Lean Educator Conference 2012

Lean Educator Conference is Open for Registration.

The 2012 Lean Educator Conference will be September 27-29 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and is sponsored by LAI EdNet, LEAN, and LEI. This year's conference will focus on Lean Education Kaizen: Sharing Lean Education and Training Knowledge. Event details and registration are available at www.leaneducatorconference.org.

The Lean Educator Conference provides a forum for educators, trainers, and lean implementers to share best practices. Highlights will include:

Lean Operation Tours
-        STIHL Inc. manufacturing, assembly, engineering, sales, marketing and finance
-        Bauer, manufacturer of high pressure compressors

Pre-conference Workshops
-        LAI Lean Academy Curriculum Sharing
-        Using Software Simulation to Teach Process Improvement

Welcome Reception & Banquet
-        Registration includes most meals and conference banquet
-        Have lunch on campus at Old Dominion University

Contributed Sessions
-        Over 30 contributed presentations from around the world
-        Topics in higher education, industry, healthcare, government and K-12

Distinguished Keynotes
-        Mike Rother  (Researcher, Teacher and Speaker)
-        Elsa Mersereau  (Director Western Division : Lean Healthcare West )
-        Ron Murray  (Vice President, Quality and Process Excellence, NNS)
-        Capt. James Cobell III  (USN Commanding Officer Fleet Readiness Center Mid-Atlantic)

Exciting Panels
-        Training:  Lean Learning Outside the Classroom
-        Applying Lean Thinking to Improve K-12 Education

Saturday Harbor Cruise
-        View Norfolk Navy Base from aboard Fay Slover research vessel

 Event details and registration are available at www.leaneducatorconference.org.

Lean Educator Conference 2011

The 2011 Lean Educator Conference was hosted at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The conference included over 20 sessions, panels, and workshops, as well as tours of Boeing Missile Defense Operation and Navistar.

Conference sessions included:

• Progress in Lean Education
• Teaching Lean
• Progress in Lean Application
• Moving to Transformation
• Lean Development
• Measuring Lean
• Lean Tools in Education
• Lean Healthcare

Proceedings from the 2011 conference can be found at www.leaneducatorconference.org.

Lean Educator Conference 2010

The LAI Educational Network (EdNet) and the Lean Education Academic Network (LEAN), supported by the Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI), co-sponsored the 2010 Lean Educator Conference. The event was hosted by Prof. Magdy Attia and his team at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. The conference was held on the ERAU campus and at the Plaza Resort and Spa.

The conference theme,"Shifting the Status Quo," reflected the transition of university- and college-level lean training from a specialized skill to an expected part of a tool-kit that every graduate should have. Several special workshops and excellent tours of the nearby NAVAIR site and Kennedy Space Center preceded the conference.

Twenty-five sessions and posters explored lean curricula, appropriate methods for engaging lean learners (such as simulations, projects and case studies), the use of lean in improving academic processes, and applying lean to a variety of workplaces including healthcare and aerospace. Plenary speakers included Dave Wisler, MIT's CDIO Initiative, on teaching methods; LAI's Co-Director Professor Debbie Nightingale on research advances; and Dr. Sami Bahri, author of Follow the Learner, on his experience as the first lean dentist.

Several discussion sessions consolidated the group's learning, including the:

• broad but still diffuse student and employer pull for lean knowledge in new graduates,
• institutional resistance (or at least inertia) that slows introduction of lean into university curricula,
• need for advanced teaching methods to get across the holistic concepts that underly lean,
• slow emergence of lean as an academically respected research area, and
• the role of universities in setting standards for lean certifications or competency models.

This conference was the fifth successful meeting organized by EdNet and LEAN and welcomed a growing network of academic lean experts. The community is already looking forward to the next meeting.

Proceedings from the 2010 conference can be found at www.leaneducatorconference.org.