Lean Academy Held at Boeing, Huntington Beach

With a strong emphasis on Enterprise Lean Engineering, Boeing’s third LAI Lean Academy® in Huntington Beach, Calif. illustrated the importance that the company places on teaching and employing lean.

The company’s recent Lean Academy®, which was held June 19-23, involved 22 Boeing students with varied lean expertise as well as several high level managers who were directly involved as speakers for the course.

"The fact that Boeing has sponsored this course for the third time at the same facility shows the degree of commitment that company is making to Lean skills among the employees, as well as the trust that Boeing places in the LAI Lean Academy®," said Dr. Bo Oppenheim, Professor of Mechanical and Systems Engineering, Loyola Marymount University and the Lead Instructor.

The students hailed from Boeing’s Engineering, Huntington Beach Development Operations, Finance, Quality, Business Excellence, and Human Resources departments.

The week-long course features speakers from Boeing, including Pat Goggin, Huntington Beach Site Chief Engineer and Southern California Regional leader for Phantom Works as well as others from Boeing, and a tours of the Huntington Beach PLM labs, HB Training centers, HB Development Operations Center, and the C-17 facility.

Instructors for the LAI Lean Academy® includes Oppenheim, Ted Mayeshiba, Adjunct Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering, USC, Dr. Sue Seifert, Associate Professor of Management, Arizona State University, and Tom Edison, Defense Acquisition University, San Diego.

In addition, the students engaged in hands-on simulation exercises and had the opportunity to interview and network with Boeing lean practitioners currently using lean principles and techniques to enhance productivity.

Student feedback following the training was positive and several students requested a follow-up course on Advanced Lean Engineering, according to Oppenheim.

Comments such as "It was a great experience!” “Insightful!” and “Eager to try and apply [the knowledge]" were common, he added.

For more information about LAI Lean Academy®, contact Jackie Candido at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.