Portsmouth Business School
Portsmouth Business School hosts international Lean conference
Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:53:00 GMT
Portsmouth Business School recently hosted the fifth international conference on ‘Lean’ practices in higher education and services.
‘Lean’ is all about removing waste and improving the flow of processes to create capacity to add value. It is a term that has evolved over the last 60 years, which challenges organisations to involve everybody and improve their overall value.
The conference saw over 80 delegates from a wide range of organisations and countries sharing best practice on how to apply Lean to the University’s core business.
Business School Finance Manager, Eric de Greef, is a founder of CLeanUP, a lean initiative in the Business School, and is also a member of the university’s carbon management team.
He said: “In today’s economic environment, managers in the public, private and non-profit sectors are under increasing pressure to deliver more in terms of efficiency and profitability and less in the way of resources so it is important to share the Lean methodology.
“The conference was launched with an evening reception on a purple illuminated Spinnaker Tower, followed by two days of presentations and discussion and a gala dinner on HMS Warrior. It was a thought-provoking event and I hope that delegates will go home with clearer ideas of how to implement Lean thinking into their business.”
Speakers included Professor Bob Emiliani from Central Connecticut State University, who discussed how recommendations in a 1911 report on US higher education are still relevant in 2012 and Clive Hutchinson, owner of Cougar Automation, who suggested that building on the strengths of employees rather than covering up weaknesses is key to transforming a business.
Other speakers included Owen Buckwell, Head of Housing Management at Portsmouth City Council and Zoe Radnor, Professor of Operations Management at Cardiff Business School.