Program News
Teaching Through Experience
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The Terms of Process Improvement Lean manufacturing is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production: less waste, less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product. Six Sigma is a set of data-driven, continuous improvement practices used to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects and reducing variation. Six Sigma Green Belt is a professional certification that qualifies someone to implement Six Sigma projects. Kaizen is a Japanese management concept of people-oriented, continuous incremental improvement to eliminate waste and inefficiency. |
"Businesses can use the consulting resources at the Center with confidence that the students are doing quality work under the guidance of professors at USC," said Dr. Ahire, professor of management science.
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MeadWestvaco team with corporate representatives |
Each team establishes a charter for their assigned company and then moves through the full "Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control" Lean Six Sigma cycle to develop solutions that will fit the needs listed by the company. These projects create real-world experience for students using real-world opportunities for improvement that key stakeholders at the partner companies have identified, but may not have the available resources to address on their own.
The management team at MeadWestvaco in Charleston, SC, for instance, had identified a need for higher safety stock levels for some of their most popular make-to-stock products, but determining optimal safety stock levels would require an extensive time commitment from several team members who were already busy with other important projects. They were able to make more efficient use of their human resources by contacting the Global Supply Chain and Process Management Center. The Center was able to contract a team from Dr. Ahire’s class to work with the data and questions prepared by the MeadWestvaco team.
The student team assigned to the MeadWestvaco project and their MeadWestvaco counterparts met throughout the semester to exchange and examine information. The students, under the guidance of Dr. Ahire and Dr. Manoj Malhotra, professor of management science, developed an Excel spreadsheet that takes the most recent product data and combines it with the knowledge of the MeadWestvaco team to calculate the best safety stock level for each product. The spreadsheet can be re-run as MeadWestvaco’s leadership sees new trends emerge. Also, since the team tested several runs using current product levels and goals, they were able to set controls to keep use of the spreadsheet tool in check, and identify key elements that team members from MeadWestvaco will be in charge of updating.
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Team member, George Burdette, works on a spreadsheet |
"These are the skills that students will be using in their jobs," says Dr. Ahire, "These applications of Lean Six Sigma tools give our students the best experience so they have an advantage after graduation."
Through the long-term commitment and devotion exemplified by Dr. Ahire and other faculty, the Moore School of Business is able establish an environment of kaizen and continuous improvement with the companies. Students from successive academic years continue to monitor the successes of previous projects and build on them to continuously create leaner processes and more efficient environments.
Ulrika Speckman, Global Track, Class of 2008
January 2008