Bringing Toyota Production to healthcare. Sometimes an innovator is the person who thinks up the new idea (Steve Jobs: the PC). And sometimes an innovator is someone who executes on that idea, to the advantage of a group who might otherwise not have benefitted from it (Michael Dell: delivering the PC to millions, for less). Kaplan is an innovator of the Dell-school and his contribution is the successful execution of the "Toyota Way" within Virginia Mason Hospital. Customizing the manufacturing principles of an automaker for a healthcare environment seemed wacky nine years ago. Kaplan recognized the need for fresh ideas in an industry stale with habit. In 2002 he began funding trips to Japan so VMH staff could learn how to replicate Toyota's efficiency tactics -- all designed to limit overproduction and waste, and to save time. Many examples of the Virginia Mason Production System involve using visual cues to cut down on processing time for ordinary tasks: like flip charts with pictures to indicate patient-status; a place card near the bottom of a stockpile of supplies to indicate when it's time to re-order. Simple things make a difference, and time saved from menial tasks benefits patients. In 2008 Kaplan said Toyota procedures cut wait times for patients by 85 percent, lowered inventory costs by $1 million, and reduced labor costs by $500,000. An internist, Kaplan has been with VMH since completing his residency there in 1981. He now teaches seminars on VMPS.

to the Seattle-Post Intelligencer: 

"We get so wrapped up in the seriousness and specialness of health care, but we also have to open our eyes to other industries -- we're way behind in information specialists and taking waste out of our process. Toyota is obsessed with the customer and customer satisfaction ... all those things Toyota was about was what we wanted."