Holistic Approach of Lean Thinking in Learning Factories

Simulation games that employ the "learning by doing" approach are used to transfer complex knowledge from the most diverse fields of economy. Their popularity steadily continues to grow in the framework of seminars and workshops. The Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) applies this style of haptic learning in order to teach Lean Management contents to students as well as industry specialists and executives. During the interactive training sessions participants are involved in realistic operating situations including actual assembly processes and learn practically relevant research contents. This paper presents a training concept offered within the "IFA Lernfabrik" that incorporates the philosophy and application of Lean Thinking. Particular attention is given to the simultaneous consideration of production and administration. This synchronized approach is based on the fact that presently the administration side offers very high productivity potentials, while the vast majority of improvement activities is performed in production. To provide a better understanding for this approach, an interactive two-stage training environment was designed to highlight the advantages of Lean Production and Lean Administration methods. The first stage challenges the participants with a situation that is characterized by an inefficient production environment and limited administrative features. The aim is to improve the current situation through the utilization of the lean methods learned during the first stage training session. Within the second stage, the administrative features are being extended, which initially still exhibit wasteful characteristics. It becomes obvious that the advantages of an optimized production are not fully realized due to inefficient administrative processes. This clarifies the principle that productivity improvement activities should always entail an integral optimization of business processes. Therefore, the participants subsequently learn how to transfer and apply the methods of Lean Production in administration as tools to not only optimize their production but the entire organizational structure. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.