Issue 3 • March 2011
Central CCAC builds Lean Improvement Capacity
The Central CCAC is the largest community care agency in Ontario, by population served. On any given day, over 25,000 clients receive service with over 65,000 unique clients served annually. Facing many challenges from its amalgamation in 2007, the newly constituted CCAC turned to quality improvement tools to find and imbed operational efficiencies, while improving client service.
Working initially with acute care partners in the Centre for Healthcare Quality Improvement FLO Collaborative (2007-09), Central invested in training a group of managers in quality improvement tools.
Successes from the FLO Collaborative encouraged Central to begin deployment of quality improvement methodology on a wider scale. By early 2010, over 45 employees from diverse functional areas had received formal LEAN training, eight of whom have gone on to successfully write the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Bronze certification exam.
Since then, LEAN thinking has been used to take a hard look at core operations resulting in over 40 events, including the implementation of near real-time Resource Allocation tools for Case Managers (CM), and a large Value Stream Analysis examining CM work processes across Acute, Community and Contact Centre teams. LEAN methodology has been successfully applied in the design and delivery of new programs including Home First, Medication Management, and a newly legislated Long-Term Care Placement process.
The Management team was encouraged by demonstrated improvement in key cost control and client service measures, resulting in further commitment to building LEAN capacity and growing the culture of Quality. An additional fifty five employees will be LEAN trained in March 2011, reflecting an overall commitment to quality organization-wide to deliver on our mission and vision.
Why Kaizen?
One of the questions frequently asked is, “Why should we run a kaizen event? The reasons why we cannot run a kaizen event are many:
1) We cannot afford to free up the staff time.
2) We can't afford to stop our operation while we improve.
3) The three, four, or five days it takes to complete the improvement cycle are full of wasted time.
4) Wouldn't a project be easier to run?
5) We can't afford to free up the support resources to make rapid change.
6) We need to take more time to plan and implement change.
7) We can't afford replacement staff to cover the kaizen team's absence. “
The benefits of a kaizen event include the following:
1) Teams go through the cycle of forming, storming, norming, and performing in rapid cycle.
2) Time for results is dramatically decreased.
3) A kaizen event actually decreases the resource dollars for improvement. While the cost is compressed over a tighter time frame, you will spend fewer dollars on a kaizen team than a project team.
4) The kaizen event appeals to all styles of learning.
5) The kaizen event is designed to change the culture of your organization.
6) Learning and transfer of knowledge are embedded in the process.
7) Change management is part of the kaizen experience.
A well designed kaizen event will have the right team, focused on the right targets, using the right tools and techniques. The lean principles of flow, pull defect free, and visual management are used to eliminate waste and deliver double digit improvement within the week!
Kaizen is best done in the context of a value stream.
As one of my colleagues, Mike de Graauw always says, "I've never seen an organization transform that didn't use kaizen."
So put your teams together and start improving!
Coming Soon – Training toward Lean Certification
Lean Certification is an area pursued by many people/ organizations. There is comfort in knowing that you have built internal expertise in improvement and can be recognized for those efforts.
I like to note that Toyota has no “belts” in their organization. No one is classified as “lean certified.” Their entire focus is on daily improvement using repeated cycles of plan-do-study act. Certification is not required to practice PDCA.
However, you can expand and accelerate your learning by becoming exposed to the core knowledge that comprises the Toyota Production System, which you know as LEAN.
On June 1-3, 2011 Breakthrough Horizons will facilitate a public workshop to help prepare people who are interested in pursuing an accredited lean certification. This certification is the recognized world leader in lean certification curriculums. The workshop will be hosted by York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The workshop will be limited to 30 people to ensure adequate knowledge transfer.
The workshop will cover the core lean content required to pass the body of knowledge exam. Upon successful completion of the exam, candidates submit a portfolio of five projects to a council for review, and may be awarded bronze level certification.
Details on the workshop will be made available by 31 March 2011. As readers of this newsletter, we are happy to hold slots for you while to logistics are finalized. Simply click on the sign up to receive newsletters hyperlink and get an advance reservation on your spot!
The Value of a Daily Huddle
The concept of a daily huddle is simple. Get the staff together for a short, set period of time, typically daily, conducted standing around a visual board discussing specified topics following a standard agenda.
Picture a production cell. A cell that consists of 11 workers who produce a product meeting daily demands, quality specs and within cost limits. The cell team has visuals that reflect yesterday's performance relative to meeting demand, quality, and cost. The visuals also show today's output requirements. One cell member walks the team through the visuals so everyone understands how the team's doing. In areas of opportunity, the team helps identify problems and possible solutions. With one of the tenets of lean being to "create an organization of problem solvers," the huddle provides the vehicle to develop this culture.
While the production cell helps us understand the premise of a huddle, the huddle approach can expand beyond the cell.
- Staff can huddle daily with the manager to review plans, status, and results.
- Leaders can huddle weekly to review performance metrics and update on action item status.
- The Value Stream Steering team can huddle weekly to view the Value Stream's performance.
- Performance Improvement teams can huddle to discuss what was accomplished last week and what's planned next week.
While the concept is powerful, there can be the tendency to make "huddle" the latest buzz word and before long "huddle" takes on a negative connotation. It's not the word, but rather the objective, that is important. Refer back to the production cell application when designing your huddles and see how closely you can align to this simple, pure application and keep the focus on the ultimate objective, creating an organization of problem solvers.
