a publication called "Applying Lean in Healthcare - A Collection of International Case Studies".  The book, a combination of real life Lean implementations in healthcare throughout the world and the theory behind Lean in Healthcare, is published by Productivity Press/Taylor & Francis and is now available through Productivity Press and Amazon. A number of celebratory promotional offers will also run for the month of April.  Please see the related content section below for more information. General 2010-04-13T13:36:40+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/conversation-between-the-sunday-business-post-correspondent-and-dr.-ti http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/conversation-between-the-sunday-business-post-correspondent-and-dr.-ti#When:19:08:15Z At first glance, Lean is a set of tools which can be used to streamline business processes – a valuable commodity in these straitened times, when businesses in all sectors are looking at how to improve efficiencies. But this set of tools will only work in organizations or companies in which a culture of empowerment and continuous improvement exists – otherwise any Lean project, however well intentioned, will usually be doomed to failure. “Lean does not come solely from the top down,” said Canadian “Lean Guru” Professor Tim Hill, who is currently working on major Lean projects in Ireland and internationally with The Leading Edge Group. “If it is something that is dictated from the senior management, it will be viewed as a sort of “flavor of the month”, and people will generally revert back to what they were doing before it was introduced. But if Lean involves those who are closest to production, it has a better chance of succeeding.” Obviously, there are those who may be attracted to the concept of Lean, but who may be unsure of how a system which was developed by a car manufacturer can apply to their own sector – for example, those working in service industries, food production or even healthcare. But this would be to miss the point of Lean – it is not merely concerned with improving manufacturing processes; it is concerned with improving any processes. “You need to approach things holistically,” said Professor Hill. “For example, we use a tool called Value Stream Mapping, where we look at what needs to be improved, and we identify various flaws in the process, not to blame anybody but to look at specific tasks that we can carry out to address these flaws. Lean is about continuous improvement, but it is more to do with developing a culture of continuous improvement. For a successful deployment, Lean needs to be about 20% tools and about 80% culture. Because Lean is a journey – it’s not a destination.” It is also about creating the perfect blend between management leadership and employee empowerment. Management may be responsible for introducing Lean and ensuring that the tools are put in place, but those closest to production will be most responsible for ensuring that Lean becomes part of the company’s culture. This is why management needs to become a facilitator and a teacher, in order to create the ideal environment – the ideal culture – in which those who will be carrying out the tasks can implement the principles of Lean. And the catalyst for deployment – especially rapid deployment as opposed to a quick fix - usually starts with some form of crisis. “Typically, we reach a pain point in an organization, which may be experiencing a significant number of errors,” explained Professor Hill. “In an office situation, it may be that there is too much back and forth. In a manufacturing plant, it could be a number of defects. Or in a healthcare situation, it could be that too many patients are dying. At this point, management needs to be looking to bring Lean into their organization, but a quick fix often fails – maybe management started with the tools but forgot to engage in training. But with rapid deployment, alongside leadership training, you can address both the top and the bottom of the organization.”   2010-04-11T19:08:15+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/sustaining-a-lean-transformation-through-strategy-leadership-employee-engag http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/sustaining-a-lean-transformation-through-strategy-leadership-employee-engag#When:13:44:00Z Originating in Japanese car manufacturing with Toyota, Lean Thinking is now being applied more widely with considerable success. It is an organizational strategy for optimizing resources and delivering efficiencies through identifying and eliminating wasteful steps in core processes. In healthcare, these are typically around both patient pathways and administrative processes. Lean principles are used to some extent in most healthcare systems in Canada and are continuing to gain traction as more and more internal ambassadors see the efficiencies to be achieved while also being assured that these are not won through brutal cost-cutting that leaves patients vulnerable. With a plan for healthcare that prioritizes reducing wait times, providing better access to healthcare professionals and keeping Ontarians healthy, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has recognized that Lean is a vital