Efficient use of resources, reduction of throughput times and improvement of material flow - this can now be taught in a practical way with a new lean teaching concept from the IMW of TU Wien and Fraunhofer Austria.

In many Austrian companies, lean principles have been integrated into corporate processes for several years. On closer inspection, however, it can be seen that the implementation of lean methods has not been pursued with the utmost consistency. In such cases, the guiding principle of "capitulation instead of copying" was often not applied. It was not uncommon for convincing lean approaches to increasing productivity and efficiency to get bogged down in the preliminary stages.

Training concepts in the learning factory

Implementing lean principles is not just about introducing supermarkets, flow racks or KANBAN cycles. Rather, the goal is to uncover and eliminate waste and the associated reduction in throughput times. Acceptance by the workforce is crucial during implementation. Employees must be brought on board as early as possible. It is important to understand and communicate the underlying philosophy and the resulting benefits.

Against this background, the IMW of TU Wien, in close cooperation with Fraunhofer Austria, has developed the concept of a Lean Learning Factory to make Lean methods in production and logistics tangible and understandable. With the building blocks of the Lean Learning Factory, it is possible to map the entire business spectrum. The first module, the "Lean Assembly" learning assembly cell, has already been successfully implemented. The learning assembly cell represents a real, extremely flexible assembly cell that can be used to train production processes in a practical manner in workshops and to simulate lean processes.

The overall concept is currently being further developed at full speed. Lean concepts in logistics, order processing and administration as well as production planning and control methods are being integrated into the lean learning factory.

Courses in the learning factory

Students have the opportunity to get to know the learning factory in the course of the following LVAs:

• 307.417 Integrative Product Creation
• 311.148 Integrative Product Creation

For further details see TISS