Many of the regular readers of this blog are familiar with the 6 principles that define an Ideal state in the framework of Lean (the Toyota Production System). As a refresher, these are:

• Provide what the customer needs, defect free
• Provide the output of the process on a ‘one by one’ basis; customize as much as possible, to whatever each customer needs
• Provide what’s required on demand, exactly as requested
• Provide an immediate response to problems or required changes
• Provide what’s required with a minimum of waste
• Provide what’s required safely, both for the customer and the provider

Those of us who enjoy the mobility associated with modern day air transport recognize that airline travel could benefit significantly by employing the Lean concept of an Ideal process. If you look at each of the points above, you may recognize that the process of airline travel is often OPPOSITE the requirements of an Ideal process.

Recently I’ve run across several articles about Alaska Air’s process improvement effort to enhance their customer arrival process at the Anchorage International Airport. Process improvement is not new at Alaska Air; they were one of the first airlines to allow passengers to choose seats and print boarding passes via their internet site. When a new concourse was under consideration for the Anchorage terminal, a natural opportunity arose to conduct a detailed process investigation on this critical ‘front end‘ process. From what I’ve read about the outcomes of this effort, the new passenger arrival, check-in and baggage checking process will be a major improvement over what is typically available in most ‘lower 48’ airports.

When the new process is fully deployed, Alaska Air’s new terminal configuration and passenger arrival process will handle their annual 1.2 million passenger check-in’s with NO passenger lines (providing what every customer wants on demand, as requested). By focusing on process flow, Alaska Air has developed a strategy to process all passengers (even during their peak travel periods) without waits, utilizing 50% less terminal floor space than the prior process and eliminating significant passenger and staff travel and motion (providing what’s required with a minimum of waste)!  Alaska Air’s management team expected a 20 to 30% increase in employee productivity as an outcome of their process improvement effort, but passenger agent time per passenger has been reduced by something closer to 50%. Lost or misrouted baggage rates are also expected to  reduce significantly (providing what the customer needs, defect free). 

Their current efforts may not get them fully to the Ideal, but every step they take closer to Ideal rings waste out their processes for their customers and their business!  In Healthcare, organizations on a Lean journey moving toward the Ideal State are seeing significant improvements in patient and provider wait times, driving up satisfaction scores across the board.  Productivity improvements are lowering costs and making the work easier, while creating a safer environment for all.

Think about what’s possible in your organization!

This week’s blog was written by HPP consultant and engineer David Krebs.  David, a Six Sigma certified engineer, oversees various HPP projects and Lean Healthcare transformations for clients throughout the USA. David is also a Licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Tennessee, with over 30 years of experience in a variety of process and systems intensive industries, as part of firms in the U.S, Germany, and France.