Edward Sosnowski named new chair of the Pawley Institute Advisory Board

Ed Sosnowski

Edward Sosnowski, corporate Lean manager of United Solar Ovonic (Uni-Solar) in Auburn Hills, Mich., has been chosen as the new chair of the Advisory Board for the Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute.

The Advisory Board offers guidance to faculty and helps expand the visibility of the Pawley Institute.

Sosnowski has worked with the former chair, Jamie Flinchbach, at his current and past jobs. Flinchbach thought he’d be a good fit for the board and asked him to be part of it.

“Ed is a creative and thoughtful Lean champion,” Flinchbach said. “I believe his creativity and energy can bring many new ideas to the institute.”

Sosnowski, who has been on the Advisory Board for a year, would be someone to bounce ideas off of while the role and capability of the Pawley Institute is being expanded. His new role is to give outside perspective to continue to grow the Pawley Institute inside and outside of the university.

According to Sosnowski, education is first and foremost, and the Pawley Institute aims to offer a unique experience. The Advisory Board offers assistance and guidance with future programs.

The faculty present programs to the board within the Pawley Institute to keep the board members informed and allow them to give feedback. Sosnowski plans to increase the frequency of board meetings to two or three times a year.

Sosnowski plans to build relationships with the faculty and the community, and find out how the Advisory Board can provide more assistance. He said that the Advisory Board is a good, diverse group of people from various industries with a vast skill set, and he would like them to be more involved.

One of Sosnowski’s goals is to gain more exposure within the community as well as OU. He said he wants to maintain the Pawley Institute identity but be a multidiscipline school that shows how Lean applies to a multitude of industries.

The Pawley Institute will have its own space at the Macomb-OU INCubator in July 2010 to allow more interaction with the community and local businesses. This will give the Pawley Institute the opportunity to use its expertise to help smaller companies and government, as well as the opportunity for students to receive real-world experience, where they would put their class lessons into practice.

Sosnowski said it’s a win-win situation, where both the community and students are benefitting. “That’s where the board of advisers comes in: we act as guides for the students.”

Another goal of the Pawley Institute is to bring Lean to the university. Sosonowski said he would like to help grow the use of Lean within OU.

“This would speak volumes to what the Pawley Institute is,” he said.

Students have worked in kaizen (process improvement) teams on some of OU’s processes, including the grade change process. According to Sosnowski, it would be unique in Lean circles if the university took hold of Lean , but changing the culture there would be difficult.

For more information about the Pawley Lean Institute and its Advisory Board, visit www.oakland.edu/lean.