pillar in achieving its wait time reduction targets. Similarly, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Health has launched Lean to improve its internal operations with a focus on bringing value to its customers and patients and improving the working life of staff. Already, it has introduced Lean Thinking to hospital laboratories; supply chain management; vaccine management and medical card applications with significant success. At St Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver referral wait times are down, surgeries are up and recovery times are shorter than ever for patients in need of lower extremity (foot and ankle) and upper extremity (hand and wrist) surgeries. In just six months, it launched a centralized intake, assessment and surgical referral process for two high-volume clinics for patients with distal extremity orthopaedic conditions, allowing physicians to see an additional 5,000 new referral patients per year. Gains such as these demonstrate the power of applying the tools and practices associated with Lean to target processes in hospitals and healthcare systems. To sustain results, however, organizations need to look further than a tool set and begin to focus on developing effective strategy alignment, Lean leadership and employee engagement. Healthcare is a process-driven sector. As a consequence, Lean must be one of the business strategies that it adopts as a key competency at all levels. In this regard, the Lean Iceberg Model outlined in ‘Staying Lean: Thriving, Not Just Surviving’ (Peter Hines, Pauline Found, Gary Griffiths and Richard Harrison) is worth noting. The model outlines those ‘above the water’ elements that are typically features of Lean initiatives in organizations implementing ‘quick fixes’ within local processes through a focus on tools, techniques and processes. However, more importantly, it outlines a number of ‘below the water’ enablers – strategy alignment, behavior and engagement – which are vital in creating sustainable Lean transformations in healthcare. Many Lean initiatives have failed to deliver significant value to customers when work is not aligned with the organization’s strategy and fails to fully engage the workforce due to an overemphasis on tools, techniques and technology. The patient and the organizational strategy need to be central to the Lean transformation. Lean strategy is new for most healthcare leaders and clinicians and therefore appropriate change management approaches should be applied to engage the entire organization on the journey from awareness to adoption and overall sustainability. With a focus on performance and process improvement tied to accountability agreements and reward/recognition mechanisms, organizations can leverage Lean strategy to ensure that they have a sustainable long term approach that engages the entire organization. Effective leadership is a critical success factor. In this new approach governance and management support at both the provincial and organizational level is critical to achieving successful and sustainable improvements. Leaders should inspire people to adopt change and not leave them feeling compelled to implement projects that have been defined solely by senior management. Employees and physicians need to see the benefits and are enabled and actively engaged in improving the workplace for themselves, their patients and the organization. These people are in the best positions to initiate, implement and achieve such improvements. The strategic aim of any organization, therefore, should be to empower appropriate staff and physicians and ensure that they have the appropriate knowledge, expertise and time to be successful. Developing organizational competence requires education and training at all levels. This is designed with a change management model in mind - knowing which stakeholders in the organization need awareness level training (boards, for example) and those that need deep levels of expertise (front line managers, quality improvement professionals, etc.). In this context, training is measured according to ‘belt’ levels. These are internationally-recognized Lean Healthcare competency standards, in which ‘Yellow Belt’ signifies that participants have a basic understanding, ‘Green Belt’ signifies that they can apply Lean Healthcare tools and practices to improve their organizations and ‘Black Belt’ signifies that they can lead Lean Healthcare implementation projects that achieve significant efficiencies (including hard savings) for the organization and patient-focused quality processes of care. Numerous healthcare organizations have elements of Lean in their quality improvement or efficiency approaches. An assessment via a ‘Lean Healthcare Diagnostic’ can help the organization measure where it stands on the road to Lean sustainability. Such a diagnostic helps establish what is required to develop and maintain those ‘below the water’ enablers that can sustain gains and build on existing strength and capacity. In the complex environment we face in Ontario with the evolution of our new accountability model, organizations need to become true learning organizations. Leaders need to adopt Lean thinking/CQI/TQM/Kaizen methodologies as a way of life in