Adding Lean And Six Sigma To Industrial Engineering Technology Programs: Does This Constitute A Change In Curriculum?
- Conference
- Location
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Publication Date
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June 22, 2008
- Start Date
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June 22, 2008
- End Date
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June 25, 2008
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Engineering Technology
- Page Count
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15
- Page Numbers
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13.151.1 - 13.151.15
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--3878
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/3878
- Download Count
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1539
Paper Authors
Susan Scachitti Purdue University Calumet
Susan Scachitti is a Professor of Industrial Engineering Technology at Purdue University Calumet. Professor Scachitti consults and teaches in traditional areas of Industrial Engineering including Quality Management and organizational change, Six Sigma methodologies, methods engineering, Lean thinking, facility layout, process improvement, and ergonomics. Recent grant work has focused her current research on applications of Lean and Six Sigma principles in Healthcare environments. Prior to working in education, she spent ten years in various engineering and supervisory roles in the telecommunications industry which focused on high volume electronics manufacturing. Her industry accomplishments included implementation of Total Quality principles including Lean Manufacturing concepts, Demand Flow Technology, and self-directed work teams.
Jamie Workman-Germann Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis
Jamie Workman-Germann is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology at Indiana University – Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Foundry Educational Foundation Key Professor. She teaches courses in Materials Science, Manufacturing Processes, and Metallurgy. Prior to working in education, she spent four years at General Motors as a Reliability and Test Engineer. Her efforts included quality, reliability, and cost reduction studies and the comparison of duty cycles to analyze the effectiveness of in-house simulated transmission testing vs. actual vehicle testing. At IUPUI, Jamie’s most recent area of applied research centers around the adaptation and implementation of Lean Six Sigma processes from the manufacturing industry into the hospital healthcare environment and the development of discrete event simulation models for operations within healthcare systems.
Matthew Stephens Purdue University
Dr. Matthew P. Stephens is Professor and University Faculty Scholar in the department of industrial technology at Purdue University. Dr. Stephens holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Southern Illinois University and University of Arkansas. In addition to numerous publications in the area of quality and productivity improvements and lean systems, Dr. Stephens has two internationally adopted textbooks (Manufacturing facilities design and material handling, 3rd ed.; and Productivity and reliability-based maintenance management; both published by Prentice Hall) to his credit. He has served various professional organizations including National Association of Industrial Technology and American Society for Quality of which he is senior member and a Certified Quality Engineer.
Annaji Sharma Ammu Purdue University Calumet
Annaji Ammu is a graduate student in the School of Technology at Purdue University Calumet where he is pursuing a Master of Science in Technology degree. He received his Bachelor of Technology in Electronics and Communications Engineering from JNT University in India. He is a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) and has achieved CQIA certification. He has research experience in the areas of Six Sigma Quality, RFID, supply chain networks, statistical analysis and modeling.
Richard Szromba Purdue University Calumet
Richard Szromba is a graduate student in the School of Technology at Purdue University Calumet where he is pursuing a Master of Science in Technology degree with a focus in Quality Systems. He received his Bachelor of Science from Purdue University Calumet in Industrial Engineering Technology and he is an ASQ trained Black Belt.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
Adding Lean and Six Sigma to Industrial Engineering Technology programs: Does this constitute a change in curriculum?
Abstract This paper will focus on changes that have been made to Industrial Engineering Technology (IET) and Industrial Technology (IT) programs to incorporate popularized ‘Lean Six Sigma’ terms into existing curriculum without making any drastic impacts to the topics taught within the programs. Included will be a discussion of how IET and IT faculty at Purdue University and its regional campuses have capitalized on Lean Six Sigma training for non-manufacturing industries to broaden their curriculum. By having faculty utilize their expertise in the non-manufacturing arena, they are able to translate experiences back into classroom discussions as well as document the experiences in other teaching materials. Additionally, new courses have been developed and alternate educational opportunities such as certificates at both undergraduate and graduate levels have been developed to meet this expanding need for IET and IT principles in non- manufacturing industries under the guise of ‘Lean Six Sigma.’ Emerging opportunities such as these at various academic institutions will be discussed.
Introduction The profession of Industrial Engineering has been evolving since its conception in the 1880’s when Frederick Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth first began to develop the rules and techniques of methods improvement1. Since then the term Industrial Engineer has been associated with a variety of organizational functions and methodologies that stem from this one central concept of helping enterprises to drive down costs and improve organizational efficiency. Topics associated with this over the years have included quality, engineering economics, human factors, facility layout, scheduling, logistics, design and manufacturing of products, simulation, and most recently, Lean and Six Sigma methodologies. When we discuss the topics of Lean and Six Sigma we find that all of the core concepts are already being taught within most IET and IT programs as many educators will eagerly argue. This results in little curriculum changes required to incorporate these ‘new’ Industrial Engineering topics.
Possibly a more important change to IET and IT curriculum that can capitalize on the natural incorporation of Lean and Six Sigma is addressing the issue that the practice of industrial engineering (which shares many of the same core concepts as IET and IT programs) has broadened beyond the traditional manufacturing setting to areas such as transportation, banking, retailing, lodging, healthcare, telecommunications, government, service and other non-manufacturing organizations. To potential students the name “industrial” can be a deterrent to pursuing this course of study and potential employers in service industries may be unaware of the usefulness of IET and IT graduates within their organizations. To this point, the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE) reported findings from a study presented in the Engineering Workforce Commission newsletter that showed Industrial engineers would enjoy a 12.8 percent overall increase in jobs in 2008 compared to 1998 but this increase shows only modest increases in IE jobs among manufacturers (6.5 percent), while it projected a whopping 34.4 percent job growth in
Scachitti, S., & Workman-Germann, J., & Stephens, M., & Ammu, A. S., & Szromba, R. (2008, June), Adding Lean And Six Sigma To Industrial Engineering Technology Programs: Does This Constitute A Change In Curriculum? Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--3878
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