days, and then we make physical changes to the shop floor to
address the problem,” Jarrell explains.
He remembers when the company was changing its model
for V6 engines and officials realized how many extra parts the
new model had. They determined they needed 40,000 addi-
tional square feet to store them. The projected cost was $1.6
million, and senior management said no. They then came up
with a way to implement direct-to-line delivery.
“Now we pull stuff straight off the truck and bring it to the
assembly line,” says Jarrell. Since then, TMMWV has reduced
inventory by $800,000.
Growth has been the biggest impact of utilizing this philos-
ophy. Twenty years ago, the West Virginia plant started with
300 team members and one model line. Today it has 1,300
employees, three engine lines and two transmission lines with
a third on the way.
“It’s not necessarily easy,” says Jarrell. “The struggle that a
lot of manufacturers have is that you do have to solve problems.
It requires a commitment and discipline. Some people who
try to apply the lean concept fail because they don’t have the
discipline.”
Health Care Applications
In health care, the lean concept can be used in both the
clinical areas involving direct patient care and the non-clinical
areas that impact the experience and satisfaction of patients
and their families. Using lean, CHH has improved its tactics
for multidisciplinary patient care, which involve physicians,
nursing staff, physical therapists and social workers caring for
patients efficiently, and it has improved the logistical process
for notifying staff that a patient room is ready for occupancy.
According to Biddle, both changes have positively impacted
the experience and satisfaction of patients and their families,
as well as the hospital staff.
At CHH, utilizing a lean philosophy includes hosting lean
events and training activities. For example, the hospital has
conducted various process improvement events in major areas—
also known as value streams—of the hospital’s organization.
These are the same type of team-based, problem-solving efforts
used at Toyota to analyze a situation and develop initiatives to
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