One of the comments I get from management, team members, and even fellow lean consultants is that takt time doesn't apply in healthcare settings. This question came up again during a management training session I delivered this week.
If we go back to the most basic applications of lean, we are trying to see and eliminate waste (continuously improve), and simultaneously show respect for people. In seeing and eliminating waste in the manufacturing sector, we always begin with the takt time calculation. refreshing everyone's mind, takt time is defined as the available time to do the work divided by the volume of work to be done. This theoretical calculation leads to understanding the rhythm of output. The entire lean system runs to this rhythm. Space requirements, kanban inventory levels, staffing levels, shift schedules, and equipment utilization all are determined from the takt time calculation.
To presume that space requirements, scheduling assignments, inventory levels, and equipment utlization are not concerns within healthcare would be incorrect.
The challenge with the takt time calculation in healthcare is due to the variability in demand. To overcome this variability, we often have to look at takt time based on the day of the week and often by the hour of the day. We even have to look at takt time differently by season (trauma season and flue season come to mind)
Once we are looking at the appropriate time intervals, the takt time calculation and all the corresponding tools of time observation, cycle time -takt time loading diagrams, standard work in process, etc. will start to make sense and deliver great information to the improvement teams.
So for those who think that takt time does not apply to healthcare, I respectively disagree.
Ron
www.breakthroughhorizons.com
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