EGR 531 Sustainable Lean Manufacturing
3 Credit Hours
This course explores both foundational and advanced lean manufacturing concepts and tools, with a strong emphasis on sustainability. Students will learn how these principles enhance industry strategy and global competitiveness. Emphasis is placed on developing fast, flexible, focused, and friendly systems for organizations, customers, and production teams.
The course provides an introduction to the origins and evolution of lean manufacturing and explains how production systems are evaluated and assessed. It will introduce a variety of lean tools and techniques, some of which will be demonstrated through simulation exercises. Topics will include employee involvement, continuous improvement teams, workforce training, and the cultural aspects necessary for successful lean implementation. Students will also examine strategies for implementing lean processes and sustaining improvements over time. Finally, the course integrates sustainability concepts with lean practices, highlighting their combined potential to drive long-term value and responsible production.Conduct of the Course: This is an online-only course. Student performance will be evaluated based on homework assignments and two exams.
Prerequisite
Senior or graduate standing in industrial engineering or a related discipline and consent of instructor. The course is open to graduate students, advanced undergraduates and practicing engineers who wish to learn more about lean principles and practice. No prior background in lean production will be assumed.
Course Objectives
- You will learn a brief history of manufacturing approaches employed and the background and philosophy of lean production. You will also learn the concept of waste and that the quest for truly lean production is a journey and not a destination.
- The need for strategy, alignment with other corporate or plant objectives, and preparation for lean manufacturing will be presented.
- You will learn some evaluation techniques that one can use in preparation for and use in lean manufacturing activities.
- You will learn a set of approaches used in implementing lean manufacturing in production operations. While these tools are often useful, they are not an end on themselves and they are not necessarily the essence of lean manufacturing either.
- Concepts as workplace organization, pull production, cellular arrangement and layout improvement, visual management, quick change, mistake reduction, employee involvement, need for employee creativity and motivation for lean implementation will be discussed and examples will be given.
- Methods for promoting success in implementing lean transformations will be discussed.
- The importance of sustainability in this competitive world and how Lean manufacturing is aligned with it.
Course Requirements
Homework:
Assignments involving Supply Chain topics, Lean tools such as 5S implementation, and Sustainability tools like Industrial Ecology are required.
Examinations:
Two exams will be administered during the semester. These assessments are designed to evaluate your understanding of key course concepts, including supply chain principles, lean tools, and sustainability practices.
Textbook
As textbooks for the course students may wish to choose to use one or both of the following two books:
- The Toyota Way Fieldbook, Jeffrey Liker and David Meier, McGraw-Hill, 2006.
- Lean Production Simplified, Pascal Dennis, Productivity Press, 2007.
A book report will be assigned. Books must be drawn from a book list distributed at the beginning of the course. An application project may be elected for extra credit.
Other References:
- Lean Thinking, James Womack and Daniel Jones, Free Press, Revised Edition, 2003.
- The Machine That Changed The World, James Womack, Daniel Jones, and Daniel Roos, Rawson Associates, 1990.
- The Toyota Way, Jeffrey Liker, McGraw-Hill, 2004.
- Value Stream Management, Don Topping, Tom Luyster, and Tom Shuker, Productivity Press, 2002.
Updated: 05/23/2025