Pawley Institute seminars to put business leaders on a path to lean

The Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute is offering new lean training opportunities with its Summer Lean Series at the Macomb-OU INCubator in Sterling Heights.

The program consists of three sessions: Lean 101 on Wednesday, June 29; Value Stream Mapping on Monday, July 11; and How to Diversify Using Lean on Tuesday, Aug. 2. Each session will cover a different aspect of the lean philosophy.

The first session will be presented by Debra Setman, founder and lead adviser of consulting firm Arbed Solutions, as well as founder and vice chair of the Michigan Lean Consortium. She will concentrate on the basics of lean thinking, including its history, definition, purpose, benefits and principles. Participants also will learn the critical success factors of lean and the fundamental rules of lean, with a focus on organizational culture, the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle and the house of lean.

The Value Stream Mapping session will define the practice of using this tool, with an emphasis on when and how to employ it. This interactive session also will include hands-on applications. Participants will engage with speakers Lester Sutherland, lean six sigma coach at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Howard Weston, managing director for Ken Wantuck Associations (KWA) North.

The last session, How to Diversify Using Lean, will give participants a thorough understanding of the reasons why companies diversify and how to use lean to further develop and encourage entrepreneurship. Janie Farner, senior lean training and consulting manager for Production Modeling Corporation (PMC), and Ravi Lote, global operations manager for PMC, will discuss how to implement lean as both an assessment tool and a way to diversify smoothly.

The Summer Lean Series program is $50 per session or $125 for all three. OU staff and current students can receive a 40 percent discount. All sessions will run from 8:30 a.m. to noon with a continental breakfast at 8 a.m.

The series is one of the Pawley Institute's lean training programs, designed to teach the principles and philosophy of lean to the community. For more information about this series and other training opportunities, visit oakland.edu/lean.