Lean webinar series experiences great success

The Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute has started its Lean Thinking Webinar Series, a series of webinars introducing Lean principles, practices and application. The first webinar entitled "Introduction to Lean Thinking" is free and offered on the Pawley Institute website.

A basic theoretical introduction to Lean, this webinar spans about an hour and contains the basic ideas of what Lean is about and its role in organizations. For those looking for some general background on what Lean is, this webinar provides an overview to answer those inquiries.

It includes three areas: an introduction to Lean and its history, an introduction to three philosophies of Lean and an introduction to five organizational practices of Lean. Designed as a primer in Lean, this webinar can also help organizations decide if Lean will be an asset to them.

“I think all areas can benefit from Lean thinking,” commented one webinar participant. “If all of us participate, it can only help the communication on our campus.”

Most participants attended the free webinar because they believed it would help improve their workplace.

“Lean thinking is critical to the success of our organization and to the retention of our students,” commented another participant. “Many processes are being performed ‘because that is the way we have always done it’ and are very wasteful.”

All of the participants agreed that the webinar covered clear and useful information, and they would recommend it to other staff within their organization.

“This webinar is very informative, and it relays a strong message that: 1) communication and teamwork are necessary and 2) employees at all levels should be involved in process design/planning,” another participant responded.

The Pawley Institute also recently offered two interactive webinars that were designed for Lean practitioners, presenting basic Lean concepts and tools.

The webinar facilitators were Dr. Shannon Flumerfelt, director of Lean Thinking for Schools at the Pawley Institute and assistant professor in Educational Leadership at Oakland University, and Mark Doman, visiting assistant professor in Human Resource Development at Oakland University.

The facilitators used data collected from the webinar pre-survey to frame concepts and understand what is and is not working well in the participants’ organizations. These highly interactive webinars allowed participants the chance to type in questions they had during the presentations.

For more information or to register for a Pawley Institute webinar, visit www.oakland.edu/lean.