From hospitals to libraries: in Omsk region, lean manufacturing tools are being introduced into the social sphere

Omsk doctors, teachers and librarians were trained in lean manufacturing at the "Factory of Production Processes". Social workers have replaced their usual activities with the role of assembly shop employees. The purpose of the training is to transfer industrial efficiency tools to the work of clinics and schools in order to increase the availability of services without additional burden on staff.

The training is held free of charge under the guidance of experts from the Regional Competence Center (RCC) of the Omsk region for employees of all enterprises participating in the federal project "Labor Productivity" of the national project "Efficient and Competitive Economy".

In Russia, a large-scale program to increase labor productivity in the social sphere was launched in 2025. According to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation, by 2030, the principles of lean manufacturing will be implemented by more than 123,000 state and municipal institutions of the country. Omsk region has been actively involved in this transformation. Governor Vitaly Khotsenko pays great attention to the implementation of the project in the region.

Maxim Shulgat, certified trainer of the Omsk Region RCC: "Universal lean manufacturing tools work everywhere – from the factory to the hospital. Our goal is to ensure that every industry can find ready–made solutions for quick results. The federal project gives us a unique opportunity to transfer the successful experience of industry to where people receive vital services. The main myth is that the social sphere is too complex to standardize. Practice shows the opposite: eliminating unnecessary staff movements, optimizing workflow, and properly rebalancing operations free up tremendous time for specialists."

The Process Factory training platform brought together a team of 16 people, which included managers, nurses, paramedics of city polyclinics, senior staff of regional libraries, orphanages, music schools, as well as heads and kindergarten teachers.

During three shifts simulating work in a real production facility, participants experienced firsthand the chaos in logistics and the irrational location of workplaces. They solved applied production tasks: they looked for ways to eliminate unnecessary movements, regulated workload and personnel reshuffle, and put warehouses in order. Instead of the usual instructions, they used standards of operational procedures, value stream maps, the 5C system and monitored the indicators at the information center.

The use of lean manufacturing tools allowed the team to significantly improve the key indicators of its virtual enterprise. They managed not only to improve the quality of their products, but also to reduce the cost of production by reducing time costs.

Ekaterina Celestial, head of the therapeutic department of BUZOO "City Polyclinic No. 2", shared her impressions after completing three shifts: "Today I got not just a theory, but an opportunity to feel with my own hands the mistakes that we make every day at our workplaces without even noticing it. For me, as a representative of the medical field, this experience is invaluable, because we have seen how to relieve staff without loss of quality. Now we plan to return to the team, diagnose bottlenecks, and implement the elements of the 5C system and standardization that we have worked out at the Process Factory. We want help to reach people faster and easier."

The training program among representatives of the social sphere of the Omsk region will be continued. By the end of the year, the Regional Competence Center plans to hold a series of similar trainings, involving hundreds of managers and key specialists. For more information, see the productivity IT platform.RF