Why it’s ‘absolutely worth’ going on a Lean tour, according to one healthcare organization

Japan is the home of the Kaizen philosophy and practices that many manufacturers uphold today. Kaizen was popularized by Toyota founder Sakichi Toyoda in the 1940s and has since become a common practice in companies throughout Japan. Now, as foreign businesses look to integrate Kaizen, many have considered making the long trek to Japan to learn from the masters who have been utilizing Lean for the better part of half a century.

But are Lean tours worth the investment? Businesses need to pay for flights to the country, which they may not have the resources for, particularly in a volatile economy. Additionally, they need to schedule tours with consultants to meet the Japanese gurus who have mastered the art of Lean.

According to one healthcare expert who recently sent his staff on a Lean trip to Japan, the answer to the question of whether Lean tours are worth it is a resounding “yes.” Salem Health, an Oregon-based healthcare organization, is in the middle of restructuring how it operates and is looking to cut costs when and where it can. Naturally, Lean fits right into that philosophy as it revolves around the concept of waste reduction. Despite cutting $30 million in other areas of operation, Salem Health chief executive officer Norman Gruber made the decision to spend $2.5 million on a Lean trip to Japan earlier this year.

“For sure, this trip was an experiment,” Gruber said in a video posted to the Salem Health website's news page. “Clearly it was absolutely worth going.”

Enna's Lean Study Missions to Japan are an exceptional way to expose your leaders to the ideas of Kaizen and continuous improvement by immersing them in a culture that embraces change from the individual person. This empowerment opportunity is a great way to create an innovative and team-based culture that continuously looks to improve every aspect of each person's job to make work easier and more enjoyable.

The effects of the Lean tour

Salem Health officials expected the Lean tour to be a business trip, but they quickly noted that Kaizen is more than a business philosophy, it's a life mindset. Member of the tour group witnessed the Toyota Production System firsthand, and the way they viewed business processes changed as a result.

“That group just congealed as a group, titles disappeared very rapidly. It was very interesting to watch,” added Gruber.

The Lean trip was as much about studying the culture of Japan as it was about learning how to run a business more effectively. Japanese culture tends to be more adhesive and collaborative, which in turn affects how companies in the country are run. Cheryl Nester Wolfe, Salem Health's chief operating officer, came to understand the importance of honoring and respecting the work people do and acknowledged that the leader's role is not to manage, but to facilitate these improvements.

For many participants, the defining moment was the realization that many of them already knew how to identify Kaizen opportunities, but the trip enabled them to develop ways of actually executing this knowledge. Now, Salem Health employees are always on the lookout for ways to integrate continuous improvement on a day-to-day basis.

“Our board's decision was to implement the Salem Health Production System, based on Toyota's model,” added Beverly Bow, Salem Health's senior vice president for Kaizen. “The next five years will give us enough experience to be able to continue the work on our own, although it will take closer to 20 years to fully embed the system in our culture.”

Applying Lean to your business
For Salem Health, the decision to embark on a Lean tour is one that will continue to influence how the health system operates for decades to come. Clearly, the trip provided hospital officials with a new sense of clarity in regard to the best way to run their organization.

Lean Tours could similarly impact your business. Making the decision to integrate Kaizen is one thing, but actually executing those plans is another story.  Join Enna on a Lean tour to Japan, and officials will put you in a better position to enact Kaizen changes in a meaningful way throughout your company.