Front Line
News, trends & tactics in the February 2013 issue of Industrial Engineer
Manufacturing cost-effective operations
Eliminating inefficiency and bureaucracy pays off at the surgery center
Until Industrial Engineer magazine caught up with him, Dr. Keith Smith had never heard of the term "lean manufacturing." But his team has been implementing its principles since 1997, when The Surgery Center opened in Oklahoma City. The constant focus on treating the surgeon like a customer has led to prices that are one-sixth to one-tenth the cost of surgeries at large, nonprofit hospitals, he said. And the doctors do more surgeries in a month than hospitals that sport five times the operating rooms.
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