May 7, 2022
Video Version
About the Podcast
My guest today is Tim Pettry, Program Director for Continuous Improvement at the Cleveland Clinic’s Akron General (CCAG) Hospital where he directs the implementation of a Culture of Improvement for over 5,500 caregivers, utilizing the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model.
One of the biggest “take-aways” of this conversation is the difference in syntax between manufacturing and healthcare that needs to be considered when attempting to deploy an Continuous Improvement program in a healthcare environment.
But we start the conversation at the beginning (where else?) with Tim’s 18 years of experience at Ford Motor Company at their Cleveland Manufacturing Site. As a result of the continuous improvement efforts of Tim and his colleagues, Ford won the Shingo Prize with Tim himself being appointed to the Shingo Institute’s Board of Examiners in 1996.
I am sure you will enjoy listening to the conversation as much as I did. Give a listen.
About Tim Pettry
Tim Pettry is the Program Director, Continuous Improvement at Cleveland Clinic Akron General (CCAG) where he directs the implementation of a Culture of Improvement for over 5,500 caregivers, utilizing the Cleveland Clinic Improvement Model. He has been a member of a Continuous Improvement team since 2008 that serves over 70,000 Cleveland Clinic caregivers worldwide.
Prior to jumping into the Healthcare field, he spent 18 years with the Ford Motor Company at their Cleveland Manufacturing Site in several roles including Cost Analyst, Training Manager, and Ford Production System Coordinator. His final year at Ford he served as a Ford Production System Coach for Powertrain Operations.
Tim’s career started in retailing as a Department Manager for the May Company (now part of Macy’s) where he learned to appreciate the concepts of customer service. Recognizing that a career in Retailing did not fit with his new role as a father, Tim joined Ernst & Whinney’s (now Ernst & Young) National Client Services department in Cleveland, where he led a team of 6 analysts and multiple students who were responsible for providing secondary research data and analysis in support of major request for proposals for Audit and Consulting services, and maintaining the firm’s Mailing and Alumni programs.
Tim’s passion for continuous improvement work comes from participating in and leading several cultural transformation efforts while at Ford and the Cleveland Clinic. A highlight of his career was helping to save Ford’s Cleveland Engine Plant 1 from closing in 2002. The work there was recognized as one of the pivotal events in valuing work and delivering results in the book, “Inside the Ford-UAW Transformation”
Tim was appointed to the Shingo Institute’s Board of Examiners in 1996 after leading the team responsible for writing Cleveland Engine Plant 2’s Achievement Report and coordinating the site visit that led to the plant being awarded the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing. He has served as a lead examiner for over 10 years. As an examiner, he has participated in a number of site visits to a variety of different manufacturing and healthcare organizations. Additionally, as an examiner, Tim has had the opportunity to review numerous books vying for the Shingo Prize for Publications.
Tim served for 6 years as the Shingo Institute’s representative on the AME / Shingo Institute / SME Lean Certification Oversight and Appeals Committee, serving as Chairman of the committee in 2010. He earned his Master of Business Administration in Management and Labor Relations from Cleveland State University.
He and his wife, Lisa, have 5 grown children and 7 grandchildren.
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timpettry/
Company: Cleveland Clinic
Title: Program Director, Continuous
Improvement
Headquarters: Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Year Founded: 1921
Company Type: Not-for-profit Hospital
Company Size: 72,500 Employees, $12.4 Billion in
Revenue
Practice Areas: Cleveland Clinic is a
not-for-profit American academic medical center based in Cleveland,
Ohio with expertise in all healthcare practice areas and is
consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United
States. It is owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation, an Ohio not-for-profit corporation established in 1921.
It runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, as well as 11
affiliated hospitals, 19 family health centers in Northeast Ohio,
and hospitals in Florida and Nevada. International operations
include the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital in the United Arab
Emirates and Cleveland Clinic Canada, which has two executive
health and sports medicine clinics in Toronto. Another hospital
campus in the United Kingdom, Cleveland Clinic London, opened to
outpatients in 2021 and is scheduled to fully open in 2022