Several blogs have already mentioned this news story on Dr. Sami Bahri, the Florida dentist who has used lean manufacturing methods to significantly improve his operations. However I feel it's important to give this story as much play as possible, as it really shows how lean can be applied, fairly easily in fact, outside of manufacturing. His implementation revolves around a simple philosophy:
The patient is supposed to spend as little time as possible being made to do things he or she doesn't want to do, particularly things that don't lead to accomplishment. "When the patient gets in the chair, we don't want to waste any time," Bahri said. "I look at it from the patient point of view."
One of the core concepts of lean: defining value from the perception of the customer. The patient is the customer. Take the time to read the story, and think about it the next time you have to wait at your dentist... or anywhere for that matter.