In this episode of the WLEI podcast, LEI speaks with Alan Goodman, professor and department chair of quality engineering at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Alan spent his career in operations at GE before becoming a professor. The podcast explores his recent work to teach young students lean skills to prepare them for careers after school.

In the discussion, we explore:

• Alan's background in lean and how he's transferring his skills to students through a program he's grown from a one-week online course to a year-round initiative.
• Getting students interested in lean concepts through interactive games and how to apply these lessons to adult learning.
• Alan's vision to partner with companies to create a pipeline for students to enter the workforce from school.
• Methods Alan incorporates new technologies like AI and gamification into his teaching methods to foster creativity and critical thinking.

If you'd like to support Alan's work, check out https://cityonahillmke.org.

In this episode of the WLEI podcast, we speak with Ben Armstrong, Executive Director of MIT's Industrial Performance Center, and Jim Morgan, Senior Advisor at the Lean Enterprise Institute. They share perspectives from Ben's extensive research on the history and future of US manufacturing and Jim's first-hand knowledge of developing new products and production processes.

In our discussion, we explore:

• The rise and decline of America's manufacturing expertise and how the decoupling of design and production has impacted innovation.
• Challenges currently facing small and medium manufacturers, and what investments they should consider.
• The role of industrial policy and government support in spurring new growth in US manufacturing.
• Emerging technologies like AI and how they could transform manufacturing operations going forward.

This podcast was delivered to subscribers of The Design Brief, LEI’s newsletter devoted to improving organizations’ innovation capability. It is the second of four in a series on process development entitled “Making Things Well.”

Subscribe to the Design Brief newsletter by clicking here.

Electrification has given rise to new American automotive ventures such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid Motors. Aside from the powertrain, these companies are innovating the driving experience through breakthrough performance and by deeply integrating software into vehicle architecture.

These disruptions demonstrate exciting possibilities but raise a challenge: how can companies innovate while upholding customer expectations of quality?

In an episode of the WLEI podcast, LEI sat down with industry veteran and Lucid Motors’ Vice President of Quality Jeri Ford to explore that question. Jeri has over 30 years of experience in the automotive industry, having held leadership roles at Ford and Rivian before joining Lucid.

The conversation explores:

• How product development impacts quality downstream in manufacturing and supply chain.
• The importance of collaboration between functions to achieve quality objectives.
• Balancing speed and quality in bringing new vehicles to market.
• Adapting processes for the integration of software and hardware in modern vehicles.
• Building alignment and a culture of quality in a startup environment.

Listen to gain these insights and learn about the challenges facing the automotive industry in an era of technological change.

Be among the first to get the latest insights from LEI’s Lean Product and Process Development (LPPD) thought leaders and practitioners. This article was delivered to subscribers of The Design Brief, LEI’s newsletter devoted to improving organizations’ innovation capability. It is the fourth of five in a series on quality entitled “Whatever Happened to Quality First? Rethinking Product Development the Wake of Recalls and Catastrophic Failures.” Click to read the first, second, and third articles.