MFS 509 - LEADERSHIP FOR A LEAN ENTERPRISE

Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering

Credits: 3

Perhaps the most difficult part of a so-called ‘lean’ transformation is to establish an appropriate culture which is greatly influenced by actions of leadership. The goal of leadership is to foster the creation of a culture which allows team member engagement and drives continuous improvement focused on creating the highest value for the customer. This is accomplished by developing a ‘True Lean’ operational environment in which the group by themselves uses systematic problem solving to improve the work they do to help meet the organizations’ targets and goals without the need for direct management involvement. The challenge is to understand how this can be accomplished. This is a distance learning course designed to provide an introduction to important leadership thinking and activities required to create and sustain a lean culture within an organization as practiced by Toyota. The primary content for this course comes from the internationally recognized University of Kentucky Lean System Program’s public Lean Executive Leadership Institute and Lean Certification courses. In addition to weekly presentations by experienced Toyota executives and others, there will be weekly activities/discussions designed to explore each topic in more depth. Topics will include: understanding the True Lean destination and core thinking, management led problem solving, understanding the path to True Lean, and developing a vision and strategy to achieve it. Other important topics discussed include the pillars of a lean business philosophy, the people side of lean, lean system operations management structure and measurement systems that support and sustain an ongoing lean transformation.

Prerequisite(s):
Prereq: Student Lean Certification, or MFS 503 (Lean Principles and Practices), or MFS 526 (Lean Operations Management), or consent of Instructor.
Approved for Distance Learning.