Teaching lean manufacturing principles using an interdisciplinary project featuring industrial/academic cooperation

Faculty from Oakland University's engineering, business and education schools are working together with Oakland's Pawley Institute to teach students about lean manufacturing using an interdisciplinary approach. The goal is to educate future employees about lean from a diverse perspective before they enter the workforce. By providing students with the knowledge and skills to use lean principles and tools to solve real world problems, these future employees will add immediate value to the companies that hire them. These Oakland University faculty members have developed an interdisciplinary course entitled "Lean Principles and Application". This elective course is taken by students enrolled in engineering, business, and human resource development degree programs. A key component of the course is a semester long project that involves analyzing the performance of a local manufacturing company and developing a plan for implementing a lean program. Interdisciplinary teams of students work on the project with company personnel.