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Friday, June 21, 2013

Lean Education


Throughout many decades, the financial challenges faced by the manufacturing industry, and the need to improve their performance and efficiency level to gain an increase in output saw them developing and successfully using a concept which is now known as LEAN. The higher education institutions are faced with increased financial challenges. The passage of time has only seen an increase in this pressure has the principles employed by the current government gives support to the creation and sustenance of a more market-driven environment. The 2011 Diamond Report contains several recommendations on how these oganizations can adopt the LEAN program to help them survive. The aim of adopting the LEAN program is to have higher education establishments increase and improve collaborative arrangements with the effective flow of information being the key of all transitional arrangements. Here is a brief oversight of the concepts of LEAN, how it was/is used in the private and public sector and how it can now be implemented and successfully used in the higher education sector to gain overall improvement in their operations.

The Integrated Approach
From as far back as the 14th century, the private sector has benefited from LEAN concepts such as Value Stream Analysis, Standard Working, Continuous Improvement, Flow and Pull. These concepts were successfully used by various military powers for purposes such as the production of warships, reducing fire time during a broadside and using weapon parts interchangeably.

Public sector bodies such as healthcare, the armed forces and local government organizations have been undergoing transformational changes and have use LEAN concepts as the heart of this process. As many sectors are now forced to face the challenge of decreasing waste by increasing productivity and efficiency, the LEAN concepts and their applicability becomes more evident. Transformation requires an integrated approach. LEAN promotes this kind of approach because organizations that adopt the program have to follow the principles of:
  • Creating a defined and effective process.
  • Sharing knowledge and creating a strategy for improvement.
  • Develop and execute collaborative projects between departments and throughout the entire organization.
The Strategic Approach
As a part of its recommendations for improvement, the Diamond Report emphasized the need for higher education organizations develop a long-term vision and implement a system that allows easy access to management data on daily performance. The measures used to develop and implement these programs along with the introduction of LEAN must be strategic. Details on specific strategies can be found within the report.
Higher education establishments can successfully adopt and use the LEAN concepts to implement the improvement recommendations contained within the Diamond Report.