the organization. Leadership and strategy alignment will be key to a better performing delivery system (Ted Ball, Thriving in the Emerging Healthcare System: Managing Change, Fall 2008). As leaders, we need to champion this development of organizational competency in Lean Thinking in a strategic and aligned way. The right steps taken now and applied consistently throughout the organization will not only bring about savings, but also help reduce some of the frustrations that leave dedicated professionals questioning the lofty rhetoric they hear about how smarter thinking can allow them ‘do more with less’. General 2010-04-07T13:44:00+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/the-leading-edge-group-forms-alliance-with-uk-based-company-sa-partner http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/the-leading-edge-group-forms-alliance-with-uk-based-company-sa-partner#When:14:46:42Z The Leading Edge Group has formed a business collaboration with S A Partners, the UK’s longest-established consultancy in ‘Lean’, a system for eliminating waste and driving efficiency to achieve greater value. Joe Aherne, CEO, Leading Edge Group, said: “This collaboration is a fantastic opportunity to partner with a respected international organisation specialising in Lean enterprise consulting. The joint approach will open up new markets for our education programmes and help consolidate our position as a growing international provider of online education and training in Lean thinking. Prof Peter Hines and his colleagues have an excellent reputation and we are already very familiar with his work on strategy and operational improvement.” S A Partners was formed in 1993 to capitalise on research by their chairman, Prof Peter Hines who also chairs the Lean Enterprise Research Centre at Cardiff University. Prof Hines co-authored ‘Staying Lean – Thriving, Not Just Surviving’ which recently won a prestigious Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence. Speaking about the agreement with Leading Edge Group, Prof Hines said it will allow S A Partners extend their reach in Ireland by working alongside partners who have strong market knowledge. “We look forward to working with Joe Aherne and his team at Leading Edge Group in mutually beneficial ways that allow us extend our respective offerings to clients in Ireland and the UK. There are considerable synergies between our organisations and I am confident that these will allow the collaborative approach to succeed.”   General 2010-01-19T14:46:42+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-yellow-belt-workshop http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-yellow-belt-workshop#When:14:46:48Z The Leading Edge Group recently delivered a 2-day Lean Yellow Healthcare Belt workshop to a number of Irish healthcare staff. Lean facilitators leading the event were Steve Hardgrave, Jane Bishop of Waterford General Hospital and Carole Broadbank of Clonmel Hospital.  Participants learned the basic principles of Lean and the specific benefits of applying Lean to the Irish healthcare sector. A number of case studies, interactive demonstrations and videos were introduced to aid the learning application and evaluation results were extremely positive. Please contact the Leading Edge Group for further information on our Lean Healthcare programs. General 2009-12-11T14:46:48+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-welcomes-steve-hardgrave http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-welcomes-steve-hardgrave#When:14:49:40Z The Leading Edge Group are delighted to welcome Steve Hardgrave to our team. Steve has over 15 years experience in implementing Lean as both a consultant and as a line manager. He has led Lean and business process improvement projects at more than 25 leading organisations, including healthcare providers, manufacturing operations, services companies, and government agencies. His recent activities have focused mainly on the healthcare sector—he has led Lean events in the past year at major hospitals and clinical laboratories, resulting in dramatically improved patient service, increased job satisfaction and reduced workload for staff, reduced costs, and increased capacity. He has also developed and taught Lean Yellow-, Green-, and Black-Belt courses specifically tailored to the healthcare environment. Before joining Leading Edge, Steve conducted numerous Lean consulting engagements in the aviation and aerospace industry through his previous company, Aircraft Management Technologies. He also led in-house Lean transformations at operating units of Pratt & Whitney and Teleflex in the US, UK, and Ireland. Steve is a former US Navy aviator, retired at the rank of Commander from the Naval Reserve. