The 90-bed Tradition Medical Center in Tradition, Fla., was built with collaboration and Lean design. According to an article on the Medical Construction & Design website, the construction team committed to a "start smart, design smart, build smart" philosophy.

At the outset of the project, Martin Health System purchased a house adjacent to its main medical campus for the project team to use. The team established specific conditions of satisfaction and a values matrix that were referenced throughout design and construction, the article said.

The matrix included environmentally responsible design, future flexibility and creating a learning environment to promote an atmosphere of continuous improvement.

Lean design and project management techniques helped the team meet its goals. For example, to satisfy the health system’s target date for opening the hospital, all key stakeholders were involved in flexible scheduling sessions that used pull planning, a system of working backwards from critical end dates to establish a final schedule, the article said.

Read the article.