Session ID:

VS1-07

n Intermediate

Adriana Bury, Senior Manager of Human Research & Scott Leroy, Senior Manager, Integrated Product Team

Sustaining Lean in High Growth Environment

For any business to succeed, the importance of establishing and executing Lean is critical in today’s environment. In the case of Ventana Medical Systems, the commitment to a culture of accountability and daily management has created a winning combination for success. Ventana Medical Systems’ manufacturing organization will address the cultural transformation process that created a culture of ownership companywide, the use of Lean tools for teams and leadership, and the daily management tools that provide the fundamental oversight for Ventana’s growth.

In 2004, the Executive Leadership Team implemented a culture of personal accountability in order to meet the company’s aggressive business goals. Ventana identified eight Cultural Beliefs that would serve as performance guidelines for all employees and provide a common language for defining accountable behavior. As of May 2007, Ventana acknowledged a successful completion of its cultural transition and has expanded the company’s vision to include the next logical phase of sustaining its culture, a Cultural Commitment. Even though the word “commitment” has replaced “transition,” Ventana has continued to embrace and reinforce the aforementioned cultural beliefs, as well as its previous corporate commitment of utilizing Lean Manufacturing (2001) as a catalyst for sustained growth, cost management, and quality improvement. In the spirit of Ventana’s cultural commitment, Kaizen events have been renamed Improve It! events, providing consistency and a link to the core cultural beliefs.

Ventana is now poised to make the next leap in its evolution, and its commitment to the patient has never been stronger. Ventana’s continued success is a direct result of the organization’s commitment to creating a culture of accountability, sustaining lean manufacturing principles, and implementing systems that monitor productivity improvements and overall product quality. Ventana’s employees are all keenly aware that the instruments and reagents built help to save lives. As an organization, Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. is focused on delivering companion diagnostic tools in the fight against cancer and infectious diseases.

Ventana Medical is one of the world’s leading developers and manufacturers of medical diagnostic instrument and reagent systems providing leading-edge automation technology for use in slide-based diagnosis of cancer and infectious disease. Our products are found in hospital-based histology laboratories, independent reference laboratories, and the drug discovery laboratories of some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government labs, and medical research centers. These products are widely used in the analysis of patient samples for cancer and infectious diseases.

We serve our customers through wholly owned subsidiaries in the US, Europe, Japan and Australia and our instruments are installed in no fewer than 55 countries.

Over the past five years, Ventana has experienced revenue growth between 20-25 percent annually.

Adriana Bury, Senior Manager, Human Resources

For 20 years Adriana  has worked in the Human Resources field.  She joined Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. in 2006 as the Manager of Human Resources for Ventana’s Manufacturing Operations.  In this role she leads and supports all HR activities in Manufacturing Operations, Quality and Regulatory. Prior to Ventana, Adriana held leadership and generalist roles in Human Resources in the aerospace and automotive fastener businesses for Alcoa and for Thiokol Corporation’s Space Operations (currently ATK Launch Systems).

Adriana holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah and a Masters Degree in Management and Organization Development from College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey.  Adriana is a certified Professional in Human Resources.

 Scott Leroy, Senior Manager, Integrated Product Team

Scott Leroy , Ph.D. – Scott has spent his professional career working in the medical device industry first with Abbot Laboratories and currently with Ventana Medical Systems a member of the Roche group. He has spent the last four years in reagent operations management. In this role, he has led numerous lean initiatives and participated in several Kaizen events that established the lean philosophy in operations. He was instrumental in Ventana’s journey from traditional-style manufacturing to a lean leader in the industry; culminating in Ventana winning the 2007 AME manufacturing excellence award.

Scott holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Biochemistry from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas and a Doctorate degree in Biomedical Sciences-Neurobiology from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.