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School (with distinction), an MS in Operations Research from the US Naval Postgraduate School (high distinction), and a BA from Duke University (honours). General 2009-12-01T14:49:40+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-pre-budget-submission-ireland http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-pre-budget-submission-ireland#When:14:48:20Z ‘Lowering healthcare costs without lowering quality standards’, a submission from the Cork-based Leading Edge Group to Mary Harney TD, Minister for Health & Children, on the healthcare component of Budget 2010 to be announced by Brian Lenihan TD, Minister for Finance, in Dáil Éireann on December 9. As part of the realignment in public spending, the Health Service Executive is required to deliver expenditure reductions in the order of €800m per annum while the report of the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes identified €1.23 billion in potential savings under Health & Children, accompanied by a 6,168 reduction in staff. With offices in Cork and Toronto, the Irish-owned Leading Edge Group has built up considerable expertise in the wider application of the ‘Lean’ principles first used by Toyota in car manufacturing. Most notably, this includes healthcare and the company now has a substantial presence in the Canadian health system where they are helping providers achieve very considerable efficiencies and cost savings without compromising on patient care or outcomes. For instance, they were recently selected by the Ontario Hospital Association to deliver a series of educational programmes supporting front-line Ontarian healthcare professionals in achieving greater efficiencies and organisational performance. The Ontario Hospital Association represents over 150 public hospitals across the Canadian province which has a population of over 13 million people. The agreement sees the Leading Edge Group deliver both face-to-face training and webcasts to healthcare leaders as part of the Ontario Hospital Association’s Governance Centre of Excellence.   For full copy of the Leading Edge Group's pre-budget submission please contact us. General 2009-12-01T14:48:20+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-lean-healthcare-book-now-available-to-pre-order http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-lean-healthcare-book-now-available-to-pre-order#When:14:51:46Z The Leading Edge Group in conjunction with the Productivity Press will publish on 15th April 2010 entitled: Applying Lean in Healthcare – A Collection of International Case Studies. The book is now available to pre-order from Amazon.com and from Productivity Press. ISBN Number 978-1-4398-2739-0. This publication outlines, through a series of practical case studies, how these flows can be improved dramatically. Most of these case studies originate from projects undertaken by students of The Leading Edge Group Lean Healthcare Green and Black Belt programs. The Productivity Press have already published leading books in the area of Lean and Lean Healthcare including “Lean Hospitals: Improving quality, patient safety, and employee satisfaction” which won a Shingo prize in 2009. The publication includes contributions from: Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, UK – Providing Rapid Access to a Vascular Surgery Outpatient Clinic Franciscan Health System, Washington, USA – Reorganizing and Standardizing Supply Rooms across a Health System University of Colorado Hospital, Denver, USA – A Quickstart Lean Method to Cut the Clutter and get your Hospital Back into Shape Dupont Hospital, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA – Applying Lean Thinking to the Outpatient Registration Process Oregon Medical Labs, Oregon, USA – Establishing a Standard and Efficient Client Laboratory Supplies Process Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ireland – Improving Accommodation and Organizational Arrangements at an Outpatient Antenatal Clinic HRVP Medical Oncology Unit, Taubate, Brazil – Improving Waiting Times at a Medical Oncology Unit Red Deer Regional Hospital Center, Alberta, Canada – Minimizing the Time from ‘Cooking Pot to Patient’ Dr. Tim Hill, Toyota Sensei, London, Ontario Canada – The Future for Lean Healthcare This publication is a must for all those leading or supporting continuous improvement initiatives in Healthcare. General 2009-11-25T14:51:46+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-yellow-belt-2-day-workshops http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-yellow-belt-2-day-workshops#When:14:51:13Z The Leading Edge Group will host a number of two-day Lean Healthcare Yellow Belt workshops in Ireland. Participants will learn how to apply Lean concepts and tools to healthcare enterprises. The critical Lean tools of Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen and 5S will be demonstrated using case studies and excercises - all designed to ensure that participants own the skills when they complete the program. The workshop will be led by Carol Broadbank, Lean Black Belt, General Manager of South Tipperary Hospital; Jane Bishop, Lean Black Belt,Trauma Services Manager in Waterford Regional Hospital; and Steve Hardvrave, Lean Sigma Black Belt. Participants who successfully complete the exam at the end of the two-day course which will receive accredited Lean Healthcare Yellow Belt certification. Program Dates: Dublin 16th -17th November 2009 Cork 3rd-4th December 2009 For further information please view the Lean Healthcare Workshop brochure or contact us on 021 4855863. General 2009-11-05T14:51:13+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-sponsors-oha-healthachieve-2009-conference