Using Catapults to Teach Concepts in Operations and Leadership Development
Elliott N. Weiss and Rebecca Goldberg
University of Virginia Darden School of Business Administration, USA
Volume 14: 2020, pp. 73-86; ABSTRACT
This paper describes an exercise that uses a publicly available educational catapult to cover topics in continuous process improvement and Lean initiatives. The exercise is highly flexible and adaptable. It is appropriate for students in an undergraduate or graduate operations management class as well as in a wide variety of executive education settings, including on-site workshops for corporate education. Learning objectives include: 1. Describing a process using process behavior charts; 2. Practicing the A3 problem-solving process as a team; 3. Using the Kata/PDCA method as part of the A3 problem-solving process; 4. Discussing the benefits of standard work and SOPs; and 5. Presenting an overview of Training Within Industry (TWI) and explaining how standardized training is an integral part of actualizing any continuous process improvement strategy.
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