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Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement and Sustainable Management Systems at Abbott Diagnostics Longford
Author(s) -
Kelly Seán
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
global business and organizational excellence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.227
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1932-2062
pISSN - 1932-2054
DOI - 10.1002/joe.21753
Subject(s) - operational excellence , lean six sigma , business , operations management , six sigma , lean manufacturing , excellence , empowerment , employee empowerment , process management , engineering , economics , economic growth , political science , law
To improve the efficiency and quality of its operations, Abbott Diagnostics Longford, a healthcare manufacturing facility in Ireland, used its parent organization's well‐established resources, created a customer‐focused culture of system‐wide empowerment in which employees at all levels would be comfortable with change, applied numerous lean Six Sigma techniques to enhance its processes, and linked its core competencies to the Shingo principles of operational excellence. As a result, the facility dramatically cut costs, lead times, nonconformance rates, inventory, energy costs, and waste while improving output and employee development and morale. In 2015, Longford earned the Shingo Prize for its accomplishments. Management expects to continue to use the site's lean management systems and culture of employee empowerment to continue to drive the behaviors and processes consistent with ensuring world‐class performance.