ABS Lean Report

Julie Davies, Head of Research and Executive Development at ABS applauded the publication of the findings and said:

“Recent research has shown that it is still early days regarding the implementation of Lean in Higher Education.  However, it has also shown that the appetite, potential and opportunity for Lean is mainly untapped, with many individuals recognising that the need to deliver more efficiency and effective services to both students and academics is critical”. 

Given the current focus on efficiency and review of services, ABS commissioned an analysis of the implementation of Lean across UK business schools and universities.  The remit of the analysis was to look at Lean implementations through a combination of a survey questionnaire and five case studies.

The research found a number of higher education institutions engaging in process management and Lean.  Five of these organisations are presented in a report which also highlights the approaches, impact, success factors and barriers of implementing the lean philosophy. 
     
Prof. Zoe J Radnor from Warwick Business School (from 1st April Professor of Operations Management, Cardiff Business School) primary author of the report says:

In the current climate of austerity it is important that when organisations cut the waste from the system they do not cut the value at the same time.  In higher education, like many public services, there can be multi definitions of what constitutes as value which means it is important to understand and improve the system.  This report highlights a number of Higher Education institutions who are engaging with Lean as an approach to understanding the non-value adding activities within the organisation in order to delivery better services for academia both teaching and research.  There is still some way to go but the initial results are promising.

Please *click here* to view the free Executive Summary.