Short Programs

LAI Lean Engineering Seminar™ [PI.211s]

Date: July 22-23, 2010 | Tuition: $1,200 | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 1.2

Course Summary  |  Learning Objectives  |  Who Should Attend  |  Schedule  |  Program Outline  | 
About the Lecturers  |  Discounts  |  Updates

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Course Summary

This course is a supplement to the three-day Lean Academy® Course covering additional topics in Lean Engineering and Product Development. The course will be built around a lean engineering framework, emphasizing strategies for selecting the right product and tools for eliminating waste. Specific topics covered will include how basic lean concepts apply to engineering processes, introduction to tradespace analysis and other project selection techniques, value stream mapping for product development (PDVSM), organizational design for lean, and integrating with the lean enterprise.

The course material is based on the work of the Lean Advancement Initiative at MIT, the extensive experience of the instructors, and the latest literature.

Benefits:
Participants will leave with the ability to apply lean concepts to engineering processes. In the context of a leaning organization, this knowledge will greatly facilitate lean application to engineering and product development. In the context of a more traditional organization it should provide a vision for the future.

Prerequisite:
LAI Lean Academy® Course [PI.23s] or other lean education. This course assumes a fundamental understanding of lean thinking and terminology and an awareness of lean tools and concepts that can be applied across an enterprise.

Learning Objectives

Upon completing this seminar, students will be able to:

1. Explain how Lean Thinking applies to engineering by translating existing lean techniques and re-examining fundamental lean concepts.
2. Describe structured approaches to selecting the right product.
3. Describe how lean engineering contributes to product lifecycle value.
4. Demonstrate the application of value stream mapping to engineering.
5. Explain how different engineering products require different approaches to lean and PD system design.
6. Describe methods for integrating engineering activities across complex enterprises.

Who Should Attend

Engineering leaders and change agents that expect to lead lean change, and engineers who expect to execute it, such as:

• Managers of engineering departments
• Engineering personnel with responsibility for adopting lean six sigma techniques
• Academics teaching engineering process design
• Consultants involved in improving engineering processes
• LAI Lean Academy® Alumni from engineering departments

Program Outline

This two day course will be primarily a lecture course, but will be broken up by several hands-on demonstrations and exercises, and discussion of applications to participants' real jobs or other experiences. The curriculum will include:

• How Value, Flow, and other lean concepts apply to engineering (with discussion)
• Structured approaches to choosing the right projects
• Enhancing product lifecycle value (with exercise)
• PD Value Stream Mapping (PDVSM) (with extensive exercise and discussion)
• Designing product development systems (with discussion)
• Integrating and serving the lean enterprise
• Concluding discussion of how lessons apply to participants' organizations

Participants will receive a coursebook and The Product Development Value Stream Mapping Manual.

Course schedule and registration times

Class runs 8:30 am - 5:30 pm on Thursday and 8:30 am - 1:30 pm on Friday.

Registration is on Thursday morning from 8:00 - 8:20 am.

About The Instructors

Annalisa Weigel, Ph.D.
Professor Weigel has a dual faculty appointment in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Engineering Systems Division at MIT. She is a member of MIT’s Lean Advancement Initiative, conducting research in the area of lean product development and systems engineering.

Dr. Weigel’s professional experience includes three years supporting the Department of Defense, and two years working on Wall Street. As an engineer at Adroit Systems in Washington, DC she worked in support of the Department of Defense conducting system architecture design and trades studies for satellite communications, satellite operations, and launch vehicles. As a research associate at Lehman Brothers in New York City, she worked in the Aerospace and Defense sector and the Equity Strategy group.

Professor Weigel teaches graduate courses in systems architecture, space policy, and technology and policy. She also teaches an undergraduate capstone project course in space systems design.

She is affiliated with MIT’s Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI), the MIT Space Systems Lab, and the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research (NEXTOR). Her research interests include aerospace systems design and architecting, innovation and change dynamics in the aerospace industry, and aerospace policy.

