Performance management, the primary focus of a Lean organization, occurs through continuous improvement programs that focus on education, belief systems development, and effective change management. Presenting a first-of-its-kind approach, The Lean Management Systems Handbook details the critical components required for sustainable Lean management.

Performance management, the primary focus of a Lean organization, occurs through continuous improvement programs that focus on education, belief systems development, and effective change management. Presenting a first-of-its-kind approach, The Lean Management Systems Handbook details the critical components required for sustainable Lean management. Positioning Lean as a management operational philosophy far beyond the traditional set of improvement tools, the book explains how managers at all levels of the organization can integrate Lean into their daily management activities. It defines the Lean philosophy as well as the beliefs and behaviors required to develop a thriving Lean company culture. The book captures the essence of Lean learning and Lean doing and illustrates practical applications of Lean management. It begins by covering the basics that encompass Lean management and leadership in two critical areas: maintenance/control and improvement. After reading this book, you will better understand how to see waste, measure waste, eliminate waste, and develop an active change improvement workplace. You will also gain the practical understanding required to determine which Lean tool is best suited to your particular need for supporting an organization-wide management system. Expounding on essential Lean concepts, this is an ideal guide to help new managers and leaders make the transition from theory to successful application in the field. Complete with brief summaries and examples of the most important tools in Lean management systems development in each chapter, the book provides a reliable roadmap for deploying a Lean management system across your organization, and subsequently across your entire value stream.

Does your company think and act ahead of technological change, ahead of the customer, and ahead of the competition? Thinking strategically requires a company to face these questions with a clear future image of itself. Implementing a Lean Management System lays out a comprehensive management system for aligning the firm's vision of the future with market realities. Based on hoshin management, the Japanese strategic planning method used by top managers for driving TQM throughout an organization, Lean Management is about deploying vision, strategy, and policy at all levels of daily activity. It is an eminently practical methodology emerging out of the implementation of continuous improvement methods and employee involvement. The key tools in the text build on the knowledge of the worker, multi-tasking, and an understanding of the role and responsibilities of the new lean manufacturer.

Description of the elements of a Lean Management System and how they work together to enable a creative workforce at every level.

Hospitals have long relied on the heroics of one brilliant nurse or doctor to save the day. Such heroics often result in temporary workarounds and quick fixes that leave not only patients and quality care at risk, but also increase costs. This is the story of an organization breaking that habit. Like a growing number of healthcare organizations around the world, ThedaCare, Inc. has been using lean thinking and the principles of the Toyota Production System to improve quality of care, reduce waste, and become more reliable. But lean thinking was incompatible with ThedaCare’s old top-down, hero-based system of management. Kim Barnas, former SVP of ThedaCare, shows us how she and her team created a management system that is stable and lean, to spur continuous improvement. Beyond Heroes shows the reader, step by step, how ThedaCare teams developed the system, using the stories of its doctors, nurses and administrators to illustrate. The book explores each of the eight essential components of the lean system, from front-line problem solving with the scientific method to daily team huddles and creating standard work for leaders all the way to the top of an organization. Finally, the author introduces four executives from healthcare systems across North America who have implemented ThedaCare’s system and share the lessons they learned along the way. Beyond Heroes is not just a call to action or an argument for a better healthcare system. It is a necessary roadmap through the rocky terrain ahead, one that healthcare leaders can customize to their special needs.