Lean Master Course
The Lean Master Course has been designed for improvement leaders/champions, change managers and consultants who are looking to eliminate waste, add value and empower people in organisations to become front-line problem solvers.
Participants will develop skills to successfully lead and manage improvement programs across their organisations, through understanding the key elements for achieving sustainable and continuous improvement. They will also learn how to implement real and practical changes to improve the way work is done and turn non-value activities into increased capacity and growth.
During the Lean Master Course participants will be given the knowledge, understanding and skills to develop an improvement project implementation and personal action plan for the next 12-18 months; as well as being able to select the most appropriate Lean and improvement structure for their processes and organisation. The course is led by highly experience Lean practitioners and educators and has been developed by UniSA in cooperation with Cardiff University’s Business School and Lean Enterprise Australia.
UniSA Business is the only business school in South Australia accredited by both AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and the EFMD Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) – the world’s leading accreditation bodies recognising excellence in business and management education. This double accreditation demonstrates achievement of the highest international standards across teaching and learning, research, and stakeholder engagement, as well as a commitment to continuous improvement into the future.
Business schools that earn these accreditations must undergo a rigorous review process undertaken by peers in the business education community and industry, to ensure they have the resources, credentials and dedication to deliver first-rate programs, knowledge creation and positive impact on business and society.
These standards support UniSA Business to deliver on its mission, to innovate and engage, and to lead the business education community worldwide.
Program Benefits
Individual Benefits
- Understand the key tools and techniques used in transformational improvement, including those in Lean, Six Sigma, Agile and Theory of Constraints.
- Lead more effectively and be able to provide strategic rationale for key projects to release resources
- Gain an applied understanding of Lean through simulations, exercises, site visits and presentations; and leave the course with your own project implementation plan and personalised guide
- Successful completion provides credit for one course into UniSA’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) (subject to entry requirements).
Organisational Benefits
- Equip employees to be able to drive transformational change that enhances service delivery and product quality, create agile and adaptive operations, and significantly reduce operating costs
- Lead others to improve productivity, leadership, innovation, strategic thinking skills
- Improve employee morale and competitive positioning in the market through organisational learning
- Find solutions for organisational challenges through a work-based project
- Enable participants to follow the Lean Transformation Model step-by-step, resulting in value creation and improved performance.
Key Information
|
Dates |
Delivery Location | Cost (ex. GST) | Who this is suited to |
|
2 x 5 day blocks |
UniSA Business City West Campus, North Terrace, Adelaide |
$6,950 *Available for enrolments received by 18 April 2025 |
Lean champions, change managers and improvement project facilitators. |
What others are saying
"The Lean Master Course provides a comprehensive and interactive basis for Lean Thinking principles and practice within all business environments. The course provides participants with the skills and knowledge to develop the strategic and practical aspects of the Lean Continuous Improvement journey. The lecturers for this course, Dr Neil Davidson and Alister Lee bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the course content that significantly enhances the learning into a ‘real life’ business focus. This is an enjoyable course that is highly recommended for those starting a Lean journey right through to those with experience. The bonus is also an opportunity to gain a unit into further graduate study."
Claire McKay
Principal, Yellowscope
What you can expect
Course Outline
Day 1: What is Lean Thinking
- The history of Lean and how it is applied across all industry sectors and processes
- Key Principles of Continuous Improvement and the Lean Transformation Model
- The key frameworks, systems and models that make up the Lean Body of Knowledge including Lean Business, Shingo and Iceberg models
Day 2: Strategy and Process Improvement Strategy
- Value driven purpose and linking to strategy
- Deploying strategy to the process levels
- Process improvement, approach and simulations
Day 3: Process Improvement and Value Creation
- Customer value including customer value management
- Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and simulation
- Identifying the appropriate mapping tools and techniques
Day 4: Process Improvement Foundation tools
- Workplace organisation, visual management, standard and stable processes
- Managing by fact, 5S, TPM, SMED, OEE
- Perfect delivery, workplace balancing, TOC, Pull, RRS, TAKT
Day 5: Process Improvement: Quality at source
- Six Sigma, why quality is important and building in quality
- The DMAIC framework for structured improvement
- Authority to stop, error proofing and root cause analysis
Day 6: Capability Development
- Facilitation skills and how to develop the team
- Problem solving and diagnostics
- Leading an improvement project
- Identify the required skill sets
- Developing capabilities
- Lean culture and mindset
- The basic beliefs
- What are the required mindsets
- Lean culture development
- Principles of change management
Day 7: Leadership Behaviour and Management Systems
- Leadership characteristics for achieving effective and efficient results
- Effective management systems
- Roles and responsibilities, creating processes, problem ownership and project governance
- Aligning Purpose, Process and People to create value
Day 8: Implementation Pathways
- How to approach the improvement project
- Measurement systems
- Making the improvement project visual
- Kaizen events and how they are best used
- Australian case studies of Lean and CI in action
Day 9: Lean in Action
- Lean tools and techniques reviewed site visit
- See Lean in action
- Presentation by Lean facilitators of how they approached their Lean project implementation and the lessons learnt along the way
- Post site visit review
Day 10: Strategy and Planning
- Lean Maturity Assessments
- Issues identification
- SWOT analysis to identify the quick wins
- The Hoshin linkage method
- Assumptions underlying the implementation plan
- The True North
The Lean Master Course was formerly named the Principles of Lean Thinking.
Optional Assessment
Satisfactory completion of optional assessment provides credit into MBA or Master of Management programs, subject to entry criteria.
Catering
This course is fully catered, including morning tea and lunch.
Learn from the experts
Dr Neil Davidson
Adjunct Lecturer, Lean and Six Sigma
Dr Davidson has wide knowledge and experience of applicable industry standards and business excellence models, including ISO 9000, CMMI®, Business Excellence, Six Sigma (DMAIC and DFSS), Lean and systems engineering and is a certified Motorola Six Sigma Black Belt. Neil’s experience includes the design, deployment and use of measurement systems to underpin and sustain improvement programs, consulting and training for defence companies and consulting to a large resources company to reduce waste through Lean Six Sigma.
Cancellation Policy
The University of South Australia reserves the right to cancel events and issue refunds. In the event that an attendee cannot attend, a substitute is welcome to attend in their place. No refunds will be given unless 21 days notice is given in writing prior to the date of the planned event. If less than 21 days the fee can be used for the same course at a later stage, or another course of the same value.
