Virginia Mason Medical Clinic
Virginia Mason Medical Clinic Discussion Questions 1. What is Gary Kaplan trying to achieve at Virginia Mason?
Gary Kaplan is trying to achieve a system at Virginia Mason that is profitable while delivering the highest quality of results.
2. Why is there a need to change at Virginia Mason?
There is a need to change at Virginia Mason because the organization has been losing money over the last couple of years, there is fierce competition and company morale is low.
3. What was the goal of the offsite retreat Gary organized?
The goal of the offsite retreat Gary organized was to bring the employees at the clinic up to speed with what the plan was going forward: the creating of a compact with physicians
4. What does heijunka mean? Give an example with respect to how it applies to MONET.
‘Heijunka’ means leveling production to meet fluctuating demands without holding excess inventory . Japanese technique of achieving even output flow by coordinated sequencing of very small production batches throughout the manufacturing line in a lean production or just in time (JIT) system. An example with respect to how it applies to MONET is the creation of smaller batch sizes that are brought over from prep & fire assay.
5. What is muda and what are the different type listed? What 2 are missing?
Muda refers to ‘waste’.
The different types listed are: waste of overproduction, time, material, space, movement
The two that are missing are: defects and over-processing (unused employee creativity)
6. What is the Toyota Production System? List the principles and tools of TPS and describe a case where each can be used at MONET.
The Toyota Production System is the system Toyota used to eliminate waste to simultaneously increase their efficiency, productivity and decrease their costs.
The principles of TPS are as follows:
Just-In-Time: produce only what and how much was needed, and only when it was needed.
Jidoka: detect abnormalities
Gary Kaplan is trying to achieve a system at Virginia Mason that is profitable while delivering the highest quality of results.
2. Why is there a need to change at Virginia Mason?
There is a need to change at Virginia Mason because the organization has been losing money over the last couple of years, there is fierce competition and company morale is low.
3. What was the goal of the offsite retreat Gary organized?
The goal of the offsite retreat Gary organized was to bring the employees at the clinic up to speed with what the plan was going forward: the creating of a compact with physicians
4. What does heijunka mean? Give an example with respect to how it applies to MONET.
‘Heijunka’ means leveling production to meet fluctuating demands without holding excess inventory . Japanese technique of achieving even output flow by coordinated sequencing of very small production batches throughout the manufacturing line in a lean production or just in time (JIT) system. An example with respect to how it applies to MONET is the creation of smaller batch sizes that are brought over from prep & fire assay.
5. What is muda and what are the different type listed? What 2 are missing?
Muda refers to ‘waste’.
The different types listed are: waste of overproduction, time, material, space, movement
The two that are missing are: defects and over-processing (unused employee creativity)
6. What is the Toyota Production System? List the principles and tools of TPS and describe a case where each can be used at MONET.
The Toyota Production System is the system Toyota used to eliminate waste to simultaneously increase their efficiency, productivity and decrease their costs.
The principles of TPS are as follows:
Just-In-Time: produce only what and how much was needed, and only when it was needed.
Jidoka: detect abnormalities