Steve Hoeft

Steve is a practitioner, teacher, and thought leader in applying Toyota Production System (aka, Lean) principles to unique processes in healthcare, government, new product development, supply chains, procurement and manufacturing. Steve has been called into the board rooms of dozens of our nation's largest health systems to integrate effective continuous improvement efforts into their overall strategic plans. He is an expert in system-wide Hoshin Kanri (goal alignment). Steve's strength is in moving leaders to build the Lean Management Systems necessary to sustain and spread improvements. He is also a specialist in creating a culture of continuous improvement. Steve serves as the Chief of Baylor Scott & White's Operations Excellence team. Steve has led the C.I. efforts for seven years at this progressing organization, receiving national recognition for their transformation thus far.

Prior to Baylor Scott & White, Steve was the Lean Six Sigma Practice Leader at the Altarum Institute. The teams he served went on to lead over 1000 successful projects in nearly every area of healthcare. Steve and his team recorded over $1MM savings at multiple clients. In addition to Scott & White Health he applied Lean principles in healthcare with Hospital Sisters Health System, University of Massachusetts Memorial Health System, the University of Michigan Healthcare System, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Spectrum Health, Baptist Health Care, Henry Ford Healthcare, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Yale New Haven Health, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, UCLA Med School and Hospitals, Kaiser Permanente, Alliance Imaging, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, William Beaumont Hospital, Vancouver Coastal Health, National University Hospitals (Singapore), U.S. Air Force Office of the Surgeon General, other Department of Defense (DoD) and government units. Steve has successfully served as sensei to hundreds of healthcare leaders and internal facilitators. Steve also led successful Lean implementations in many different industries, including a key leadership role in the U.S. Air Force's Lean efforts for several years, winning multiple Shingo Prize Awards.

Steve was the developer and principal instructor for key courses in University of Michigan's Lean Healthcare, New Product Development and Manufacturing Certificate programs. He was also a contributing author to Dr. Jeffrey Liker's best-selling new book The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement.

Awards:

Steve's book "Stories From My Sensei" won a 2011 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.

Steve's new book "The Power of Ideas to Transform Healthcare: Engaging Staff by Building Daily Lean Management Systems" just won a 2015 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.

Educational Qualifications:

• Dual B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research, Wayne State University
• MBA, the University of Toledo
• Project Manager Professional Certification, the Project Management Institute