http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-sponsors-oha-healthachieve-2009-conference#When:14:54:53Z One of the largest and most prestigious health care gatherings in North America, HealthAchieve2009 aims to inspire ideas and innovation with over 50 informative and engaging educational sessions along with its award-winning exhibit floor, where more than 350 exhibitors showcase the latest health care products, services and technologies. HealthAchieve attracts over 9,000 health care and business leaders from around the world who gather together to learn, build relationships, and share best practices. These delegates include chief executive officers, trustees and representatives from a broad range of administrative and clinical areas such as: Diagnostic Services Purchasing Finance Human Resources Infection Control Information Technology Nursing There is a specific Lean Healthcare Stream on Monday November 16, 2009 from 3:30pm to 5:00pm. Speakers include: Michele Jordan Chief Transformation Officer Rouge Valley Health System Bridging the Gap: From Understanding and Using Lean Tools to Transforming Organizational Leadership Mark Graban Senior Fellow Lean Enterprise Institute Author of Lean Hospitals: Improving Quality, Patient Safety and Employee Satisfaction  Visit here for details on all of the events or here for information on the Lean Health Care sessions.                                           2009-11-02T14:54:53+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-and-the-oha-innovative-lean-healthcare-education-pa http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-and-the-oha-innovative-lean-healthcare-education-pa#When:14:55:17Z The Leading Edge Group and the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) recently announced a new and innovative Lean Healthcare education partnership that is aimed at preparing healthcare professionals and organizations to increase efficiencies and improve organizational performance. This agreement includes the delivery of a series of Lean educational programs to frontline staff and a number of webcasts to an audience of healthcare leaders as part of OHA's Governance Centre of Excellence (GCE). "Applying Lean Thinking within our healthcare sector can produce significant cost and process efficiencies. While some hospitals are already using Lean, there is a need to further educate and empower a new generation of healthcare staff in the principles and methodologies involved," said Tom Closson, President and CEO of the OHA. "We are excited to be partnering with the Leading Edge Group to deliver Lean Healthcare education programs to healthcare organizations in Ontario and beyond." The OHA is the voice of Ontario's public hospitals, representing approximately 155 hospital corporations. Founded in 1924, the OHA uses advocacy, education and partnerships to build a strong, innovative and sustainable healthcare system for the population of Ontario. "The Leading Edge Group's programs are targeted at a wide range of professions across the healthcare sector including doctors, consultants, nurses, administrators, allied health professionals, and those working in the area of service and process improvement" said John Whelton, Director of North American Operations for the Leading Edge Group. "Successful completion of these programs will provide participants with an OHA Certificate of Distinction that provides credit towards the Association's Diploma in Healthcare Management" he added. For further information on these programs please contact us. General 2009-10-30T14:55:17+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/enterprise-ireland-trip-to-canada http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/enterprise-ireland-trip-to-canada#When:13:58:55Z Leading Edge Group Ireland and Leading Edge Group Canada where in attendance at the Enterprise Ireland Canada forum held on the 22nd October 2009.  Joe Aherne, CEO and John Whelton, Director of North American Operations had the opportunity to meet with the Irish Deputy Prime Minister (Táinaiste) Mary Coughlan as well as many of the Irish owned companies currently operating in Canada. Further details on the event are available at here General 2009-10-23T13:58:55+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/cpa-members-in-industry-conference http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/cpa-members-in-industry-conference#When:13:59:08Z The CPA held their 2-day Members in Industry Conference on the 9th and 10th October in Dublin, Ireland. Over 80 accountants attended the event. The presentations reflected the current state of the global economy and included topics on cash management; company valuations; performance management and business opportunities in the context of the current market. Joe Aherne, CEO of the Leading Edge Group, presented on “Going Lean – What is Lean Thinking and how can it benefit you”. Joe highlighted a number of case studies where Lean was successfully implemented in financial value streams and one of the key talking points was how to secure top management support for such initiatives. Please contact info@leanscm.com if you would like to receive a copy of the presentation General 