{"id":2581,"date":"2010-06-14T04:58:49","date_gmt":"2010-06-14T11:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2581"},"modified":"2014-10-08T15:35:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-08T20:35:34","slug":"case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/","title":{"rendered":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>This article shows a case study of how Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts &amp; Co. (KKR) was able to create value at Biomet, Inc., one of their portfolio companies through the implementation of Lean Thinking in the enterprise.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"using lean in private equity\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/role-of-lean-thinking-in-private-equity\/2593\/\">Lean in Private Equity is not new<\/a>. There are several example where <a title=\"use lean to renew the company\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/corporate-renewal-waste-and-corporate-turnaround\/2487\/\">lean was used to stimulate corporate renewal<\/a>, such as using <a title=\"use lean to improve medical devices\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/\">lean to improve a medical device manufacturer<\/a>, or using <a title=\"lean to improve mattress manufacturer sealy\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-sealy-matress-and-bedding-products\/2576\/\">lean to improve the buyout of Sealy Mattresses<\/a>, or using <a title=\"improve automotive aftermarket with lean manufacturing\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-the-automotive-aftermarket\/2571\/\">lean manufacturing to improve the automotive aftermaket<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>KKR acquired Biomet, Inc. in 2007 <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2581-1' id='fnref-2581-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2581)'>1<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Biomet designs and manufactures orthopedic medical devices.\u00a0 At the time of acquisition, Biomet sales had declined 13% and sales force attrition was at 40%.\u00a0 This presented a clear opportunity for improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Through the implementation of Lean Thinking, Biomet results were are the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Adding dedicated sales resources to underperforming territories; Developing sales force incentive plans to reduce attrition and attract professionals with greater levels of sales experience and medical device training; Professionalizing the management of the sales force; Hiring skilled leaders in critical functional areas including supply chain management and surgeon relations; Identifying opportunities to lower manufacturing costs, including moving production of selected products closer to the customer, consolidating plant and warehousing operations and consolidating vendors; and Standardizing product launches and new product development.<\/p>\n<p>To date, the turnaround has been a success. Sales force attrition has fallen by 50%, the sales force has grown by 20%, fill rates ended fiscal year 2008 at over 95% and new products have been greeted with enthusiasm by the medical community. Importantly, following six consecutive quarters of declining sales, Spine and Trauma sales increased during fiscal year 2008 and have continued to accelerate, with sales in the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2009 increasing 7% versus the same time period in fiscal year 2008.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hindsight is 20\/20, but some organizations do not see wastes and therefore cannot describe how they can improve. Knowing the Seven Wastes is just the first step and most organizations fail in that area already.\u00a0 Once the Seven Wastes are known, systematically exposed, then they can be surgically attacked.\u00a0 Lean Thinking can get us to that point fast and for the long-term.<\/p>\n<p>Lean Thinking creates and unlocks value for organizations as described in this case study from KKR.<\/p>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-2581'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-2581-1'> KKR 2008 Annual Review <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2581-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article shows a case study of how Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts &amp; Co. (KKR) was able to create value at Biomet, Inc., one of their portfolio companies through the implementation of Lean Thinking in the enterprise. Lean in Private Equity is not new. There are several example where lean was used to stimulate corporate renewal, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":10114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[638],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-14T11:58:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-08T20:35:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"403\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/\",\"name\":\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-14T11:58:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-08T20:35:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":403,\"caption\":\"lean six sigma, medical device\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Corporate Turnaround\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/turnaround\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/\",\"name\":\"OpEx Learning\",\"description\":\"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\",\"name\":\"Uday Kawar\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study","description":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study","og_description":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/","og_site_name":"OpEx Learning","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula","article_published_time":"2010-06-14T11:58:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-10-08T20:35:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":403,"url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Uday Kawar","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@shmula","twitter_site":"@shmula","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Uday Kawar","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/","name":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg","datePublished":"2010-06-14T11:58:49+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-08T20:35:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd"},"description":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing is not new. This article shows how lean was used to improve the company.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/lean-manufacturing-medical-device.jpg","width":450,"height":403,"caption":"lean six sigma, medical device"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/case-study-improving-a-medical-device-manufacturer\/2581\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Corporate Turnaround","item":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/turnaround\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Lean in Medical Device Manufacturing: A Case Study"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/","name":"OpEx Learning","description":"Lean Six Sigma. Simplified.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd","name":"Uday Kawar"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12327"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}