Continuous Improvement in Education: Adaptation of Kaizen Philosophy on the Example of the Student Project AGH Leanline

Abstract

The current study purpose is o highlight the creation and execution of a project that will teach effectively and practically the knowledge of production engineering and will create an opportunity to acquire key competencies and attitudes on the market while still at university. This research uses the descriptive and qualitative approach. Students Research Group Management’ runs a project which assumes optimization of production and logistic processes on the basis of identification of waste and implementation of Lean Manufacturing tools. The production line made of lego blocks - AGH LeanLine is an original undertaking of students of the AGH University of Science and Technology, adapted to practice and experience Lean methods, tools, and principles in the university environment. Each production process simulation is a Kaizen Workshop, during which the losses occurring in the basic model are defined and then eliminated from the value stream with the help of known methods of process organization. Such training is an active passage through the Plan Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, taking up and testing all the activities included in each stage. Thanks to such projects, students experience the practical application of theory and are ready to take such actions on a living organism a production company.