Lean Laboratory—Designing an Application of Lean for Teaching and Research Laboratories

Abstract

Although Lean Thinking (LT) is becoming popular in service organizations, few studies have applied Lean tools to the education sector. Furthermore, although inventories are one of the main wastes in this sector, to date, no study has presented a decision support system (DSS), based on LT, for stock management in academic institutions. This study aims to design an application of LT in teaching and research laboratories to provide improvements in workplace organization, setup times, and stock management. Lean tools were implemented in a case study, and an e-Kanban DSS was designed to determine when and in what quantity an order should be placed, considering factors such as forecasting demand, demand level (high or low), and component deterioration. For testing the DSS, a simulation was carried out using as an example a set of articles that integrate the protocol of laboratory activity. The implementation of Lean tools improved the organization of the workplace, which contributed to a reduction in unnecessary movements and the setup time of practical activities. Additionally, the study demonstrated that the developed DSS calculates the quantities to be ordered according to the selected mathematical formulas and generates appropriate visual alerts, depending on the need to place an order.