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Cornell Students Participate in Lord Corporation's Kaizen Projects

Author

Listed:
  • James R. Bradley

    (S. C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-6201)

  • Jim Willett

    (Mechanical Products Division, Lord Corporation, 1635 West 12th Street, Erie, Pennsylvania 16514)

Abstract

In the current economic climate, many companies have lowered prices in response to their customers' demands and competition while incurring higher costs for labor, benefits, and raw materials. The Lord Corporation relies on productivity improvement from its lean-manufacturing program to mitigate the resulting squeeze on profit. Lean-manufacturing programs have, in fact, become a pervasive tactic to improve productivity for companies in all industries. Kaizen projects are a common component of lean-manufacturing programs whereby process performance is substantially improved by the concentrated effort of a work team over several days. The students of the semester-in-manufacturing (SiM) course at Cornell University's Johnson School were able to learn about kaizen projects by participating hands-on with the Lord Corporation in 2002 and 2003. They learned about continuous-improvement processes in a real-world manufacturing plant and gleaned general insights into organizational issues. The Lord Corporation benefited from the students' fresh perspective and the opportunity to highlight the kaizen projects and its lean-manufacturing program with its employees. The Lord-SiM alliance provides a model for an educational program that bridges the classroom world of education and theory and the real world where that theory must be applied. The alliance also revealed tactics for successfully managing kaizen projects.

Suggested Citation

  • James R. Bradley & Jim Willett, 2004. "Cornell Students Participate in Lord Corporation's Kaizen Projects," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 34(6), pages 451-459, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orinte:v:34:y:2004:i:6:p:451-459
    DOI: 10.1287/inte.1040.0103
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Furlan & Ambra Galeazzo & Adriano Paggiaro, 2019. "Organizational and Perceived Learning in the Workplace: A Multilevel Perspective on Employees’ Problem Solving," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(2), pages 280-297, March.
    2. Glover, Wiljeana J. & Farris, Jennifer A. & Van Aken, Eileen M. & Doolen, Toni L., 2011. "Critical success factors for the sustainability of Kaizen event human resource outcomes: An empirical study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 197-213, August.
    3. Robert B. Handfield & Steven A. Edwards & Jeffrey S. Stonebraker, 2011. "NC State's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative Educates in the Real World," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 41(6), pages 548-563, December.
    4. Farris, Jennifer A. & Van Aken, Eileen M. & Doolen, Toni L. & Worley, June, 2009. "Critical success factors for human resource outcomes in Kaizen events: An empirical study," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 42-65, January.
    5. Izack Cohen, 2010. "Kaizen and Stochastic Networks Support the Investigation of Aircraft Failures," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 208-221, June.
    6. Michael F. Gorman, 2010. "The University of Dayton Operations Management Capstone Course: Undergraduate Student Field Consulting Applies Theory to Practice," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 40(6), pages 432-443, December.
    7. Janine Sanders Jones & John R. Olson & Peter Southard, 2021. "Kaizen Events at the University of St. Thomas: Experiential Learning for Students," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 21(3), pages 115-129, September.
    8. Michael F. Gorman, 2018. "A Survey of Research in Field-Based Education: A Summary of Process, Best Practices, and Lessons Learned," INFORMS Transactions on Education, INFORMS, vol. 18(3), pages 145-161, May.

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