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HRM Research File 4

Virginia Mason Hospital was facing financial and patient satisfaction issues in the early 2000s. Kaplan led a team to study Toyota's lean production system in Japan. They then implemented lean processes at Virginia Mason to streamline workflows. This reduced wait times from 45 minutes to just 15 minutes in some departments. Lean processes also cut annual inventory costs by over $1 million and reduced staff walking distances. The changes helped free up more time for doctors and nurses to spend with patients, improving outcomes.

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100% found this document useful (2 votes)
440 views14 pages

HRM Research File 4

Virginia Mason Hospital was facing financial and patient satisfaction issues in the early 2000s. Kaplan led a team to study Toyota's lean production system in Japan. They then implemented lean processes at Virginia Mason to streamline workflows. This reduced wait times from 45 minutes to just 15 minutes in some departments. Lean processes also cut annual inventory costs by over $1 million and reduced staff walking distances. The changes helped free up more time for doctors and nurses to spend with patients, improving outcomes.

Uploaded by

Nm Al- Mamun
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Rezoana Islam (3748)

Md Shihab Klhan(3738)
Sadia Afrin Sinthe(3742)
Mukra Akter(3667)
Lean Production At Virginia
Mason
Summary
In the early 2000s seattle’s Virginia Mason Hospital was not
performing .In that time their financial returns were low and patient
satisfaction was subpar. In 2002 Kaplan and a team of executive
began annual trip Japan to study the Toyota production system. Next
time Kaplan apply the Lean production system in the help care
sector. Lean production process firstly had changed delay between
doctor’s referral to specialist and the patient first consultation with
that specialist .By removing unnecessary workflow activities patient
time spent the department fell from 45 min to just 15 min. Lean
process reduce annual inventory cost by more than 1 million, it
reduce staff walking distance by 60 miles a day. It helps to give both
doctor and nurse more time to spend with patient. Lean process
increase the organization’s customer responsiveness, and improve
patient outcome’s.
Q:What do you think were the underlying reasons for
the performance problems that Virginia Mason
Hospital was encountering in the early 2000s?
➢No proper training was given to the employees.
➢The Hospital Staffs were seen wasting time.
➢Employees didn’t check the medical expenditure.
➢The hospital failed to utilize the efficient staff.
➢The delegation of authority was absent.
➢The hospital was not making enough financial returns.
➢The patient satisfaction was low.
Q:which of the four building blocks of competitive
advantage did lean production techniques help
improve at Virginia Mason?
Four building blocks of competitive advantages
Q:What do you think was the key to the apparently
successful implementation of lean production
techniques at Virginia Mason?
Lean Production in the manufacturing industry, lean
production is producing in a short time and satisfying
customer demand. The aim is decrease waste and to increase
effectiveness by using lean production techniques at Virginia
Mason.
Q:Lean production was developed at a manufacturing
firm, Toyota, yet it is being applied in this case at a
hospital. What does that tell you about the nature of
the lean production philosophy for performance
improvement?
Lean production being applicable to Virginia Mason
Hospital despite the fact that it was developed in Toyota, a
production plant, shows how diverse the the techniques.
Even though the technique were developed within the
setting of a production plant, Toyota made sure that there
techniques could be used inter-industrially. This mean that
though the techniques were originally designed elsewhere
industrial wise they can be used for such industries as
hospitals and even school.
Conclusion
Finally Virginia Mason had overcome their problem through
lean process. Lean process means that remove the
unnecessary steps in a process, so that task were performed
efficiIt means eliminating waste and element that didn’t add
value. Lean process reduced annual inventory cost more
than $1 million. This process is applicable in many sector.
Such as school, college, university, online business, hospital
etc.

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