• The history and background of Lean production and the complementing elements of quantity and quality control.
• To measure production performance and how defects and waste degrade performance.
• To understand the importance and role in Lean Production of the customer "Takt."
• To improve process performance through the application of Lean principles, including setup time reduction, batch optimization, and defect elimination.
• To explain the importance of Total Productive Maintenance and the widely-used metric Overall Equipment Effectiveness.
• To understand the difference between push- and pull-systems and how the implementation of pull-systems reduces waste.
• To apply elements of Lean production including Heijunka, Kanban, Jidoka, and Poka Yoke.
• To apply the 5S methodology for establishing and sustaining a productive work environment.

Week 1: Introduction: Identification of Waste
Understand the basic differences between craft production and mass production. Review the history of Lean Production, focusing on Japan's Toyota Production System as an alternative to mass production. Discuss how waste impacts productivity and describe Taiichi Ohno’s famous 7 Wastes.

Week 2: Understanding Flow: Capacity Analysis
Cover the basics of process analysis, including understanding how to calculate process capacity and resource utilization, as well as the important concepts of cycle time and takt time. Understand the relationship between inventory, a waste, is directly related to the flow time in a system through Little’s Law. Understand how variability in a system causes queuing or waiting. even if there is enough capacity on average.

Week 3: Continuous Flow: Setup Time Reduction
Calculate the impact of setups on capacity when the product variety is increased and understand how batching can improve this, but at the expense of increased inventory. Review the Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), and learn why reducing setups and changeovers are critical to Lean manufacturing. Discuss the concept of Total Productive Maintenance and calculate the metric Overall Equipment Efficiency.

Week 4: Improving Flow: Workplace Organisation and Visualization
Introduction to the concepts of Workplace Visualization and Organization and 5S for improving and maintaining continuous flow in Lean Production.

Week 5: Maintaining Flow: Establishing Pull Systems and Scheduling
Define the key principle from the Toyota Production System, Just-In-Time (JIT)and the significance that JIT has for Lean Production in reducing waste and meeting customer demand. Review the relevant components of production planning and how these affect Production Scheduling, the heart of Lean Production. Understand, with the help of reduced setup time, how Mixed-Model Scheduling achieves a match between production and customer and how Pull systems can be realized using Kanbans.

Week 6: Quality and Continuous Improvement
Calculate the impact defects have on our flow rate. Understand how Poka Yokecan help fool-proof our processes and learn how to structure and run a Kaizen Blitzto bring about rapid improvement opportunities for problem-solving and process improvements. Consider the central role of Continuous Improvement in Lean Production by comparing the set of management principles, The Toyota Way 2001, and Jeffrey Liker’s 14 Management Principles.

"I am ashamed to admit that coming into this course I had no idea what Lean Production was and was only taking the course as it was part of the Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification program that I was interested in obtaining. I could not be happier with myself for taking this course because the information I obtained there has helped me immensely in my work and home life. The material was presented in an easy-to-understand and logical way, with concepts that were learned earlier on in the course becoming applicable again in later sections. Lecture slides were provided, which was nice since I like printing them out and making notes on them while watching the lecture content. The instructor, Dr. Holly Ott, was one of the best I had ever experienced, coming from an in-class and online university-level course perspective. Not only were her lectures engaging and informative but she showed a genuine interest in the subject matter. She went above and beyond what I would expect from any prof and in addition to providing a great portion of the lectures herself, was also a frequent poster in the discussion forums. The guest lecturers that were brought in were world-class experts and it showed. They were able to explain increasingly difficult concepts using basic examples and to me, that is a sign of someone who really knows what they’re talking about." - Vlad Ivankine

"The course is well organized in a sequence to facilitate the full comprehension of the lean production system. The course provides also examples to ensure a good understanding of tools and help in using the tools in your industry." - Previous Learner

"The course was particularly useful in the compression of the whole dynamics of a production process, analyzing in detail each phase from raw materials to the finished goods. I found it particularly interesting to learn the JIT(Just-In-Time) concept, with the application of Pull Production in the process, the importance of lowering the values of the 3M (Mura, Muri, and Muda) by creating a continuous flow, eliminating waste through quality control and implementing Kanban, as well as continuous improvement as a culture in the working environment. As a process engineer, I can say that this will help me not only for better control and management of production processes when the opportunity will come but also in everyday life." - Previous Learner

"This course is a great way to start learning about Lean Production. Professors layout the information in a simple and easy manner. Will be taking another class sometime soon!
3 takeaways I would like to note:
1) The industry jargon is confusing at first but with use and practice becomes a bit easier to use in daily conversation.
2) Learning about the benefits of Pull processes vs push processes
3) A better understanding of Kanban and how it could help the company I work for to keep the process smooth and make everyone aware of the current project status as well as steps that need to be taken." - Chad Smucker