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.
During the Lean Japan Tour I came to the realization that improving an organization is not through large capital investments alone. We were completely surrounded by examples of minor investments into small improvements that produced significant savings. The clever use of visual management techniques gave a clear understanding of the current situation and Ben who…
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I must say thank you to the whole Shinka team – very grateful to meet you. The senseis and the Shinka team always cared about integrating us, teaching us and making us feel comfortable. The planning for the tour was brilliant. All my expectations were met. I saw TPS totally implemented, and it was amazing…
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Paul Smith and the team at Shinka Management, in particular Eri Dennis, did an incredible job planning and leading our tailored Japan Study Tour in March 2024. Our team of construction and training professionals learnt and more importantly experienced so much about lean management and Japanese construction, manufacturing and factory practices. Without the expertise and…
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I would highly recommend the tour to anyone who is in the business of improving people. The ideas stimulated through this tour have helped me reform our entire vision of what improvement means for our business.
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Paul and Ben from Shinka Management need to be commended for the tour that they ran in Japan. The experience has enlightened and energised me to intensify the lean efforts within our organisation. The tour was packed full of knowledge building as well as relationship building with other participants all whilst experiencing a cultural treat…
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This was my third visit to Japan with Shinka Management and it is difficult for me to find the right words to express my gratitude for such a well-organized tour and my appreciation for the high quality and on-target content. In my previous visits I received very valuable information related to continuous improvement principles and…
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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.
Tour Inquiries
Interested in joining us in Japan? For additional information prior to registration please fill in the form provided or contact us.