Pigs in service to America

The NSA probably knows this already, so I think it is all right to spread the word.

I noticed in my blog statistics that someone from the Department of Homeland Security was looking at a series of my favorite Lean training blog posts.  They are about drawing a pig.  Hey they are: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

But I wondered what led them to these sites.  Well, the statistics app suggests that they came to it via a process improvement website from the UK.

However they got here, I am pleased, and I hope they find the exercises useful. I hope someone lets me know someday if the training will be used. And where? At the airports?

Lean good news from the Midwest

I received this announcement recently.  This sounds like an interesting and useful venture.

The ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value and the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business are excited to announce the creation of the Center for Lean Healthcare Research. This new center will be housed at Fisher and will build the body of research on the emerging trend of process improvement in healthcare.

A press release elaborated:

As health care organizations continue to seek ways to improve patient care quality and reduce costs, the ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value and The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business are partnering to build the body of research on the emerging trend of process improvement in healthcare. The organizations have announced the creation of the Center for Lean Healthcare Research, to be housed at Fisher. This collaboration will focus on studying and documenting how the Lean methodology is producing lasting change in hospitals around the nation. Sharon Schweikhart, associate professor and director of the Master’s in Health Administration program at Ohio State, has been appointed director of the center.

The ultimate goal of the Center for Lean Healthcare Research is to create a peer- reviewed body of research that elevates the profile of these Lean health care practices and better equips hospitals and other organizations to deploy them.