Fiches de cours

Continuous improvement of manufacturing systems

ME-498

Enseignant(s) :

Kaboli Amin

Langue:

English

Withdrawal

It is not allowed to withdraw from this subject after the registration deadline.

Summary

Continuous improvement deals with ongoing and long-term initiatives to improve products and services. This course will arm students with practical skills to evaluate and improve manufacturing/service systems and lead change and drive transformation for people, processes, and technology.

Content

This course is based on four main modules: 

Module 1) Introduction to continuous improvement

Continuous improvement (change vs transformation), The nature of change, Value chain and value adding networks, Operations improvement, why change projects fail?, three main pillars of the course (people, processes, technology), driving change and transformation in service/manufacturing companies.

Module 2) People

Leading oneself: Emotional intelligence (self and social awareness), How our brain functions, Perception, Attention, Decision making biases.

Leading others: Listening, Connection and bonding, Communication, Managing difficult conversations, Managing conflict.

Module 3) Processes

Change Management: Leading a change project, Communicating the change plan

Operations improvement: Methods analysis, Motion study, Work measurement, Learning Curve

Toyota Production System: Value chain, lean operations, Just-in-Time, Lean tools.

Capacity & Constraint Management: Bottleneck analysis, Theory of Constraints

Facility Location and Layout: Product and Process layouts, Line balancing

Quality Management: Quality Control, Quality Tools, TQM, Six Sigma.

Module 4) Technology

Big data and data-driven industries

Digital strategies and application of digital technologies

Leading digital transformation.

Keywords

Change, Continuous improvement, Transformation, Leading oneself &others, Emotional Intelligence, Leading Change, Operations Improvement, Lean Manufacturing, Bottleneck analysis, Line Balancing, Quality Management & Control, Leading Digital Transformation.

Learning Prerequisites

Recommended courses

Production Management (Fall semester)

Important concepts to start the course

• Understanding probability and statistics
• Data analysis with Excel
• Active participation for cases and problem sets
• Willingness to make change and transformation

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Understand fundamentals of change and transformation
• Evaluate and analyze a system based on key performance indicators
• Design and execute a change and transformation plan for a system

Transversal skills

• Plan and carry out activities in a way which makes optimal use of available time and other resources.
• Assess progress against the plan, and adapt the plan as appropriate.
• Use a work methodology appropriate to the task.
• Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
• Keep appropriate documentation for group meetings.
• Manage priorities.

Teaching methods

• Case studies
• Assignments and project-based learning
• Videos
• Articles and research papers
• Guest speakers

The course is based on the implementation of theoretical concepts and models to practical cases. Students work in a group in multiple cases during the whole semester.

Expected student activities

• Individual: Self-study, Active class discussions, case evaluations, Q&A
• In-group: Teamwork (respect, brainstorming, involvement and constructive feedback)

Assessment methods

Continuous evaluation of case reports, projects, individual and group presentations, class discussions, during the semester. More precisely;

• 25% presence, participation, and class engagement,
• 45% class assignments, presentations, projects, and case reports,
• 30% final exam (final report and presentation and understanding of the case)

Supervision

Office hours	Yes
Forum	Yes
Others	- Meetings by appointment. - All information sharing and communications regarding the course must be through Moodle.

Resources

Bibliography

Series of book chapters, hand-outs, and notes will be share in the class. The following books are recommended;

1. Daniel Goleman, Emotional intelligence, Random House, 2007
2. Jeffrey Liker, James Franz, The Toyota Way to Continuous Improvement, McGraw Hill, 2011
3. John Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard Business Review Press, 2012.
4. William Stevenson, Operations Management, 12th Edition, 2016.
5. Nigel Slack, Alistair Brandon-Jones, and Robert Johnston, Pearson Education Limited, Operations Management, 2016.
6. Sunil Gupta, Driving Digital strategy, Harvard Business Review Press, 2018.

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Leading Change / Kotter
• Operations Management / Slack
• Emotional Intelligence / Goleman
• Driving Digital strategy / Gupta

Notes/Handbook

Course slides (main material)

Videos

Hand-outs