Takatsuki General Hospital – Site Tour
Takatsuki General Hospital is part of Japan’s Aijinkai Group of healthcare facilities located in Osaka Prefecture. The hospital is regarded as one of the leading hospitals in Japan. With 29 medical departments, it also serves as a regional acute care hospital and handles an average of 1,000 outpatients a day.

General Information
- Hospital: Takatsuki General Hospital
- Foundation: 1985
- Location: Takatsuki City, Osaka Prefecture
- Affiliation: The Aijinkai Healthcare Corporation
- Number of departments and hospital beds: 29 medical departments with 477 beds

Takatsuki General Hospital – Lean Characteristics
TQM, QC Circle, Kaizen
Takatsuki General Hospital is one of the leading hospitals in Japan particularly in the area of pediatrics and neonatal intensive care. The hospital is in Takatsuki City in Osaka and serves as a prominent acute care hospital for the region. It has also been certified by the Japan Medical Service Accreditation for International Patients (JMIP) where international patients can also receive reliable and secure medical services through multilingual consultations.
The hospital is affiliated with the Aijinkai Group, which is considered a leader in the application and adaption of lean management principles to healthcare and is also recognized for its innovative approach to healthcare services.
Similar to the aims of lean application to manufacturing, there is a need to manage business processes within healthcare to cater for increasing patient and caregiver expectations related to safety, quality, and lead time of care, and business pressures related to cost and capacity.
Kaizen in Japanese hospitals has been strongly influenced by Total Quality Management (TQM). The recorded history of TQM application to healthcare in Japan dates back to 1972, and today a very large number of hospitals in the country including those in the Aijinkai Group have active TQM related activities, with staff encouraged to participate in QC Circle improvement groups as part of their professional development. Staff efforts related to improvement activities are recognized through presentation days held at the hospital, and at regional and national levels.

Bikfaya, Lebanon
Life changing experience. The tour was extremely well prepared: 1. In terms of logistics and schedule, everything was organized to provide enough time for full day efficiency without putting too much physical or cognitive strain. 2. In terms of quality of information, the senseis’ knowledge is world-class level and they were more than willing to…
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Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The thing about the Lean Japan Tour by Shinka Management is that it’s not focused only on production efficiency, but also involves the lean way of managing people & reducing waste as a path to improving an organization’s quality & efficiency. We had the chance to visit different plants, and the privilege of meeting sensei…
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A very intensive and learning Lean Japan Study tour. Alternating with company tours, training session and feeling the Japanese culture. Experiencing the TPS live generated many new inputs and ideas for me. I can recommend it to anyone interested in Lean / Kaizen, but also to experts. It shows what culture is behind it and…
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Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Thank you, Shinka Management, for providing me with the opportunity to learn more about Kaizen. As a Quality practitioner, witnessing the evolution of Toyota and its implementation of Kaizen has been amazing. Learning how to adapt Kaizen principles from manufacturing for implementation within a hospital setting has been truly inspiring. Again, thank you Shinka Management!…
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Dear Paul, Ben and Eri, We would just like to take a moment to thank you for such a wonderful tour. You exceeded all our expectations for a week long journey – from your very professional approach and even more personal service. The week was extremely insightful, and we could not stop talking about what…
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The whole tour was very professionally undertaken and led. Paul and Ben have to be congratulated for putting together a very informative and very enjoyable experience. The itinerary was excellent and to see from the raw material all the way through the supply chain through to the finished product was superb. I loved the thought…
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The Shinka Management Lean Japan Tour is a professional development program run several times annually. The program includes a mix of lean and kaizen seminars, hands-on lean training and visits to several benchmark lean companies. For further information about our Lean Japan Tour and Lean Healthcare Tour programs, see the lean tour overview page.
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