Introducing the International Repository for Case Studies
Dr. Rupy Sawhney and his team are working to develop a repository to build a community of like-minded partners. The first step in developing this community is to develop a repository for case studies demonstrating the application and implementation of operational excellence. The focus is to classify each of these operational excellence case studies from the following perspectives:
- How was success defined?
- What methodology was utilized?
- Was employee well-being an integral part of the solution?
- Did global/cultural factors impact the implementation?
- Was the implementation successful?
- Was it sustainability addressed?
We anticipate developing a repository of these case studies with and for our partners. The case studies will be available to our partners for teaching, research, and outreach purposes. We anticipate that the case studies will provide interesting insights such as similarities and differences of operational excellence implementations within different cultures.
During this time we have been working on developing an Operational Excellence Survey (OES). Internally, the OES has gone through multiple iterations. This survey will become our tool to collect data to understand how operational excellence is being implemented around the world. Specifically, we are interested in the following:
- How are operational excellence projects selected?
- What are the measures of operational excellence projects' success?
- Are operational metrics connected to organizational performance?
- What is the platform for operational excellence implementation?
- What is the role of people in operational excellence?
- How is operational excellence sustainability addressed?
- Are cultural values addressed in operational excellence projects?
Our partners already have access to it and we are waiting for more answers from the survey so we can start building the repository.
Dr. Rupy Sawhney is a Professor and Heath Faculty Fellow in Business and Engineering at the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and the founder of Sawhney Solutions. He is the Executive Director of Center for Advanced Systems Research and Education (CASRE), where he leads a team of nearly 30 staff and graduate students.
Dr. Sawhney has developed the Sawhney Model, which uniquely focuses on people-centered operational excellence strategies. This model is the basis of transformational projects and training programs for leading industry and federal partners, including DOE, Covenant Health, and Clayton Homes. Overall, Dr. Sawhney and his team have partnered with over 200 companies on operational excellence projects.
Dr. Sawhney has established innovative educational and training programs with national and international visibility, including an onsite cohort program (2011-present), and the Lean Enterprise Systems Program (LESP) (2011-present). The cohort program has graduated over 100 professionals with Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering, whereas the LESP has graduated over 900 students from 10 countries. These efforts have resulted in strong international collaborations with nearly 20 universities worldwide.
Dr. Sawhney has been recognized with various awards such as the Boeing Welliver Fellow, Alcoa Faculty Award, Institute of Industrial Engineers Lean Teaching Award, Industrial and Operations Management Society Outstanding Educator Award, the 2019 University of Tennessee President’s Award as the “Educate” honoree, and the 2020 John L. Imhoff Global Excellence Award for Industrial Engineering Education. sawhney@utk.edu.