(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Engineering, 2006) Ghosh, Manimay; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Durward K. Sobek II
The healthcare industry in the United States has been fraught with medical errors, rising costs, and wastes for many years. Despite widespread adoption of Total Quality Management and Six Sigma programs, healthcare's woes continue unabated. The Toyota Production System (TPS), progenitor of lean manufacturing, is widely regarded as the most effective production system ever devised. It has been successfully adopted by manufacturing firms worldwide resulting in significant gains in efficiency and quality in companies of all sizes. The goal of this research is to determine whether principles from the Toyota Production System could be applied to a healthcare environment to improve its delivery systems. Following an action research methodology, the work reported here describes how TPS principles were adapted and applied to generate sustainable improvements to hospital work processes. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods, the results of the intervention were scrutinized, resulting in several important contributions to the existing body of knowledge on TPS and organizational problem solving.
