1st Edition

Continuous Improvement in Higher Education How to Begin Your Institution’s Lean Journey

By Bonnie Slykhuis Copyright 2020
144 Pages 40 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

144 Pages 40 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

144 Pages 40 B/W Illustrations
by Productivity Press

Is your college or university struggling with how to adapt to budget cuts, changing student needs, technology, or regulatory changes? Do you have a program or staff assigned to help coordinate change efforts? Are you ready to become more proactive in how you react to the changes that affect your institution? Structured continuous process-improvement programs have benefitted manufacturing... Read more

1 Big Picture Rationale

2 What Is Lean and Continuous Improvement?

3 What Is Waste?

4 Common Types of Waste

5 Lean Tools

6 Do Your Research

7 Determine Budget and Who’s Driving Your Efforts

8 Determining Purpose

9 Planning Your Lean Journey

10 Leaders on Board

11 All on Board

12 Communication

13 Preparing to Launch

14 Planning Considerations

15 Working Your First Year Plan

16 Conclusion

Biography

Bonnie Slykhuis is currently a Lean Consultant for Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Ankeny, Iowa. She holds a B.A. in Biology and Secondary Education from Central College and a Masters in Training & Development from Drake University. Bonnie is responsible for implementing Lean initiatives throughout DMACC’s six campuses, developing lean curriculum, and providing training and consulting services to external manufacturing, service, government and education clients. She is a certified Master Trainer for workplacelean® (office lean) and a certified trainer for NIST/MEP Lean (manufacturing lean) having conducted over 1000 Lean sessions for more than 130 organizations both in and out of state. She is also a certified instructor for leadership and soft skills programs such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), DDI (Developmental Dimensions International), Achieve Global and Logic Opera.

Prior to DMACC Bonnie was employed as a K-12 educator then by such companies as Pella Corporation, 3M Company and Maytag Corporation. Areas of employment included production, safety, training, organizational development, and supervision. From 2002-2006 Bonnie also owned and operated her own small manufacturing business.