Dr. Weigel received an S.B. (1994) and S.M. (2000) in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a Ph.D. (2002) in Technology, Management and Policy from MIT. She also received a second S.B. (1995) in Science, Technology and Society from MIT, and an M.A. (1998) in International Relations from the George Washington University. She is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the International Council on Systems Engineering.

Eric S. Rebentisch, Ph.D.
Dr. Eric Rebentisch is a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development and in the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI). He is responsible for research and tool development in LAI’s Enterprise Product Development group. His research activities focus on the development and management of enterprise technical competencies, including knowledge management and knowledge transfer, intellectual capital management, long-term transformation of enterprise capabilities, the “fuzzy front end” of product development, system architecting (including standardization, reusability, and commonality), and strategies for managing product development in an unstable environment. He has played a major role in developing LAI research findings into policy recommendations and deploying them to the US Government, and in facilitating enterprise-level value-stream mapping and transformation events involving LAI consortium stakeholders.

He is also a senior projects engineer at Metis Design Corporation (MDC) in Cambridge, MA. There he primarily is involved in the deployment of the Lean Enterprise Value (LEV) and Lean Enterprise Product Development (LEPD) simulation-based training, which he co-developed, to train managers and engineers in the US aerospace industry in lean enterprise principles and practices and to facilitate improvement initiatives. He received a doctorate in the Management of Technological Innovation from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior from Brigham Young University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Prior to academia, he worked in the aircraft industry as a propulsion engineer.

Hugh McManus, Ph.D.
Hugh McManus is a Senior Special Projects Engineer at Metis Design, applying modern product development, business, and technical practices to the aerospace industry. He has done pioneering work in application of lean techniques to product development with MIT's Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI), including leading seminars and workshops, supervising research, and authoring several tools for lean transformation. He is currently facilitating lean short courses and transformation events using a unique business simulation (co-developed with Eric Rebentisch of LAI) to rapidly teach advanced lean concepts, and allow participants to experience lean transformations in a simulated environment. He is also developing, and working with, advanced tools for space system architecture and design.

He recently co-authored a book on lean methods in the Aerospace Industry, Lean Enterprise Value, and published several major tools and reports, including the LAI tools, “Product Development Value Stream Mapping (PDVSM)” and “Product Development Transition to Lean (PDTTL),” and an extensive report on new Space System Architecture methods. He has also co-edited a book on applications of polymer composite materials, has been an associate editor of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, and has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. Recent publications include “Value Stream Analysis and Mapping for Product Development” (with R. Millard), “New Methods for Rapid Architecture Selection and Conceptual Design” (with D. Hastings and J. Warmkessel), “A Framework for Understanding Uncertainty and its Mitigation and Exploitation in Complex Systems” (with D. Hastings) and “Lean Engineering: Doing the Right Thing Right” (with A. Haggerty and E. Murman).

Dr. McManus has also taught and practiced aerospace structures and materials. He was a structural engineer at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (now a division of Lockheed Martin), and at Kaman Aerospace for a total of 10 years, and taught structures and materials courses at MIT for 7 years. He remains actively interested in aerospace structural engineering, composite materials, structural health monitoring, and high-temperature polymer materials.

Dr. McManus received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1990, and S.B. and S.M. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1980 and 1981. He has worked at Kaman Aerospace (1981-84) and Lockheed Missiles and Space Company (1984-1990), as the MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Boeing Career Development Professor for 1991-94, the Class of 1943 Career Development Professor for 1994-97, Associate Professor for 1997-98, and as a Principal Research Engineer from 1998-2002. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Discounts for LAI Members, Faculty / students

Participants from LAI member organizations are eligible for an additional 10% discount off LAI Lean Academy® courses offered through MIT Professional Education. To see if your company or government agency is an LAI member, click here.

Students and faculty at any educational institution are eligible for an additional 20% off LAI Lean Academy® courses offered through MIT Professional Education.

You may submit a scholarship request by filling out the Scholarship Request Form after your application to the course has been submitted. Applicants eligible for the above discounts should note their status (i.e. LAI member, student) on the form. Please note that these scholarships are only for tuition and do not cover travel, lodging, or other expenses associated with the course. Registrants should apply by May 31st to ensure discount to LAI Lean Academy® courses.

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