MDC has years of experience applying lean outside the traditional factory setting:
• Unique six-sigma blackbelt training for a large US aerospace corporation
• Training to familiarize engineers with the fundamentals of lean
• Lean seminars for healthcare and other corporate leaders and managers
• Creating educational and training curriculum and simulations
• Authoring papers on the application of lean in a number of innovative areas
• Tools for value stream mapping and transformation of engineering processes
• Facilitating the setting of goals and visions and the creation of value stream maps and improvement plans at a variety of industry, government, and academic sites
Much knowledge is transferable, but every problem is different.
Let MDC put our experience to work for you!
-
Lean Enterprise Solutions
Custom Solutions
MDC has years of experience applying lean outside the traditional factory setting:
• Unique six-sigma blackbelt training for a large US aerospace corporation
• Training to familiarize engineers with the fundamentals of lean
• Lean seminars for healthcare and other corporate leaders and managers
• Creating educational and training curriculum and simulations
• Authoring papers on the application of lean in a number of innovative areas
• Tools for value stream mapping and transformation of engineering processes
• Facilitating the setting of goals and visions and the creation of value stream maps and improvement plans at a variety of industry, government, and academic sites
Much knowledge is transferable, but every problem is different. Let MDC put our experience to work for you!-
Lean Product Development
MDC has been at the forefront of applying lean techniques to Engineering and Product Development processes. MDC has developed techniques for dealing with the inherent variability and unpredictability of these processes using lean tools to improve product development time-to-market, quality, and efficiency. Early work in this area can be seen in the Product Development Value Stream Mapping (PDVSM) manual. MDC has created customized training, facilitated vision and goal setting, and mentored the creation of current and future-state value stream maps for a variety of corporate and government clients. The PDVSM has evolved since its initial publication, so we invite you to discuss your needs with us so that we customize the latest techniques to your organization’s specific needs.
-
Lean Healthcare
Affordability and quality of healthcare services are major issues for the US and global economies. Lean techniques have already proven to be useful tools for increasing the efficiency and safety of healthcare operations. MDC personnel, in collaboration with the MIT Lean Advancement Initiative’s Educational Network, have created several short courses intended to introduce lean concepts to healthcare professionals. The course shows how lean can apply to healthcare, while demonstrating how lean techniques must be carefully adapted to be effective in the healthcare environment. A key component of these courses is a teaching simulation of an outpatient clinic network. The students use the simulation to experiment with lean concepts in an environment that is very different from a factory or other predictable operation.
-
Tradespace Exploration
Complex modern systems and systems-of-systems must perform multiple tasks, satisfy multiple stakeholders, and operate in constantly shifting economic, political and threat environments. Traditional methods for designing the architecture of such systems, which concentrate on defining "fixed" requirements up front and developing a single "point design" in detail, are inadequate. MDC personnel are working on advanced methods for tradespace analysis that explore a wide range of possible solutions, evaluate them based on analyses of user needs, and present the possibilities for failure risk, program tradeoffs, and possible opportunities for future growth and "upside" potential before requirements are set and expensive-to-change decisions have been made.
-
Lean Training
Lean, Six Sigma, and other continuous improvement methods and tools present special challenges for trainers and educators. It is difficult to teach process improvement without a set of processes as context. Lean techniques are not always intuitive, so simply explaining them does not give students the necessary insight. Lean techniques are applicable to any process, but the details matter – production, service, engineering, and health-care processes all demand different approaches and tool sets. The tools are easy to use ineffectively or even counter-productively, so poor training can have serious adverse effects on process improvement efforts. MDC responds to this challenge with a creative blend of traditional learning, active-learning exercises, immersive table-top simulations demanding both analysis of real processes and working with teams of real people, and real process expertise in a wide variety of fields. We have many solutions ready for immediate deployment; we are also ready to help you create training designed for your unique processes.
-
Lean Academy
Metis Design, in collaboration with the Lean Advancement Initiative (LAI) at MIT, administers the LAI Educational Network (EdNet). This network takes the knowledge created by MIT and associated researchers and creates practical applications, including university level curricula, training, tools, and documentation of current best practices. Some of the products of this collaboration include the LAI Lean Academy, a set of teaching materials that can be given as either a three-five day intensive course or a semester-long university course; the Lean Enterprise Value (LEV) Simulation, a powerful modular table-top simulation, which serves as the core for customized active learning experiences, from basic courses to advanced "black-belt" training, and a number of other products. Metis Design personnel also support LAI in helping LAI member companies with planning and transformation events, using proprietary LAI tools and techniques.
