Benchmarking Visit to Spectrum Health Systems

  • Friday, January 25, 2013
  • 8:00 AM - 12:30 PM
  • Spectrum Health East Auditorium 100 Michigan Ave NE Grand Rapids, MI 49503
  • 1

Registration


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Event Description:

Based on the concepts of the Toyota Production System and what is commonly referred to as Lean Healthcare, participate in an "All Team Report Out," Gemba site review and Panel Discussion around the Value Stream Analysis and Rapid Improvement Event process at Spectrum Health.

Program Learner/Participant Objectives: 

Clear understanding of the fundamentals of Process Improvement in Healthcare and the methods to bring about systematic waste reduction.

Session Leader:

Joining Spectrum Health in January of 2012, Kurt Knoth, VP Performance Improvement and Patient Affairs, has over 20 years of Lean transformation experience in a wide variety of industries and sectors. Kurt has led transformation efforts in automotive, aerospace, high tech, military, and health care sectors spanning eight countries.

Kurt began his Lean journey with Donnelly, a tier one automotive supplier in Grand Haven. This transformation was featured in chapter eight of Jeffrey Liker’s Becoming Lean – Inside Stories of U.S. Manufacturers. It was at Donnelly that Kurt worked under the tutelage of the Shingijutsu Consulting Group and had the opportunity to study kaizen in Japan. Kurt led an enterprise transformation with a company in the furniture industry before going to work for KPMG Consulting. While with KPMG, Kurt oversaw the development of Lean supply processes for The Boeing Company in Everett, Washington. After Boeing, Kurt continued to find more unique ways to apply Lean thinking. The first opportunity was with Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) and the process of refueling and overhauling the Los Angeles class nuclear submarine. The engineering case study featured in Jeffrey Liker’s The Toyota Way (pages 102 and 103) is indicative of Kurt’s work with PSNS.

Over an 8 year span with Simpler, Kurt developed extensive experience in the public and health care sectors. His clients included: US Air Force Surgeon General, St. John Health System, ThedaCare, USAF Air Combat Command Head Quarters, USAF European Command, US Army NE Asia (Camp Carroll, Korea), Gillette (Brazil), UK Royal Navy, US Marine Corps Head Quarters (Pentagon), Lockheed Martin, and Harvard Vanguard. While supporting Harvard Vanguard, Kurt was also given the additional responsibility of National Sales Director for the healthcare division of Simpler.

Kurt received degrees in Industrial Electronics, Plastics Engineering and Operations Management from Ferris State University. He also completed coursework at Aquinas Graduate School towards a Master of Management Degree. Kurt is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Blackbelt, US Air Force AFSO21Certified Sensei, and is a Certified Private Pilot. Kurt also holds a DoD Secret Level Clearance.


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