A Lean Simulation for Clemson Students

Clemson students learn by building a better clock

The article I’ve linked to above describes a hands-on simulation
being run for Lean students at Clemson University. This is great,
since it’s hard to understand Lean principles from just reading
books. When I learned about Lean as an undergrad (in
Professor Mark Spearman’s outsanding “Factory Physics” class),
it was a pretty mathematical, theoretical exercise (that pull and
WIP controls were far better than “push”).

It’s nice to see the hands-on exercises entering the curriculum.
I’m sure what Clemson is doing is being repeated in universities
around the world.

Tuesday, I’m speaking to a class at Wharton (half MBA, half
engineers) and I was happy to see that one of their early exposures
to Lean was a day-long simulation at a local manufacturing training
center. I’ll be talking about Lean in healthcare… kind of hard to
do a hands-on simulation there, but I’ll be bringing pictures and
examples from that “gemba” to help them see the potential for Lean
in improving healthcare.