Research - Pawley Lean Institute

To share concepts and practice of Lean manufacturing, the Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute delivers and packages ideas that can be applied universally. Research is a significant factor in providing the most relevant information on Lean to the university, public and private sectors, and the community.

Dr. Shannon Flumerfelt discusses the importance of research for Lean Thinking for Schools:

"It is very interesting to understand what the issues and problems are in different situations. I think what we're looking for in Lean Thinking for Schools is to be scalable – to be able to apply it."

Pawley Research Papers

A New Lean Paradigm in Higher Education: A Case Study
by Mark S. Doman

Published in Quality Assurance in Education:

"This case study aims to demonstrate that Lean principles and practices utilized in industry can be successfully applied to improve higher education administrative processes through an innovative and engaging learning experience involving undergraduate students."

Understanding Leadership Paradigms for Improvement in Higher Education
by Shannon Flumerfelt, PhD, and Michael Banachowski

Published in Quality Assurance in Education:

"This research article is based on the Baldrige National Quality Program Education Criteria for Performance Excellence's conceptualization of improvement as a dual cycle/three element initiative of examining and bettering inputs, processes, and outputs as driven by measurement, analysis and knowledge management work. This study isolates a portion of one input element of leadership, higher education leadership paradigms of concern. These paradigms are analyzed and presented as points of improvement related to Lean training for higher education."

Complexity by Design
by Shannon Flumerfelt, Gary P. Halada, Franz-Josef Kahlen

Published in Mechanical Engineering:

"Failure of one component most likely leads to failure of others. Both intentional and unintentional interactions often exist among components, subsystems, and functions, and these interactions often lie at the heart of failure mechanisms in complex systems."

Complexity and Consequence
by Harry Armen, Shannon Flumerfelt, Gary P. Halada, Franz-Josef Kahlen

Published in Mechanical Engineering:

"Without a doubt, few people take the time to consider the consequences of the failure of such systems or question how the effects of failure can be minimized."

Interlacing Mission, Strategic Planning, and Vision to Lean: Powerful DNA for Change
by Alison Arnold and Shannon Flumerfelt

Published in the Journal of Scholarship and Pracitce

"The authors’ purpose for this article is to describe a K-12 public school district’s journey to internalize and actualize it mission, strategic planning and vision as one coherent engagement using Lean principles and tools. Lean is of interest to schools because it enhances organizational ability to implement continuous improvement organically by realigning paradigms and examining processes."

Benefits of Lean Teaching
by Shannon Flumerfelt, Franz-Joseph Kahlen, Anna Bella Siribang-Manalag and Anna Bella Alves

Accepted for the Proceedings of the Annual Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Colorado:

"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."

	Teaching Lean with an Interdisciplinary Problem Solving Learning Approach by Robert Van Til, Monica Tracey, Sankar Sengupta and Gene Fliedner Published in the Journal of Engineering Education, the article states: “Faculty from Oakland University’s engineering, business and education schools working with the Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute, are teaching graduate students Lean principles and applications in a unique venue. An interdisciplinary elective course entitled Lean Principles and Applications educates students enrolled in engineering, business and human resource development degree programs about Lean from different perspectives before they enter the workforce.”

Teaching Lean with an Interdisciplinary Problem Solving Learning Approach
by Robert Van Til, Monica Tracey, Sankar Sengupta and Gene Fliedner

Published in the Journal of Engineering Education, the article states:

“Faculty from Oakland University’s engineering, business and education schools working with the Oakland University Pawley Lean Institute, are teaching graduate students Lean principles and applications in a unique venue. An interdisciplinary elective course entitled Lean Principles and Applications educates students enrolled in engineering, business and human resource development degree programs about Lean from different perspectives before they enter the workforce.”

White Papers Research done for Lean Thinking for Schools by Shannon Flumerfelt, PhD, with contributions by her graduate students and assistants.