AUS to cooperate with Lean Gulf Institute

The School of Business and Management at American University of Sharjah (AUS) has announced its cooperation with the Lean Gulf Institute (LGI) to bring training in globally competitive business practices to the Gulf Region. In the early stages, AUS will host several courses designed to educate business leaders about the concept of Lean.

"Lean is a series of techniques used to eliminate waste and drive continuous improvement. Although originally based on concepts pioneered by Toyota in manufacturing, the use of lean has spread to services, construction and health care as well," said Dr. Rob Bateman, Director of the Jafar Executive Education Center at AUS.
Sam Salimi, Managing Director of LGI, said the role of his organization is to "accelerate the diffusion of Lean knowledge to meet the needs of business in an ever-changing world."

In promoting that vision, LGI will offer three one-day workshops at AUS. Lean 101 will be an introduction to the fundamental concepts of Lean. Another day-session on Value Stream Mapping will teach how visual representation of processes can help businesses find and overcome waste and inefficiency. The final day will focus on the well-known 5-S approach to visualizing and eliminating waste in the workplace. To demonstrate the application of Lean to an important industry in the region, LGI and the AUS Jafar Executive Education Center will also offer a three-day course on implementing Lean principles in construction.

Malcolm Richards, Dean of School Business and Management, pointed out that the school sees the delivery of training in the latest business methods and professional skills to be a key element of the university's service to the larger business community. "We are delighted to be able to offer Lean and similar techniques, as well as review courses for professional exams such as the CFA, CPA and CMA," he said. These programs are expected to appeal to AUS alumni as well as other business professionals around the UAE.

The Lean courses will run March 3-5, with the construction course following March 27-29. Interested parties should contact Merle Antonio at [email protected].