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EAPC staff go through the “try-storming” process with a client.
Eliminating waste
W hy is LEAN-based space planning so important in healthcare facilities? It’s a simple answer: New buildings won’t fix broken processes. Giving your clients a say in the layout of their new healthcare space will improve that client’s processes, enhancing overall flow.
LEAN-based space planning departs from the old architectural approach by focusing first on the client’s process. By focusing on process and flow, both the client and EAPC can identify wastes and determine where the flow of the process is being limited. After these improvement opportunities are identified, the space planning process moves into the 3P application stage (Production, Process, Preparation). The 3P process was developed by Toyota to compress their automotive design cycle (e. g. concept to showroom) from three to four years to 18 months and has been applied in the healthcare industry in the last five to 10 years with great success. One of the tools of 3P, called “try-storming,” is utilized with the client to help them develop their new space layout based on their improved process. Try-storming utilizes an iterative approach where the stakeholders of the process
“try” multiple layouts to determine how they will address the flow issues identified during the LEAN observation phase and ensure waste does not enter back into their process. By pushing the stakeholder teams to “try” multiple options, the effect is a final hybrid layout where stakeholders have total ownership. Through this process, they have addressed much of the flow and waste issues identified and validated by the team. The result of the LEAN-based space planning process is a stakeholder-owned design that will compress the time to realization in the build phase of the project, improve flow and patient satisfaction, and ultimately reduce costs to the client both from an operations and capital perspective. Following are three ways LEAN-based space planning reduces costs: 1)Less waste. LEAN defines waste as anything the
Chad Frost GUEST SPEAKER
See CHAD FROST, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER August 27, 2018, ISSUE 1262
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