In these tough economic times, becoming more efficient isn’t only desirable—it’s becoming a necessity.

“Lean, when properly deployed in a biomedical shop, can increase efficiency, lead to happier employees with better teamwork, increase quality, decrease equipment downtime, and help control costs,” says Amber Hoffmeyer, a quality leader for GE Healthcare Clinical Services.

Want to Learn More?

"Utilizing Lean Principles in Your Biomedical Shop” will be the focus of one of 50 educational sessions during AAMI’s Annual Conference & Expo from June 6–8 in Baltimore, MD. The conference — which attracts more than 1,500 medical technology professionals — will also feature some 150 equipment manufacturers and service providers. For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.aami.org/ac.

Hoffmeyer — who will lead a detailed presentation on “Utilizing Lean Principles in Your Biomedical Shop” during AAMI’s Annual Conference in Baltimore in June — says
biomed shops that have organizational problems can produce delays in repair and increases in equipment downtime.

The most common problems in planned maintenance (PM) are a lack of knowledge of what equipment is due that month until work orders are generated, and a lack of allocation of technicians to efficiently and effectively complete the PMs on time, she says.

Problems also occur in the corrective maintenance (CM) area. “Service requests fall through cracks when there is not a consistent process for receiving, acknowledging, and assigning ownership,” says Michael Angel, quality specialist and lean facilitator for GE Healthcare, who will present at the AAMI Annual Conference session.

“The biggest problem area is the general flow of repairs within the shop,” adds Hoffmeyer. “Many times there is equipment on the floor, on some shelves, scattered on workbenches, and on rolling carts. There is no way to clearly see what stage each device is in within 30 seconds of looking at it.”

That is where lean principles can be helpful. Hoffmeyer focuses on two main principles: using visual control and standardization. “Visual control is implemented to make obvious the equipment status,” she says. For example, one approach might be to place incoming equipment in a specific area of the shop and designate that area with a sign, she says. Another approach would be to place equipment on a specific shelf, which would mean a work order would need to be opened.

“This also allows the customer, should they bring equipment to the shop unannounced, to know where to leave the equipment,” she adds.

Standardization, such as implementing the same signage and coding between sister sites, is another helpful technique. “As you visit the shops, it should be immediately clear of the backlog or workload present for the technicians,” Hoffmeyer says.

SOURCE: AAMI News: February 2009, Vol. 44, No. 2