Lean Strategies for Education: Overcoming the Waste Factor.

INTRODUCTION Most educators view teaching and learning as the most critical activities in schools. However, these activities are largely driven by financial realities and budgetary considerations. Educational programs cost money. Therefore, sound funding and competent budgeting are necessary to operate a school. "Without good budgets, there are no schools" (Thompson and Wood, 2005, p. 136). Because sources of funds are finite while educational needs are infinite, prioritization of programs is often necessary. It is a basic process in schools to align anticipated revenue sources with planned expenditures. If revenues are inadequate, programs may need to be scaled back. Thus, static or declining revenues are a dreaded event in schools. Poor economies, enrollment losses, and a host of other reasons can impact school revenue. Thus, there is an urgent need to devise methods to balance the budget. Either additional sources of revenue must be found or planned expenditures reduced. Unfortunately, the most common response to budgetary shortfalls is reduction in personnel because they comprise a sizable chunk of the school budget. While there may be a basis for such action in certain cases (e.g., redundant personnel), there are areas that can be explored to achieve real savings. A major way to cut costs would be improving the efficiency of schools by addressing the issue of waste. WASTE IN SCHOOLS Waste is "anything in the process that does not add value for the customer" (Foster, 2007, p. 87). Because educational work is a process, waste can come from many areas within this process. Schools, therefore, should focus on the continual reduction of waste. Some things to consider when looking for waste are: Inventory. Unnecessary build-up of inventory like office and food supplies costs money in terms of storage and carrying of overstocked, obsolete, or incorrect items. Excess funds tied up in inventory are funds that cannot be put into productive use somewhere else in the system. Defects. Defects in schools can take the form of corrections, adjustments, or inaccurate or incomplete information, which can lead to scrap or rework. They lead to lost revenue, reduced process cycle time, and overproduction of the product or service. They waste labor and generate more paperwork to document the errors and actions done to correct them. Examples are missing or incomplete information on student application forms, registration forms, petition forms, financial forms, and other forms used by administrators, faculty, and staff. Overproduction. The waste of production is probably the most serious and one that costs the organization the most in terms of time and dollars (Schutta, 2006). This occurs when schools, divisions, departments, or units make "more of something earlier or faster than the next process needs it" (Manos, Sattler, and Alukal, 2006). One place where this waste can occur is the school cafeteria when they prepare more food than can be consumed during a given day. Administrative and academic offices also overproduce when they request more supplies than are actually needed for day-to-day usage. Overproduction often leads to waste of building to inventory. Motion. The waste of motion occurs when non-value-added unproductive steps exist in a process. It generally adds labor costs to the provision of services in schools. An example of motion waste would be unnecessary walking from one point of the campus to another point due to poor design and layout of the buildings and the campus as a whole. Waiting. Waiting to a certain extent can be considered a type of waste. It includes waiting for a decision on an enrollment application, waiting to see a financial or academic advisor, waiting for approval of a petition, waiting on a checkout line in the cafeteria or in the bookstore, and many other examples. Transportation. In education, waste can show up when moving people, equipment, materials, and information around the campus. …