Two Months to Collect Six Stamps
■ The robot was only one part of getting ready
At the meeting to bring Hakobukun to a new ward, six columns went up on the whiteboard: Pharmacy, Nursing, Facilities, IT, Fire Safety, and Patient Safety. Makihara announced, "The robot is all set and ready to go!" But the stamps came in only one at a time, and two months later the IT column was still empty. Plugged into its charger, Hakobukun kept waiting in the hallway.
■ Every department has a reason to say "not yet"
Hospital delivery robots take at least four months to deploy, and most of that time goes into setting up routes and coordinating inside the hospital. Pharmacy decides which drugs the robot will not carry, Facilities decides where it charges, and Fire Safety decides where it must never stop. None of these can be solved by the robot's performance. Each department has a fair reason to hold things up, so if even one item slips, the whole rollout stalls.
■ Conclusion: Hand out the list of decisions on day one
When the last stamp goes on, Oshiro says, "So before we moved the robot, we had to move everyone." Shiraishi decides that for the next ward, all six columns go out on the very first day. Showing up front which department decides what lets every department start thinking at the same time. What speeds up deployment is not getting the robot ready, but lining up the approvals.
The day a robot starts running is decided by the last stamp.
