The Center for Healthcare Operations Improvement and Research (CHOIR) at the University of Twente announces the 39th talk in the ORAHS International Seminar Series.
The ORAHS International Seminars are planned via MS Teams in the late afternoon (Europe), morning (US), or evening (Asia/Pacific) and are part of the EURO Online Seminar Series.
On 22 September 2026, at 16:00 (CEST), Dr. Mehmet A. Begen (Western University, Canada) will talk about “Just-in-Time Surgical Case Carts to Improve Operating Room Efficiency”.
Please save the date and register for this seminar here:
https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/39881418-6791-406c-a3c1-c2eb3d4a39f9@723246a1-c3f5-43c5-acdc-43adb404ac4d
Abstract: Just-in-time principles are widely used in healthcare for inventory and purchasing, but not for the surgical case carts yet. Assembled a day in advance, these carts risk losing sterility, arrive incomplete because their instrument trays are still in use, and crowd corridors – at our study site, up to 51 at a time. Working with a Belgian general hospital, we tested whether materials could instead be gathered just before surgery, and, more to the point, how to establish exactly when. We simulated 576 alternatives varying in buffer type, buffer size and staffing schedule. The 217 that ensured timely readiness were benchmarked by data envelopment analysis against one input (personnel cost) and three outputs (buffer efficiency, corridor space at peak hours, and space needed across the day). Seven reached the efficiency frontier. Management chose neither the cheapest nor the most robust, but the only balanced design requiring no night shift. After two pilot studies, it became standard practice in April 2025: a 67% cost reduction, corridor peaks down from 51 carts to 22, incomplete carts eliminated, and nurses released from cart preparation entirely.
Bio: Dr. Mehmet A. Begen is a professor and the George and Mary Turnbull Faculty Fellow at the Ivey Business School, Western University. He is cross-appointed to the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences in the Faculty of Science and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. An industrial engineer and Certified Analytics Professional (CAP), Dr. Begen conducts research in management science, business analytics, data-driven decision-making, scheduling, and operations management, with a particular emphasis on healthcare. His work spans contract design, healthcare operations, production planning, supply chain management, resource allocation, and decision-making under uncertainty. Dr. Begen has received research funding through the NSERC Discovery Grants Program, Cancer Care Ontario, and other organizations. He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles and collaborates with organizations worldwide to apply analytics to complex business and operational challenges. He teaches courses in analytics, big data, statistics, and artificial intelligence across nearly all academic levels and has received awards for both teaching and research. Dr. Begen has also served the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) in several leadership roles, including as president. More information about our speaker can be found here:
https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/faculty_research/directory/mehmet-begen/
For more information about our seminar presentations, please follow this link:
https://www.utwente.nl/en/choir/research/ORAHS-International-Seminar-Series/
We look forward to seeing you soon and often in the ORAHS International Seminar Series.
CHOIR Group
University of Twente