My Dad recently suffered a devastating stroke… as such I traveled to see him this week.

When I first arrived he was in a major hospital within a major city within a major country. Yes, I’m being vague so the political junkies don’t start shooting their mouths off.

Anyhow, during my visit I immediately realized how important applying continuous improvement in the healthcare environment is. I don’t want to harp on all the issues… nor do I want to point fingers at the folks doing their best at this hospital.

You see, the problem isn’t the people.  The problem is the process, or lack thereof.  These folks are trying so hard within such a broken system it nearly draws a tear to your eye.

Luckily, on the second day of my visit my Dad was transferred to a stroke rehab hospital that is top notch.  This place is clean, organized, and very well run.  At one point I sat back and marveled at how well these folks performed their jobs. 

In other words, excellence in healthcare is possible.  It just takes some focus and effort.  As such, I am so grateful for the work people like Mark Graban do each and every day. 

I have always been a “shop guy” meaning I’ve mostly applied lean and six sigma in manufacturing and office environments.  I’ve not had the opportunity to apply lean thinking in the healthcare world.  I intend to change this in the coming years. 

Finally, please do me a favor and call your parents and tell them you love them today.  And, if you feel so inclined, please pray for my Dad.  His name is Ron.

I was recently flipping through one of my favorite lean books of all time, Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management (affliliate link).

I often grab this book, open it up, and randomly read a page much like I do with the Bible.

You see, for me, as with the Bible, there really is nothing but goodness in Ohno’s words. 

Take for example this bit of wisdom found on page 70.

In 1956 or 1957, I saw my first American factory, but saw that what they were doing was ordinary.  There was nothing fantastic about what they were doing. 

I was able to see factories of GM, Ford, and that when a production line has been rationalized there was nothing extraordinary about it.  The more rationalization efforts progress, the more it appears they were only doing things that are obvious, from the point of view of the third party. 

When something looks fantastic there must be something bad about it.  So if you tour a factory and think “Wow!” then this is not such a good factory.  When you see a factory and think “There is nothing worth seeing here,” they may in fact be doing a lot better.

Very interesting words.  Do you agree with them?

Last night, before I went to bed, I set my coffee maker up to start brewing at 5:45 AM.  I also placed my coffee mug and a spoon next to the coffee maker so I wouldn’t have to fumble about in the morning.

This morning, around 6:05 AM (I hit snooze a few times), I went to the coffee maker and poured a cup of steamy hot coffee.  Worked like a charm!

As I went about the rest of my morning I thought about the simple aspect of preparing coffee like this and realized how SMED like this simple, everyday, action is. 

To learn more about SMED please register for a free Gemba Academy account and watch our SMED Overview video. 

Everyday Lean

You see, the lean thinker inside me is always on the look out for everyday lean concepts like this.  I could have waited until this morning to prepare the coffee maker.  But doing so would have wasted valuable time I could have used to write this article, answer customer emails, etc. 

Additionally, had I waited until this morning to prepare my coffee maker there is a VERY good chance my jostling about in the kitchen would have woken up one of my children who would have then climbed into bed with my wife who would have woken up early.  Not good.  See where I’m going?

What do you think?

So, what do you think of this process?  Do you agree that preparing coffee makers the night before is lean and SMED like?  Or do you think I’ve definitely consumed too much lean koolaid over the years?  Be honest.  I can handle it.

It was early evening – around 7:00 PM.

I was leaving the plant I was visiting that week and noticed a second shift operator preparing to start his day.

I went over to say hi to the young man. He was a nice fellow… he had one of those contagious smiles on his face and seemed very happy to be at work which I found refreshing.

I asked him what his plans were for the evening and he explained the tasks he had before him in a cheerful and extremely positive manner.

I said good-bye to young man and went about my way.

A day I will never forget

The next morning, as we pulled up to the plant, I could tell something was wrong. Very wrong.

There were police all around and TV camera trucks everywhere.

As it turned out the worst possible thing that could ever happen in a manufacturing organization occured.

You see, the young man I spoke to just a few hours before had been killed as a result of a workplace accident.

It’s not my intention to get into the details of what happened or what could have prevented the accident.

Instead, the reason I am sharing this sobering story – one that has forever changed the way I look at workplace safety – is to drive home the fact that nothing, and I do mean nothing, is more important than ensuring all employees go home safely at the end of their work day/evening.

5S or 6S?

A few weeks ago I asked if we should call it 5S or 6S… many of you left excellent comments.

And while I am actually indifferent as to whether an extra S should be added to 5S… one thing I am not indifferent to is how important safety actually is.

So, the next time someone rolls their eyes and explains why the “safety police” are so annoying… I’d encourage you to remind them of how awful it would be to have to call someone’s significant other in order to explain why their loved one is never coming home.

What about you?

What events have shaped you as it relates to workplace safety? I pray nothing terrible like my story.