Assess the stages of lean implementation in the context of healthcare services

Abstract

In general, adopting Lean Thinking (LT) in an organization consists of broadly three stages getting ready for implementing LT by satisfying the prerequisites, implementation of LT principles and practices, and finally the post-implementation assessment of extent of leanness attained by the organization. Though several studies exist in literature discussing the implementation stage of LT in both manufacturing and service organization, relatively very few studies are available on the remaining two stages. It has also been stated that the concept of lean implementation has been clearly defined with the passing of time but the way to assess it has not been. Review of existing leanness assessment studies revealed that most of these assessment studies were recent and related to performing the leanness evolution of manufacturing organizations.