2009-10-09T13:59:08+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-presentation-to-cfpe-workshop http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/leading-edge-group-presentation-to-cfpe-workshop#When:14:01:53Z The Leading Edge Group was invited to present at the Consultancy Forum for Pharmaceutical Engineers (CFPE) workshop on 1st October 2009. Leading Edge delivered a series of presentations on Lean Culture & Strategy to the CFPE general membership committee meeting at a Pfizer facility in Cork, Ireland. CFPE is a forum for individuals and companies working in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and the September 2009 event was hosted by Nick Ustianowski, Lean Project Leader, Pfizer Drug Product Plant. The Leading Edge Group delivered two presentations: “Lean – A Strategic Approach for Sustainability” - Bill Wheeler, Senior Lean Consultant, Leading Edge Group “Growth and Spread of a Lean Culture: An Anecdote” - Steve Hardgrave, Lean Leadership Consultant, Leading Edge Group Please email info@leadingedge.ie if you would like copies of the above presentations. General 2009-10-01T14:01:53+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/pharma-in-house-lean-yellow-belt-program http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/pharma-in-house-lean-yellow-belt-program#When:14:00:17Z The Leading Edge Group recently delivered a 2-day Lean Yellow Belt training program to supply chain staff at a Pfizer API facility. Our senior Lean trainer, Joe O’Callaghan, presented on the basic principles of Lean and the specific benefits of applying Lean to the pharmaceutical sector. A number of case studies and videos were introduced to aid the learning application and evaluation results were extremely positive. Please contact the Leading Edge Group for further information on our Lean Yellow Belt programs. General 2009-10-01T14:00:17+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/new-learning-management-system-lms-portal http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/new-learning-management-system-lms-portal#When:14:03:10Z The Leading Edge Group is proud to announce the launch of a new Learning Management System (LMS) portal designed to support our expanding client base and ever-increasing education and training portfolio. The portal has been developed in line with invaluable feedback received from customers who have successfully completed our programs over the past number of years. As well as an enhanced look and feel, participants can now experience our programs through an improved and more intuitive delivery medium with features that include the following: Summarized task list for program completion A list of all required activities and associated materials listed to enable ease of access and to enable you to keep track of your progress Specific discussion forum access (to be added in the next number of weeks) A resource area specific to your program of study General 2009-09-24T14:03:10+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/the-leading-edge-group-productivity-press-set-to-launch-new-lean-healthcare http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/the-leading-edge-group-productivity-press-set-to-launch-new-lean-healthcare#When:14:04:14Z The Leading Edge Group in conjunction with the Productivity Press are launching a new publication in March 2010 entitled: Applying Lean in Healthcare – A Collection of International Case Studies. The focus of Lean Thinking in healthcare is on improving flow among core value activities in organizations, and on improving the patient’s journey. This publication outlines, through a series of practical case studies, how these flows can be improved dramatically. Most of these case studies originate from projects undertaken by students of The Leading Edge Group Lean Healthcare Green and Black Belt programs. The Productivity Press have already published leading books in the area of Lean and Lean Healthcare including “Lean Hospitals: Improving quality, patient safety, and employee satisfaction” which won a Shingo prize in 2009. The publication includes contributions from: Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, UK – Providing Rapid Access to a Vascular Surgery Outpatient Clinic Franciscan Health System, Washington, USA – Reorganizing and Standardizing Supply Rooms across a Health System University of Colorado Hospital, Denver, USA – A Quickstart Lean Method to Cut the Clutter and get your Hospital Back into Shape Dupont Hospital, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA – Applying Lean Thinking to the Outpatient Registration Process Oregon Medical Labs, Oregon, USA – Establishing a Standard and Efficient Client Laboratory Supplies Process Mid Western Regional Hospital, Ireland – Improving Accommodation and Organizational Arrangements at an Outpatient Antenatal Clinic HRVP Medical Oncology Unit, Taubate, Brazil – Improving Waiting Times at a Medical Oncology Unit Red Deer Regional Hospital Center, Alberta, Canada – Minimizing the Time from ‘Cooking Pot to Patient’ Dr. Tim Hill, Toyota Sensei, London, Ontario Canada – The Future for Lean Healthcare This publication is a must for all those leading or supporting continuous improvement initiatives in Healthcare. General 