A cancer diagnosis is one of the most difficult and harrowing experiences that any person can have in their lives. For most of us, the diagnosis that we have some form of cancer in our bodies will be accompanied by the feeling of despair and a potential shut down of our feeling and focus as we are treated, but not for Mike Butler. As one of the leaders at the Ford assembly plant in Cologne, Germany, Butler used the time spent at the Centre for Integrated Oncology at the University Hospital of Cologne wisely to find ways to improve the medical process.
It might not seem like an automotive assembly plant and a hospital could find common ways to function in order to bring about change that can be effective, but Butler was able to show this medical team some important changes that should be made. Currently, in remission from the colon cancer he faced, he met with a team at the hospital to show the staff better ways to operate that would make their process more efficient and effective for patients, the staff, and those who come to visit the patients at the hospital.
Changing the Process
The team at Ford showed off the advanced technologies and the processes used to make the Ford Fiesta Cologne plant one of the most efficient vehicle plants in the world. This team was able to show hospital administrators, patients, nurses, doctors, and visitors what a difference it would make to have changes put in place that would allow a lower stress level and a better freedom of movement throughout the hospital when they had to work and needed to get things done that would aid them in saving lives on a daily basis.
In an effort to provide the efficiency needed, colored lines were added to the walls and floors to make it much easier for everyone to find their way around the hospital to locate what they needed to. There were also large screens added to help with the communication between the medical staff and rooms were made more flexible with removable dividers that could allow the hospital to adjust to the needs that are present at any time and create the patient flow that makes them much more efficient in their efforts to get the job done and save lives in the process.
The collaboration of ideas between the Ford plant and the hospital team isn’t entirely one-sided either. The hospital staff was able to make suggestions to Ford to help them develop and approach the development of some of the technology of the vehicles they build in a different way. These changes and the partnership between the two has allowed both to benefit and improve the processes they use and implement to develop what’s needed in the field of medicine and the development of new car technology. You might not have thought an automaker could contribute to the medical field, but Ford has found a way and it’s worked.
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