BD CEO Tom Polen Applies Lean Manufacturing and AI to Operations

Becton Dickinson CEO Tom Polen has directed the rollout of the BD Excellence program since 2023. The program applies lean manufacturing principles developed by Toyota to supply chain, manufacturing, research, and sales operations. The company has trained more than 15,000 employees under the guidance of instructor Yukio Katahira.

Staff now complete about 2,000 continuous improvement exercises, known as kaizens, each year.

At one facility, AI vision systems analyzed worker movements to identify ergonomic risks and suggested adjustments to line heights and dimensions. At a Singapore plant, a kaizen exercise reversed the direction of a grinding wheel, eliminating the prior loss of 200 needles per shift.

Polen said the technology and human problem-finding must operate together because AI cannot fix a broken process. He described the goal as training employees to become both problem-solvers and problem-finders.

The program produced an 8 percent productivity gain in the latest quarter along with record quality and customer service levels. Becton Dickinson completed the spinoff of its life sciences division in February, receiving $4 billion in cash. Polen said the company is developing AI sensors that can predict drops in patient blood pressure and infusion pumps that adjust medication automatically.

The company is also investing in technologies that support natural tissue regrowth after certain surgeries.