Case Studies

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Learn how others use quality tools to improve their processes.

Emergency Department Prescribes Lean for Process Improvement (PDF, 110KB)
With emergency department patient satisfaction scores slipping into the unhealthy 30th percentile, leaders at Mercy Medical Center wrote a prescription for process improvement that would ultimately reduce the length of stay for patients receiving emergency care. From the initial mapping came a series of lean cycle change initiatives, one of which led to the creation of Mercy’s Fast Track service to treat less acute patients in one hour or less. By improving process flow, the capacity to serve patients increased, and the department soon experienced a 6% growth in patient census.

Pall Corporation: A Profile in “Process Excellence” (PDF, 139 KB)
“Process Excellence” combines lean, Six Sigma, dashboard metrics, and team involvement, ensuring improvement efforts are aligned with business imperatives and contributing to a culture of accountability. Results from Puerto Rico include 50 percent improvement in product and process quality as measured in defects per million opportunities, inventory reduction along with 98.5 percent on-time customer deliveries, and reduction of product cycle time by more than 25 percent.