Toyota Production System as a Learning System

There is a new working paper by Michael Balle, author of The Gold Mine, that explores how the Toyota Production System (TPS) is a learning system. The paper takes a hospital in France as a case study and highlights the importance of stability as a foundation for continuous improvement. This article provides a brief overview of the working paper and its key points. The attached link will lead you to a paper titled Lean as a Learning System in a Hospital Ward.

TPS as a Learning System

The working paper builds on the ideas of several other papers by consultants and authors of TPS. The paper provides a good perspective of TPS as a learning system. The author uses examples with photos and descriptions of problem-solving to illustrate the concept. The paper does not introduce any new process improvement tools or techniques but rather emphasizes the importance of learning and continuous improvement through Lean learning.

Developing People

The paper highlights the importance of developing people in order to produce good products. Toyota’s philosophy suggests that people development is a necessary prerequisite to process improvement. The article quotes the idea of “making things is making people”. This concept implies that the development of people is as important as the production of goods.

Quick and Dirty Improvements

The article also mentions the concept of “quick and dirty improvement is better than delayed perfection“. This idea implies that a 60% solution systematically applied is better than a 100% solution applied only sporadically. This approach to problem-solving emphasizes the importance of taking action and making progress, even if it is not perfect.

Workforce Stability

The working paper raises an interesting question about stability as a necessary foundation for continuous improvement, particularly for hospitals. The issue of workforce stability is a critical concern in the United States, where the turnover of nurses is a serious problem in many hospitals. The shortage of nurses is compounded by the high rate of turnover at the nursing level. The paper suggests that stability is a necessary foundation for continuous improvement and that addressing workforce stability is essential to the success of TPS implementation in hospitals.

Insights for TPS Implementation in Hospitals

Papers like this working paper by Michael Balle will help hospitals who are attempting to implement TPS get a better handle on what they need to do to succeed. The paper highlights the importance of stability and people development in the TPS approach to continuous improvement. By emphasizing the importance of learning and problem-solving, the paper provides a valuable perspective on TPS as a learning system.

 

 

 

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