Virginia Mason Case Study
VMPS Facts
What is the Virginia Mason Production System?
The Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS) is a management method that seeks to continually improve how work is done so there are zero defects in the final product. Using this method, Virginia Mason (VM) identifies and eliminates waste and inefficiency in the many processes that are part of the health care experience, making it possible for VM staff to deliver the highest quality and safest patient care. By streamlining repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, staff members are freed to spend more time talking with, listening to and treating patients. VMPS is based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), a manufacturing approach Toyota has used for more than 50 years to produce some of the world’s best automobiles.
Virginia Mason Medical Center • 1100 Ninth Ave. • Seattle, WA 98101 • (206) 223-6600 • VirginiaMason.org
How does VMPS work?
VMPS uses a variety of strategies to accomplish the elimination of waste. Taiichi Ohno, the founder of TPS, identified seven wastes, including inventory, time, defects, motion, processing, transportation and overproduction. Key to the elimination of these wastes is the understanding that staff who do the work know what the problems are and have the best solutions. Strategies range from small-scale ideas tested and implemented immediately to long-range planning that redesigns new spaces and processes. VM uses a variety of “kaizen” activities, or continuous improvement activities, such as Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPIWs), kaizen events and process redesign workshops called 3Ps to guide its improvement work. Since adopting VMPS, VM has conducted 1,280 kaizen activities involving more than 5,500 staff members and many patients.
Can car-making methods be adapted to health care?
Toyota has a very rigorous system for involving front-line staff to eradicate mistakes and eliminate waste in its products. Similar rigorous attention to all of the
What is the Virginia Mason Production System?
The Virginia Mason Production System (VMPS) is a management method that seeks to continually improve how work is done so there are zero defects in the final product. Using this method, Virginia Mason (VM) identifies and eliminates waste and inefficiency in the many processes that are part of the health care experience, making it possible for VM staff to deliver the highest quality and safest patient care. By streamlining repetitive and low-touch aspects of care delivery, staff members are freed to spend more time talking with, listening to and treating patients. VMPS is based on the Toyota Production System (TPS), a manufacturing approach Toyota has used for more than 50 years to produce some of the world’s best automobiles.
Virginia Mason Medical Center • 1100 Ninth Ave. • Seattle, WA 98101 • (206) 223-6600 • VirginiaMason.org
How does VMPS work?
VMPS uses a variety of strategies to accomplish the elimination of waste. Taiichi Ohno, the founder of TPS, identified seven wastes, including inventory, time, defects, motion, processing, transportation and overproduction. Key to the elimination of these wastes is the understanding that staff who do the work know what the problems are and have the best solutions. Strategies range from small-scale ideas tested and implemented immediately to long-range planning that redesigns new spaces and processes. VM uses a variety of “kaizen” activities, or continuous improvement activities, such as Rapid Process Improvement Workshops (RPIWs), kaizen events and process redesign workshops called 3Ps to guide its improvement work. Since adopting VMPS, VM has conducted 1,280 kaizen activities involving more than 5,500 staff members and many patients.
Can car-making methods be adapted to health care?
Toyota has a very rigorous system for involving front-line staff to eradicate mistakes and eliminate waste in its products. Similar rigorous attention to all of the