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In 2015, the lean transformation of the University of Chicago Medicine medical centre encompassed substantial renovation of its internal supply chain. This included moving from a centralized warehouse-based system managed largely by clinical teams to a lean, decentralized, just-in-time system managed by supply chain professionals. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the University of Chicago Medicine’s supply chain. Accommodating for the COVID-19 pandemic required making numerous changes to the physical supply chain, which could potentially affect actions and decisions at the level of operations on the hospital floors. Amid so many changes, how would the supply chain team members on the hospital floor address daily issues while maintaining efforts to improve the system? How would they remain aligned to the hospital’s mission and goals?

In 2015, the lean transformation of the University of Chicago Medicine medical centre encompassed substantial renovation of its internal supply chain. This included moving from a centralized warehouse-based system managed largely by clinical teams to a lean, decentralized, just-in-time system managed by supply chain professionals. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the University of Chicago Medicine's supply chain. Accommodating for the COVID-19 pandemic required making numerous changes to the physical supply chain, which could potentially affect actions and decisions at the level of operations on the hospital floors. Amid so many changes, how would the supply chain team members on the hospital floor address daily issues while maintaining efforts to improve the system? How would they remain aligned to the hospital's mission and goals?

AWARD-WINNING CASE - Continuous Improvement: the Journey to Excellence Category, 2019 European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) Case Writing Competition. In 2016, the supply chain manager at Northwestern Memorial Hospital recognized that many problems occurring throughout the hospital originated at the hospital receiving area. Some problems had reached epic proportions: overstocking at par locations, stocking at temporary locations, misplaced items, expired items, and inaccurate inventory records. Most of the problems could be traced to the receiving area’s procedures and average three-day dock-to-stock lead time. A value-stream mapping kaizen event revealed that a big contributor to the long lead time was the receiving area’s reliance on batch-oriented processing. The supply chain manager recognized the severity of the situation and urgent need to do something to improve operations in the receiving area and shorten the lead time from package arrival to final delivery. He felt that reducing the lead time from three days to one day would reduce or eliminate many of the problems, and it seemed a reachable goal. The supply chain manager intended to approach this challenge using the lean production practices he had successfully employed elsewhere.

In 2016, the supply chain manager at Northwestern Memorial Hospital recognized that many problems occurring throughout the hospital originated at the hospital receiving area. Some problems had reached epic proportions: overstocking at par locations, stocking at temporary locations, misplaced items, expired items, and inaccurate inventory records. Most of the problems could be traced to the receiving area's procedures and average three-day dock-to-stock lead time. A value-stream mapping kaizen event revealed that a big contributor to the long lead time was the receiving area's reliance on batch-oriented processing. The supply chain manager recognized the severity of the situation and urgent need to do something to improve operations in the receiving area and shorten the lead time from package arrival to final delivery. He felt that reducing the lead time from three days to one day would reduce or eliminate many of the problems, and it seemed a reachable goal. The supply chain manager intended to approach this challenge using the lean production practices he had successfully employed elsewhere.