Benefits of lean teaching

Abstract

Lean Engineering has matured into a credible and useful set of tools and philosophies to satisfy customer demand. Almost all applications of lean have been in commercial settings where increased value can easily be measured by increased sales, less defects and generally a higher output. The authors of this paper report on their experiences of teaching lean engineering to engineering students. The focus is on how these students were enabled to develop problem solving skills, to think in systems and to consider sustainability of their designs or engineering interventions. Further, the authors describe the metrics used to assess student learning, and what were the lessons learned for the course conveners in communicating Lean Principles. The authors will demonstrate that teaching Lean to engineering students enhance their understanding of engineering professional practice.