New student organization to teach lean business principles

By Melissa Sochaki, student writer

A new opportunity is available for Oakland University students looking to bolster their resumes by learning lean business principles.

The Lean Learning Cooperative (LLC) is a new student organization at Oakland designed to teach students about the principles and tools used to create a continuous improvement culture.

Students in the organziation take an undergraduate class that can qualify as a general education requirement for Knowledge Applications, and is listed under human resource development in the university's course catalog.

Students in this course learn about how to create and maintain a lean business. A lean business is one where there is alignment between goals and objectives from the very top to the very bottom of the organization. Each individual knows how they affect the goals and how they impact the customer.

Much of this program is focused on hiring and training, and making sure that employees know why they are doing things, which has a tendency to be effective in keeping them more engaged.

Many students have secured internships with other lean companies, while other have achieved their Bachelor’s of Integrative Studies degrees focusing on the lean perspective.

For more information about lean programs at Oakland, view the website at oakland.edu/lean. For more information about the LLC, contact the organization's advisor, Amanda Benjamin at aabenjam@oakland.edu.