Joseph E. Swartz

Joseph E. Swartz is the is the Administrative Director of Business Transformation for Franciscan Alliance, which owns Franciscan Health, based in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has been leading continuous improvement efforts for over 20 years, including over ten years in healthcare, and has led more than 200 Lean and Six Sigma improvement projects.

Joe is a co-author of the book Seeing David in the Stone: Finding and Seizing Great Opportunities (Leading Books Press). He is a contributing author of Leadership Lessons: 10 Keys to Success in Life and Business (ASD Press). Joe has also co-authored (with Mark Graban) Healthcare Kaizen: Engaging Front-Line Staff in Sustainable Continuous Improvements (Productivity Press), and The Executive Guide to Healthcare Kaizen, released in August 2013.

Joe studied Electrical Engineering at Cleveland State University as well as Management at Purdue University, where he graduated as a Krannert Scholar for academic excellence in their master’s program.

Joe consulted from 1993 to 2005, working in automotive engineering (General Motors), semiconductor manufacturing (Endevco), industrial product manufacturing (Spraying Systems), pharmaceutical manufacturing (Baxter and Eli Lilly), and aerospace assembly (Allied Signal and Honeywell). At Honeywell, Joe was trained as a Six Sigma Black Belt.

He was an instructor for the University of Wisconsin’s Executive Education School of Business in Madison, Wisconsin from 1996 to 2004.

He has published articles in Circuits Assembly, 6L, and other journals.

Joe is a popular speaker at conferences. He keynoted at the 2004 Outlook on Quality Systems Conference Outlook on Quality Systems, and the 2011 Marcus Evans Medical Device Manufacturing Summit. He has also presented at the AME conference, the Healthcare Systems Process Improvement (SHS) conference, the Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement in Healthcare (WCBF) Summit, the Lean Accounting Summit, NAHQ, and the TWI Summit.

Video about Joe and his organization:

Video produced by Franciscan Alliance

Also viewable on YouTube