The FedEx Express lean initiative at its repair and maintenance facility at Los Angeles International Airport just began in December 2007 but has produced some big savings. For example a major check that used to take 32,715 man-hours was cut to 21,535 hours in six months. That translated into a $2 million savings, which dovetailed nicely with the company’s emphasis on finding ways to reduce costs during the recession. Find out more about this facility’s lean transformation and how managers are involving mechanics and other employees.

Hear Phillip Coley, managing director at FedEx Express' LAX facility, describe how it is building a foundation to create "lean for the long term" at the 2010 Lean Transformation Summit.

Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor, Ontario has taken part in a pilot project for the province’s Flo Collaborative.  The program is designed to reduce the unnecessary length of hospital stay for elderly patients without acute illness.  Staff members have used lean techniques to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent a patient from being discharged.  Visual management systems play a prominent role in the effort, including a ‘traffic light’ system for each patient to indicate the timeframe for a patient’s discharge from the hospital.  Procedural improvements have already drastically reduced the length of hospital stay for many patients while maintaining the requisite level of care.  As an added benefit, patients are able to play a more active role in monitoring the progress of their own care. (Published by The Windsor Star online, Mar. 12, 2009.)