I came across this funding announcement for The North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) to support its work with regional companies in North-eastern UK. The cash will support 14 handpicked engineers to be trained in lean manufacturing under the Dissemination of Best Practice project.

NEPA was established in 2001 to take forward the North East Region’s manufacturing strategy, in particular through improving productivity and competitiveness.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/ogt/ogt103.html

http://www.nepa-info.co.uk/welcome.htm

The first wave of 16 engineers have just finished their 3 years in the program, received certifications and have returned to their sponsoring companies. During their time in the program, engineers go into participating companies and help drive improvement through implementing lean. Once finished with the program, they take everything they have learned back to their own organizations.

What a great way to develop skills and experience in lean while at the same time participating in improvements that help to support the health of manufacturing across an entire region. Anyone know of any such programs on this side of the pond?

About LeanBlog.org: Mark Graban is a consultant, author, and speaker in the “lean healthcare” methodology, focused on improving quality and patient safety, improving access, reducing costs, and fully engaging healthcare professionals. He is also the Chief Improvement Officer for KaiNexus.