DailyKaizen

Some people visit Paul Revere’s home when they come to Boston…

In case you were wondering how the Lean Enterprise Institute organizes its own work -

I happened to be in Boston on the project I was working on and honestly did not realize that LEI is based here, but when our sensei connected me with David LaHote, President of LEAN Education, I jumped at the chance to learn more. And I brought my digital camera (of course).

So, LEI is based here, and here are images of their “world headquarters.” As you can tell, the space is open and modular, and the components of LEAN that we think of are employed here. David tells me that they try as much as possible to emulate the philosophy they support, but they aren’t perfect. LEI participates in research and education and does not do hands on consulting, which is very useful for an organization like ours. They are participating more in health care issues and have partners beyond the auto industry.

I was lucky enough to come on a day when Jim Womack was in the office and was able to speak to him for a bit. We talked about what Group Health is doing in LEAN and about the mutual interest in producing portable knowledge (research) that come from process improvements. I remarked that I have not yet seen very much in the peer reviewed medical literature that I could use in my LEAN work. My other interest, as I have mentioned here, is in medical education, to train physicians before they become physicians about process improvement and patient-centered philosophies.

I came today to find out what might be going on in my new back yard (Washington, DC) that I could learn from while away from home base. I think the answer for now is that I might have look a little harder, or create some magic myself. No big deal. There’s definitely some work happening here in Boston, to be sure.

Enjoy the photos and thank you to Jim, Dave, and the staff at Lean Enterprise Institute for accommodating an inquisitive physician on their journey….