Summary

Continuous Improvement encompasses the ongoing effort to capture, create, and deliver value to internal and external customers. This course empowers students to lead teams and harness technology to improve products, services, and processes.

Content

Keywords

Continuous improvement, Operational Excellence, Leading Change.

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

• Probability and Statistics

Recommended courses

• Production Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Data Science for Business

Important concepts to start the course

• Data analysis using Excel
• Active engagement and teamwork
• Advanced level of probability and statistics

Learning Outcomes

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

• Understand the fundamentals of change initiatives (from continuous improvement to transformation)
• Learning how to communicate change and manage emotions of change
• Evaluate and analyze a system performance
• Design and execute a change plan for a system with people and not for them

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.
• Evaluate one's own performance in the team, receive and respond appropriately to feedback.
• Write a scientific or technical report.
• Communicate effectively, being understood, including across different languages and cultures.
• Negotiate effectively within the group.
• Set objectives and design an action plan to reach those objectives.
• Chair a meeting to achieve a particular agenda, maximising participation.
• Resolve conflicts in ways that are productive for the task and the people concerned.
• Make an oral presentation.
• Take account of the social and human dimensions of the engineering profession.
• Identify the different roles that are involved in well-functioning teams and assume different roles, including leadership roles.
• Take responsibility for environmental impacts of her/ his actions and decisions.

Teaching methods

• Formal lectures
• Group activities
• Class discussions
• Simulation/Games
• Hands-on exercises
• Project-based learning
• Real-world case studies
• Guest lectures by leading academic and industry figuers

Expected student activities

• Individual: Self-study, Active class discussions, case evaluations, Q&A
• In-group: Teamwork (respect, brainstorming, involvement and constructive feedback)
• Presentation: Share your findings weekly in class/group coaching sessions

Assessment methods

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

• 25% Participation, and class engagement,
• 45% Class assignments, presentations, projects, and case reports,
• 30% Final (Final report and presentation and understanding of the case)

Supervision

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

Yes

Bibliography

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

People:

1. Dweck, C., (2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books
2. Goleman, D., (2005). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Random House Publishing Group.
3. Tan, C. M. (2018). Search inside yourself. HarperOne; Reprint edition.
4. Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan.
5. Kahneman, D., Sibony, O., & Sunstein, C. R. (2021). Noise: A flaw in human judgment. Little, Brown.
6. Kohlrieser, G. (2006). Hostage at the table: How leaders can overcome conflict, influence others, and raise performance(Vol. 145). John Wiley & Sons.
7. Rosenberg, M. B. (2002). Nonviolent communication: A language of compassion. Encinitas, CA: Puddledancer press.
8. Stone, D., Patton, B., & Heen, S. (2010). Difficult conversations: How to discuss what matters most. Penguin.

Process:

1. Stevenson, W. J. (2020). Operations management. McGraw Hill.
2. Slack, N., Chambers, S., & Johnston, R. (2016). Operations management. Pearson education.
3. Sterman, J. (2010). Business dynamics. Irwin/McGraw-Hill c2000.
4. Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. Doubleday.
5. Kotter, J. P. (2012). Leading change. Harvard business press.

Technology:

1. Porter, M. E., & Heppelmann, J. E. (2014). How smart, connected products are transforming competition. Harvard business review, 92(11), 64-88.
2. Porter, M. E., & Heppelmann, J. E. (2015). How smart, connected products are transforming companies. Harvard business review, 93(10), 96-114.
3. Agrawal, A., Gans, J., & Goldfarb, A. (2018). Prediction machines: the simple economics of artificial intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
4. Rogers, D. L. (2016). The digital transformation playbook: Rethink your business for the digital age. Columbia University Press.
5. Gupta, S. (2018). Driving digital strategy: A guide to reimagining your business. Harvard Business Press.Chicago
6. Iansiti, M., & Lakhani, K. R. (2020). Competing in the age of AI: strategy and leadership when algorithms and networks run the world. Harvard Business Press.

Ressources en bibliothèque

• Business dynamics / Sterman
• How smart, connected products are transforming competition / Porter
• Prediciton machines / Agrawal
• Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow
• Driving digital strategy / Gupta
• Operations management / Stevenson
• The fifth discipline / Senge
• Kahneman, D., Sibony, O., Sunstein, C.R. (2021). Noise : A flaw in human judgment
• Operations management / Slack
• Leading Change / Kotter
• Kohlrieser, G. (2006). Hostage at the table: How leaders can overcome conflict, influence others, and raise performance
• Rosenberg, M. B. (2002). Nonviolent communication: A language of compassion
• The digital transformation playbook / Rogers
• Tan, C. M. (2018). Search inside yourself
• Goleman, D., (2005). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ
• Stone, D., Patton, B., & Heen, S. (2010). Difficult conversations: How to discuss what matters most
• Dweck, C., (2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
• Competing in the age of AI / Iansiti
• How smart, connected products are transforming companies / Porter

Notes/Handbook

• Course slides (main material)
• Videos
• Hand-outs

Moodle Link

• https://go.epfl.ch/ME-498