Daily Management System of the Henry Ford Production System: QTIPS to Focus Continuous Improvements at the Level of the Work.

OBJECTIVES To support our Lean culture of continuous improvement, we implemented a daily management system designed so critical metrics of operational success were the focus of local teams to drive improvements. METHODS We innovated a standardized visual daily management board composed of metric categories of Quality, Time, Inventory, Productivity, and Safety (QTIPS); frequency trending; root cause analysis; corrective/preventive actions; and resulting process improvements. RESULTS In 1 year (June 2013 to July 2014), eight laboratory sections at Henry Ford Hospital employed 64 unique daily metrics. Most assessed long-term (>6 months), monitored process stability, while short-term metrics (1-6 months) were retired after successful targeted problem resolution. Daily monitoring resulted in 42 process improvements. CONCLUSIONS Daily management is the key business accountability subsystem that enabled our culture of continuous improvement to function more efficiently at the managerial level in a visible manner by reviewing and acting based on data and root cause analysis.