2009-08-28T14:04:14+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-black-belt-program http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/lean-healthcare-black-belt-program#When:14:05:16Z The Leading Edge Group recently launched a “new” distance learning 6-month Lean Healthcare Black Belt program to be managed from our Toronto offices. The program covers advanced Lean tools and practices including Voice of the Customer (VOC), Kano Analysis, managing demand and variation and mapping extended and multiple values streams. Participating organizations include Vancouver Coastal Health (BC), Northern Health Authority (BC), Hitchcock Medical Center (New Hampshire, USA), Instituto de Oncologia do Vale (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Virginia Gay Hospital (Vinton, IA, USA) and Jewish General Hospital (Montréal, Québec). Please email John Whelton on info@leanscm.com for further details. General 2009-06-04T14:05:16+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/aramark-healthcare-innovation-awards-2009 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/aramark-healthcare-innovation-awards-2009#When:14:06:58Z Pictured above are Joe Aherne, CEO and Pat O'Donnell, Lean Consultant, Leading Edge Group with the certificate presented to them by Aramark Healthcare in recognition of Lean Healthcare Services. The Leading Edge Group has been shortlisted in the Aramark healthcare technology/products innovation category for their suite of Lean Healthcare education programs. This award recognises and rewards a significant cutting-edge advance in innovative breakthroughs in healthcare services, product or technology. This is the second of these awards that have been established to broaden awareness of the need to constantly improve standards of patient care and patient safety and to recognize and merit innovation and significant contributions in the public and private healthcare sectors. General 2009-05-27T14:06:58+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/second-lean-healthcare-summit-hosted-in-ireland http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/second-lean-healthcare-summit-hosted-in-ireland#When:15:09:55Z A Lean Healthcare Summit entitled 'The Art of Reducing Inefficiencies in our Healthcare Systems' recently took place in Cork, Ireland. Organized by The Leading Edge Group, the event explored how inefficiencies and non-value-added activities in our healthcare systems could be eliminated in order to ensure the highest levels of patient satisfaction and care delivery. The audience reflected the full spectrum of the Irish Healthcare sector both public and private, and feedback from all attendees was very positive. The guest speaker for the evening was Simon Dodds – Consultant Vascular Surgeon for the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust at the Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham in the UK. Simon has carried out tremendous work in redesigning the vascular surgery outpatient service at the Good Hope hospital as a One Stop Clinic, and has led other groundbreaking innovations such as a Leg Ulcer Telemedicine (LUTM) Service – a shared electronic patient record system focused on the needs of a patient with leg ulcer problems. The system uses electronic referral, a PACS (picture archiving and communications system), and software that plots healing patterns based on archived images. The system, which has won an award for Innovative Service Delivery in the British National Health Service (NHS) Innovations Health & Social Care Awards, has helped accelerate healing time as well as reducing ulcer recurrence, thus providing an improved quality of life for patients. It has also proved to be major cost saver for the NHS. Other speakers included Joe O'Callaghan from The Leading Edge Group, who spoke on the topic 'Educating Healthcare Professionals on Eliminating Inefficiencies in Clinical and Administration Processes'. The final speaker of the evening was Sheila McGuinness, a project manager with a private health insurance company. Sheila presented on a recently completed thesis called ‘Can Lean Healthcare improve patient satisfaction and service delivery in the Irish hospital environment?’   General 2008-12-02T15:09:55+00:00 http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/articulation-agreement-agreed-between-leading-edge-group-and-community-coll http://www.leadingedgescm.com/news/post/articulation-agreement-agreed-between-leading-edge-group-and-community-coll#When:15:07:55Z The Leading Edge Group and the Community College of Vermont (CCV) have recently signed an articulation agreement for our Lean Healthcare Green Belt Program. The purpose of this articulation agreement is to award four CCV credits and provide an official CCV transcript to individuals not otherwise affiliated with CCV who complete The Lean Healthcare Green Belt Program. The agreement was signed by David Buchdahl, Dean of Academic Affairs at the Community College of Vermont, and Joe Aherne, CEO of The Leading Edge Group. Joe confirmed that this program is designed to promote professional certification in Lean Healthcare in the state of Vermont linking the Green Belt certification course with a credit-bearing course at CCV. General 2008-12-02T15:07:55+00:00