By Katie Land, news editor
An upcoming lean principles presentation will rev up interest in Oakland University’s graduate and undergraduate courses debuting at Macomb Community College this fall.
The May 21 forum, "Lean University - Case Study of Lean Principles," presented by Karen Kusler from the University of Central Oklahoma, will detail how lean concepts helped streamline processes in their physical plant, academics and administrative departments to achieve success.
Lean is a unique system of decision making, process improvement and organizational change that encourages a shared way of thinking to systematically drive out waste. This process has been adopted by many organizations worldwide and is a concept promoted by Oakland’s Pawley Learning Institute.
“Designed to benefit Oakland University students, schools, non-profits, government and industry, the Pawley Learning Institute shares concepts and practices of lean manufacturing to create leaders and learners in the university, public and private sectors, and the community,” said Julianne Leigh, director of budget and the Pawley Institute.
Course selections for the fall 2009 semester include Lean Principles and Practices in Organizations and three graduate courses titled Lean Principles and Application.
Students from all disciplines can benefit from these courses, Leigh said. Graduate lean courses are valuable for nursing, human resource development, business, engineering and educational leadership students because of the practical application to their industry, and undergrad students can fulfill the knowledge applications general education requirement, she continued.
“This cross-discipline endeavor melds technology, business and human resources into a dynamic lean learning curriculum. The lean learning concept incorporates tools, techniques and management philosophies to streamline processes and eliminate waste, while providing value from the customer's perspective,” Leigh said.
Lean Principles and Practices in Organizations is an activity-based introduction to lean principles and practices in a variety of human resource development and workplace settings. It explores an innovative way to solve persistent problems confronting American organizations today. It includes hands-on simulations, expert guest speakers and on-site tours.
Leigh said students will gain real-life experience by developing a project of their choice, which may be applied to a multitude of industries including the non-profit, for-profit, health care, manufacturing and service industries. “Action-focused with on-site teams, students will learn and apply process and quality improvement, operations, facility and lean management,” she explained.
The free lean case study presentation, sponsored by the Detroit Chapter of the American Society for Quality, will begin at 5:30 p.m. on the Macomb campus in Building S, Room S-101 Auditorium. More information can be found at
www.asqdetroit.org.
For more information on lean courses through OU, visit the Pawley Institute
Web site. To learn more about graduate courses, visit
http://www.oakland.edu/?id=3120&sid=12 and for undergraduate courses visit
http://www.oakland.edu/?id=4698&sid=12.
