MAZLAN AWANG - ۱Quality Engineering Department, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Institute of Industrial Technology, ۸۱۷۵۰ Johor Bahru, Malaysia
MOHD RAZIF IDRIS - Manufacturing Department, Universiti Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Italy Design Institute, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
ZURIYATI ZAKARIA - ۳Medical Development Division, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.

This paper presents an exploratory study on the development of lean readiness index for Malaysian hospitals. A questionnaire survey were obtained from ۱۱۸ public hospitals and lean readiness model was developed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and the relevant constructs were identified using confirmatory factor analysis. The Lean Readiness Index (LRI) is formulated and a ruler in associate with the LRI were proposed as to meet the objective of the study. The finding to emerge from this study is that only ۱۰.۱% of Malaysian public hospitals have ‘good’ readiness status. The study also revealed the overall LRI’s value is ۰.۶۱۷ and, the majority of the hospitals were categorize as having ‘fair’ and ‘weak’ readiness status. The result indicated that training had the strongest association towards lean readiness while communication is the least. This study had revealed the readiness level for lean implementation in Malaysian public hospitals and proposed the required foundation that need to be enhanced before implementing lean.  

Lean Healthcare, Readiness Index, Lean Hospital