Lean Leadership for Healthcare

Ronald Bercaw is the president of Breakthrough Horizons, LTD, a management consulting company specializing in world-class improvement through the application of the Toyota Production System, more commonly known as "Lean." With over twenty years of experience in operations, his Lean management experience was gained through multiple enterprise transformations in different industries including custom packaging, power reliability electronic assembly, and test and measurement products. Educated at Purdue University, Bercaw learned the details and disciplined applications of Lean principles, habits, and tools from both the Shingijutsu Sensei and their first generation disciples. Working in both shop floor and above-the-shop-floor areas, He has vigorously strived to remove waste from businesses through the involvement and ideas of the people doing the work. Bercaw has consulting experience in the healthcare sector (U.S. and Canadian health systems including primary care, acute care, and community applications of both clinical and back shop improvement), the commercial sector (administrations, manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, and engineering), and the public sector (U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force including Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) assignments, Pentagon, and Surgeon General Assignments). He is also the author of Taking Improvement from the Assembly Line to Healthcare: The Application of Lean within the Healthcare Industry, published by CRC Press (2012), which won the Shingo Research & Professional Publication Award. The November 2011 release of his book, Taking Improvement from the Assembly Line to Healthcare, detailed the application of the Toyota Production System within the healthcare industry. The book has been awarded a Shingo Research Award and has been recognized for advancing improvement knowledge. Bercaw resides in Chardon, Ohio, with his wife, Tami, his five children, two horses, a dog, and a cat.