| Lean Student Paper Competition Winners Announced |
IIE Lean Division is pleased to announce the winners of the second Lean Student Paper Competition sponsored by J T. and Carol S. Black. The competition recognizes outstanding papers in the field of lean research and practices.
First Place goes to Fei Gao, Chao Gao and JunHong Dong with the Tsinghua University, Beijing, China for their paper titled, "Implementation of a Multi-Triangular Kanban System in an Electronic Connector Plant".
Second Place is awarded to Brian Mayer with the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia for his paper titled, "Virtual Shop Clusters - A New Layout Concept for a Ship Repair and Maintenance Facility".
Third Place is awarded to Bryan Wang with the Ohio State University for his paper entitled, "The Quick-Start Approach to Jobshoplean: How to Initiate the Implementation of Lean in a High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing Facility".
Winning papers will be presented at the IIE Annual Conference in Vancouver, Canada, May 2008.
Ahad Ali, Ph.D.
Chair, IIE Lean Student Paper Competition 2008
Director, IIE Lean Division |
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"The problem is never how to get innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out."
- Tom Peters
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| Resources |
Lean Reaches Rural HospitalGeorgia's Meadows Regional Medical Center teams with Georgia Tech to institute lean manufacturing principles in the ER. Read more.
Government Agencies are Ripe with Lean Opportunities
by Asbury Lockett Read more
Optimizing Customer Service
a case study sponsored by Quetech Ltd.
Providing less-than-acceptable levels of customer service in today's highly competitive retail environment is a formula for failure. A very interesting fact that we find across the industry, however, is that despite all of the customer service-related investment, most retailers have little or no idea regarding the number of hours they should schedule in their stores on a week-to-week basis (much less a daily or hourly basis) specifically targeted at customer service. Read more.
Featured Web site
Featured lean definition
Uptime - Time when an operator or a machine is working.
Ask the Expert, Ensuring Quality
Question:
I work in an operation where operators place vials into a kit. Some vials are required to be placed into a specific location in the kit. What is the best way to ensure that the correct number of each of the vials is present and in the correct location? Currently, we visually inspect for the correct number of vials and proper location. Should we try RFID or ultraviolet coating of vials?
Answer:
In lean thinking, you create simple means to perform the operation well. RFID and UV coating of the vials might be feasible, but at what cost? First, attempt to solve the problems using templates, color, pictures, shapes, and the overall ingenuity of the people conducting the process. Another option might be using a digital camera system to recognize defects.
Arrange a session for three to four hours wherein you bring in all the employees who work in the area and ask them to brainstorm and come up with ideas as to how to solve this problem. Many times, getting front line people who do the work day in and day out involved in the process gets the best results.
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| Submit an Article |
The Lean Division of the Institute of Industrial Engineers is continuously searching for new material to provide to its membership. If you would like to contribute and see your articles in the newsletter and on the website, please submit your article to Beth Cudney.
Articles should be approximately three to four pages in length. It should be single-spaced, 12 point, Times New Roman and in Word format. Graphs, diagrams, pictures and charts can also be included. Please also include a two or three sentence biography; however, they must be in a separate file and saved as a .jpg. Contact information can be included at your discretion.
The Lean Division Board of Directions strongly believes the newsletter and website provide a valuable service to our membership. By continuously providing current and relative articles in the areas of Lean and Six Sigma, we can continuously improve our service to our customers. I hope that you will be able to help us achieve this goal.
Sincerely,
Beth Cudney, Ph.D., ASQ-CQE, SSBB |
| Kuwait Six Sigma Conference |
The Kuwait First Six Sigma Conference will be held in Kuwait 8-10 April 2008 and will showcase organizational experiences with Six Sigma. This three-day conference is themed differently each day to provide organizations with exposure to organizational learning and experiences.
Day 1 focuses on Implementing Six Sigma into your organization with speakers and presenters exploring a diverse range of issues associated with Six Sigma implementation, deployment and management.
Day 2 focuses on Six Sigma in Action, showcasing real world projects through Project Insights, and identify strategies for managing and driving successful Six Sigma Projects.
Day 3 will feature Change Management for Six Sigma. Hence, we would like to invite you to attend, present a paper, or exhibit at this event which will be of a great value to you personally and to your business or organization.
For further information, please visit them online. | |
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We welcome your input. Please send submissions and feedback to Beth Cudney, Ph.D. Please include "Lean e-Newsletter" in the subject line of your message. | |
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