Lean Enterprise Certificate

Lean can be defined as "performance without waste." Many organizations waste 70-90% of available resources through improper management of materials, time, information, equipment and inventory.

This 18-week, one-day per week program presents Lean Enterprise principles and practices. Class projects provide students with experience implementing all the necessary steps to achieve successful results in various business functions and operations. Classroom lecture is complemented by local plant tours, case studies of World Class Manufacturing companies. Program projects allow the benefits of these techniques to be applied in the student's own company. Through these experiences students will discover how the implementation of Lean Techniques can include dramatic improvements in cycle-time, products costs, inventory reduction and new product lead-time.

The program is appropriate for any team or individual responsible for managing or participating in manufacturing activities. Appropriate participants would include managers, professionals and hands-on line staff in key functional areas such as operations, production and inventory control, development, manufacturing, quality assurance, and supplier management. The diverse participant industries provide for cross-industry learning and application of principles, as well as identification of World Class Manufacturing best practices. Industries represented include: Electronics, computers, telecommunications, medical devices, fabricated metal and machining, plastic, chemical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage. To learn more about this program go to eng-ed.ucsd.edu/lean.html.