AME Milwaukee 2026 International Conference
PRESENTATIONS
Presentation
Scaling lean: Empowering 35,000 problem-solvers with a small lean team
OVERVIEW
Join Emily Swaney and Todd Schneider as they share how we embraced the challenge of empowering our small lean team of 11 individuals to support an organization in its journey to develop 35,000 problem solvers. Through the years, their team has crafted an approach that allows them to work most effectively in partnership with OhioHealth’s leaders to drive continued progress in the Management System.
They’ll highlight their team’s structure and coverage model and will share their “tricks of the trade” that allow their small team to successfully support 16 hospitals and over 200 ambulatory sites in a comprehensive management system including a mature lean daily management model, tiered huddles, strategy deployment, kaizen facilitation and operational excellence.
They’ll highlight their team’s structure and coverage model and will share their “tricks of the trade” that allow their small team to successfully support 16 hospitals and over 200 ambulatory sites in a comprehensive management system including a mature lean daily management model, tiered huddles, strategy deployment, kaizen facilitation and operational excellence.
Key Learning Objectives
1. Challenge the concept that limited lean resources are a barrier to success.
2. Understand how to influence without authority by developing a healthy partnership between the lean team and organizational leaders.
3. Develop a support model that most effectively unlocks the potential in every leader to promote a problem-solving culture.
2. Understand how to influence without authority by developing a healthy partnership between the lean team and organizational leaders.
3. Develop a support model that most effectively unlocks the potential in every leader to promote a problem-solving culture.
PresenterS
Todd Schneider
Senior Advisor, Lean Promotion Office
OhioHealth
Todd Schneider is a senior lean advisor in the Lean Promotion Office for OhioHealth. He has a B.S. in industrial engineering and management from North Dakota State University and a master’s in business administration from Florida State University.
Senior Advisor, Lean Promotion Office
OhioHealth
Todd Schneider is a senior lean advisor in the Lean Promotion Office for OhioHealth. He has a B.S. in industrial engineering and management from North Dakota State University and a master’s in business administration from Florida State University.
He has over 20 years of PI experience in pediatric, for-profit and not-for-profit health systems. Schneider is a senior member of the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers, a fellow in the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and a diplomate and past president of IISE's Society for Health Systems.
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Emily Swaney
Senior Director, Lean Promotion Office
OhioHealth
Emily Swaney is the senior director of the Lean Promotion Office at OhioHealth. As the accountable executive for lean, Swaney is responsible for ensuring OhioHealth's Lean Roadmap is driving toward an advanced management system.
Senior Director, Lean Promotion Office
OhioHealth
Emily Swaney is the senior director of the Lean Promotion Office at OhioHealth. As the accountable executive for lean, Swaney is responsible for ensuring OhioHealth's Lean Roadmap is driving toward an advanced management system.
Under her leadership, OhioHealth has received international recognition for their focused efforts on creating a culture of 35,000 problem solvers.
Swaney brings 15 years of experience leading continuous improvement in healthcare and is skilled in Kaizen facilitation, A3 coaching, lean daily management, Hoshin Kanri, senior executive coaching, lean roadmap development and enterprise management system implementation.
Swaney was selected as the 2026 Shingo Rising Star award recipient and has collaborated with Catalysis, the Shingo Institute, ISE, Lean Global Connection and the Lean Enterprise Institute, sharing insights through articles, white papers, podcasts, webinars and conference presentations.
Swaney holds a master of business in operational excellence (MBOE) from The Ohio State University and a B.S. in operations management and marketing from the University of Dayton. She serves as a coach for the MBOE program, sits on UD’s Operations Management Advisory Board, and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
In addition to her role at OhioHealth, Swaney owns Advance Lean Consulting LLC, where she coaches and inspires organizations to build a more mature and impactful lean culture.
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Swaney brings 15 years of experience leading continuous improvement in healthcare and is skilled in Kaizen facilitation, A3 coaching, lean daily management, Hoshin Kanri, senior executive coaching, lean roadmap development and enterprise management system implementation.
Swaney was selected as the 2026 Shingo Rising Star award recipient and has collaborated with Catalysis, the Shingo Institute, ISE, Lean Global Connection and the Lean Enterprise Institute, sharing insights through articles, white papers, podcasts, webinars and conference presentations.
Swaney holds a master of business in operational excellence (MBOE) from The Ohio State University and a B.S. in operations management and marketing from the University of Dayton. She serves as a coach for the MBOE program, sits on UD’s Operations Management Advisory Board, and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
In addition to her role at OhioHealth, Swaney owns Advance Lean Consulting LLC, where she coaches and inspires organizations to build a more mature and impactful lean culture.
View on LinkedIn
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Management systems
Level: Intermediate
