Leanness evaluation in health-care organizations using fuzzy logic approach

Purpose: Lean practices are one of the fundamental practices adopted by health-care organizations to improve service quality and to reduce cost. In this context, the measurement of leanness in health-care organizations has become imperative. The purpose of this study is to measure the leanness of a hospital using fuzzy logic. Design/methodology/approach: The design of the research includes two major steps. First, the identification of enablers, criteria and attributes of leanness constitutes the measures of assessment. Second, the above measures in the case hospital are assessed by using fuzzy logic approach. Findings: This study suggests that leanness assessment is essential to identify the current lean capability of a health-care organization. This would help the health-care organizations to improve their lean performance further. The findings of the study suggest that the leanness of the case hospital is “Lean” (fuzzy range: 5.61, 7.24 and 8.91). Practical implications: This study brings in three important implications from managerial point of view. First, it helps the management to assess the current level of leanness of the hospital. Second, it identifies the attributes that prevent the organization from being more lean. Third, it provides suggestive measures to address the weaker attributes and enables the enhancement of lean performance further. Originality/value: The leanness assessment framework developed in the hospital operations is found to be original, and it adds value to the leanness assessment in health-care operations.