A dynamic approach to teaching Lean Six Sigma at Universities

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A dynamic approach to teaching Lean Six Sigma at Universities Authors: Francisco S. Ramires, Hugo M. Costa, José R. Cruz, Miguel J. Carvalho, Paulo A. Sampaio Introduction The world is changing every single day. Earth’s population is growing, our economy is changing, technology is evolving and most importantly we, as human beings, are changing. This means our behavior, our beliefs, and our necessities are changing. So, how can we adapt and prosper in such uncertainty? Considering what Universities have been doing to prepare the future workforce and leaders of the incumbent industries and the new sectors yet to arise, engineering graduates still seem to be limiting themselves to using the old classic tools from the mass production days of Ford - learning how to answer, but not how to question the context around them. This is the reason that the first free certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course at the University of Minho was developed. Designed by students for students. This article captures the voice of the students who participated in the structuring of this course, with the involvement of ESTIEM (European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management Association) as an educational partner - giving support and feedback on our first trial edition at the University of Minho in Portugal, and further developments. Here Herein the motivation, the sequence of activities, successes, and obstacles felt over two years are described from the initial concept through the development of a fully deployed model involving a symbiosis between companies, the university, and the students of Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Minho. Throughout this article, it will become clear how important it is for companies to be involved in University initiatives related to Lean Six Sigma and the subsequent positive impact of hiring graduates capable of stimulating change in their organizations. Secondly, we will go through the importance of creating free and easy access to Lean Six Sigma knowledge with the objective of providing a higher quality of education in Universities. The idea is to share our vision to provide a scalable Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course structure integrated into the Industrial Engineering and Management educational curriculum, given by students (Green Belts) to their peers. By joining the course and using the knowledge gained in an internship, students have the chance of being certified before the time they graduate. Course and Teaching Methodology We are eager to present the process of developing and implementing a Lean Six Sigma course designed by students, at the University of Minho, telling the whole experience of the authors as students of this course and, later, as instructors. Therefore, this article is a result of their perception. It starts with a background, explaining how the idea was conceived and then how it was implemented. Next, the hypothesis of this course and the actual results are shared, as well as some testimonials. Lastly, some conclusions are presented. To do this, we gathered not only our opinion, but also the opinion of teachers, students, alumni, and companies. This was made by promoting questionnaires and interviews with parties involved.


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A dynamic approach to teaching Lean Six Sigma at Universities by ESTIEM - Issuu