Education
Educational institutions are finding that they are increasingly challenged in running their businesses. Competition is growing and like so many other services in North America, the cost of supplying the educational services (financial, registration, special assistance, housing, parking, resources, curriculum etc.) continues to increase and the service levels (as viewed through the eyes of their students) are not improving. In many cases this is unacceptable. To be competitive and attract the best students, the best teachers, professors and staff, you have to build a reputation that you are the best!
With today's electronic age people are expecting faster and easier service. They don't expect to stand in line for hours waiting - in fact, they simply don't have time to wait in this busy world. As an example, books should be available when the course starts not part way through the course and the bookstore shouldn't run out.
Working with Educational institutions, we have been able to make significant improvements throughout all aspects of their organization: book orders, co-op programs, parking, residence, food services, bursaries, and financial aid to name a few. Our unique methods and approach to transform the institutions both culturally and their business processes encourages the involvement of students, professors, administrators and support staff. The result is a collective vision and direction embraced by everyone in the system which leads to sustainable improvements beyond any of their expectations.
The institution sees bottom-line results, pride of ownership increases, the entire staff have a common purpose and they no longer work in silos. They are a unified force and are all focused on providing the best service at the least cost to their students. Some examples of improvements achieved in less than 4 months include: wait-times for parking passes reduced from 6 hours to 10 minutes, class schedules available from just before class starts to being available a month in advance, special needs students received their prepared books prior to the start of sessions as compared to after the sessions have started.
Dealing With Bottlenecks
Before you buy a new piece of equipment because you think you have a bottleneck, use a machine balance chart so that you know the real score.
Do Not Implement a 5S Program
Is your 5S program not giving you the results that you expected? 5S needs to be implemented as part of a value stream plan, and not as a program.
When Value Stream Mapping Doesn't Work
Value Stream Mapping is a tool. It isn't a panacea for all the problems that occur in management.
Sustain Lean Improvements by Building Business Maturity
The impact of systemic change on human dynamics, if not properly managed at the outset, can jeopardize the success of your Lean implementation.
A Disciplined Approach To Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping requires good training and a disciplined approach to yield the best results.
Lean Applied To Post Secondary Institutions
Lean is being used as an innovative approach to improve student success and their experience. (Abstract)
Lean Goes To College
Comments from the New Brunswick Community College concerning a series of Lean workshops we delivered to the Mechanical Engineering Technology class.
Prairie Diagnostic Services: Non-profit dedicated to veterinary diagnostic services to animal owners and their veterinarians in Saskatchewan and beyond.
Algonquin College offers a wide range of courses of and provides customized training programs to business and industry.
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare: Located in Chicago's northern suburbs, Evanston Northwestern Healthcare (ENH) is an integrated healthcare system.