About Us

Techniques Rooted in the Toyota Production System:
Every modern industry and organization has been influenced by the operational advances of the Toyota Production System, that made Toyota the #1 auto manufacturer in the world.   Decades of research has proven that Toyota's systematic approach to improving operations has tangible long-term benefits to customer service, quality, productivity, adaptability and ultimately to reduce costs.

Together, "yes we can..."
The Biomedical Research community recognized these advances over a decade ago and thus began the adaptation of systematic continuous improvement techniques to the Lab Animal Industry.  Consistent with Toyota's philosophy of "sharing what they have learned from over 50 years of experimentation with the world", the Biomedical Research community understood that together, we could improve operations better, faster, cheaper if we shared our knowledge with each other.  

Hence, the VOE-Network was born to help our community improve operations through members experimentation, learning and sharing. ​

2014 - 2016 Members organizations include:

 Amgen
CRIUCPQ
US FDA
McGill University, Montreal, CA
University of Houston ACO
Harvard University FAS
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Allentown
Tecniplast
Yale University
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Massachusetts General Hospital CCM
Penn State Hershey College of Medicine
Huntingdon Life Sciences
​ENVIGO, UK
Albert Einstein Hospital, Sao Paulo Brazil
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Jackson Laboratory
Mispro Bioscience Services
The Research Institute at NCH
National Eye Institute
Weill Cornell Medical College, Quatar
Emergent Biosolutions
Eli Lilly
The Center for Phenogenomics, Toronto, CA
CBSET, Inc
University of Southern California
Amgen
Cefini
CRIUCPQ
Pfizer
UNTHSC
Scotts Pharmaserv Distributing
Carleton University, CA

By Members, for members...
The Vivarium Operational Excellence Network is a consortium of Biomedical research institutions and companies committed to quality research driven by operational excellence.  We are a members-run organization that responds to the evolving learning needs of its members.  Learning spans the organizational spectrum from front-line technicians through Webinars, videos and White Belt certification to Leadership skills gained from our Leadership Academy events and offerings.  We also look to industry for insights into the best ways to improve operations as well as ways to build a problem-solving culture.