Core researchers in the Academy seek to develop leading-edge thinking and solutions that are of direct relevance to practice and focuses on a number of key research areas for manufacturing and service companies. Academy researchers have published in a wide variety of international conferences, books and refereed journals. The Academy has a strong student focus and organises the Annual Lean Research Symposium which is a forum for Lean Doctoral and Masters students to deliver Poster Presentations detailing their research topics and findings to-date. This event is attended by the Head of School of Business, Head of Department of Graduate Business, Lecturers and Research Supervisors, Lean Masters students, other postgraduate students, and specially invited guests. The event is chaired by Professor Peter Hines who reviews each Poster with the students. It provides opportunities for students to showcase their Lean research as well as being a networking opportunity for students across the postgraduate business portfolio.
Within the context of Lean Enterprise Excellence, the Academy has a number of key research areas:
LEADERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND PEOPLE ENGAGEMENT
It is generally accepted that for the successful implementation of lean in manufacturing and service organisations, the commitment of management and its leaders is of great importance. As is the involvement and engagement of employees in continuous improvement and creating a lean culture in organisations. However, the lean journey is usually a long one, and eventually management commitment can fade which emphasises the importance of lean leadership as a means of sustaining and improving the employee performance in lean systems. For this reason, Academy members have developed pioneering research acumen in the area of leadership, employee engagement, management.
Within this thematic area Academy researchers have and continue to develop academic and applied research projects in the following areas:
- Lean leadership for sustaining and improving employee performance. Understanding multi-level performance management.
- Lean behaviours, social roles, infrastructures and interpersonal dynamics; the development, maintenance and management of relationships and structures for reinforcing established and co-developed set of behaviours.
- Organisational learning and development strategies to establish robust coaching activities to assist employees in developing and utilising required skills. Creating procedures whereby all employees record their learning and personal development. Developing a system for transfer learning across the organisation.
OPERATIONAL AND BUSINESS ENTERPRISE ALIGNMENT
Most executives today know their enterprises should be aligned. They know their strategies, business and operational processes and IT infrastructure should all be arranged to support the enterprise’s purpose. However, aligning all these areas together remains a central dilemma for most organisations and is a key research thematic within the Academy.
Within this thematic area Academy researchers have and continue to develop academic and applied research projects in the following areas:
- Lean Strategy Modelling; cultural approach that supports organisation strategy and emphasises behavioural standards
- Implementation of Operational Efficiency
- Implementation of Business Process Efficiency
- Alignment and measurement best practices
- Enterprise Technology optimisation
DEVELOPING ROBUST MANUFACTURING/SERVICES PROCESSES
The focus of this research thematic is on operational excellence. By viewing every business as a collection of processes and sub-processes that are designed to complete tasks and create value for the company and the customer, operational and process excellence applies to virtually every business. Sometimes there are blockages in how these processes flow and challenges organisation to create effective processes
Within this thematic area Academy researchers have and continue to develop academic and applied research projects in the following areas:
- Operations Excellence: lean manufacturing, Improved accuracy of process, Sensitivity analysis of a component’s properties to process parameters, Risk analysis focused on ‘what if’ scenarios
- Service Engineering: Retail engineering, workforce modelling, data mining, demand management, pricing, employee training, employee retention, resource allocation
- Supply Chain Engineering and Logistics: Network design, enterprise integration, supply chain coordination and collaboration, contracting mechanisms, supply chain modelling.
PROCESS DATA MINING, ANALYSIS AND INFORMATICS
Manufacturers are continuously under pressure to improve operational performance, but within most manufacturing plants there is a high variability of systems, manufacturing processes and equipment (modern and old) that creates barriers to operational excellence. Data issues plague the company and the larger the company, the bigger the operational excellence problem. The emergence of Factories of the Future or Smart Factory extends beyond the implementation of lean or six sigma practices to a data driven manufacturing system where operational excellence can be reached through smart and connected operations. In recognition of these challenges, Academy researchers have conducted valuable research funded work focusing on data enabled process optimisation in the manufacturing and services environment.
Within this thematic area Academy researchers have and continue to develop academic and applied research projects in the following areas:
- Data Enabled Process Optimisation: Simulation modelling and analysis; process experimentation and optimization; statistical analysis; multiple criteria decision making; scheduling; data mining; lean manufacturing, Improved accuracy of process, Sensitivity analysis of a component’s properties to process parameters, Risk analysis focused on ‘what if’ scenarios
Interactive simulation: Modelling and analysis for training and human performance improvement; case-based research for organizational learning for strategic management and operations engineering