From idea to handoff—and every point in between.
Nurse/Doctor in Scrubs in a Room Making Pivots Operational

Peter Ward

Academic Director, Center for Operational Excellence
HealthcareTo an extent, an organization’s long-term success depends on its ability to shift its focus quickly when conditions change suddenly. Covid-19 provides a vivid example where virtually all organizations in every industry had to discover how to survive amid a new reality: retail stores shuttered, office work redistributed to millions of “home offices,” travel curtailed almost completely, etc. Health care provides the most dramatic example of the need for such a pivot. (Later in this essay, I ret315/blogs/opex/2020/06/25/making-pivots-operational
Pushing a Boulder up a Hill Shining a Light on Organizational Resilience

Keely Croxton

Professor of Logistics; Co-director, Full Time MBA Program, Marketing & Logistics Department, Fisher College of Business
Supply ChainIn the research we have done into enterprise resilience, we conceptualize it as a balancing act between the vulnerabilities your organization faces (i.e. the risks inherent in your operations) and the capabilities you build to mitigate the impact of these risks.  The idea is that you want to build a portfolio of capabilities best suited to your pattern of vulnerabilities.314/blogs/opex/2020/06/09/shining-a-light-organizational-resilience
Peter Ward presenting at a podium with Congrats text overlay Peter Ward, COE Academic Director, Inducted as Shingo Academy Lifetime Member

Cheyanne Cierpial

Marketing Associate, Center for Operational Excellence
UncategorizedWe are excited and proud to announce that COE Academic Director, Peter Ward, has been inducted as a life member to the Shingo Academy, an honor bestowed upon individuals with distinguished careers in organizational excellence. The honor was to be presented in a live ceremony during Shingo Academy’s March conference, which has been postponed due to COVID-19. Instead, Peter will be honored with a live presentation of the award at their next in person conference.308/blogs/opex/2020/05/19/peter-ward-coe-academic-director-inducted-as-shingo-academy-lifetime-member
Woman in manufacturing setting with white checkmarks overlaid Routines With a Backbone

Peter Ward

Academic Director, Center for Operational Excellence
COE, Lean thinking, Management Sciences, Operations, Supply ChainThe COVID-19 crisis has undoubtedly shifted our lives in a myriad of ways, including how we work. While more than twenty percent are out of work due to COVID-related layoffs, the global pandemic has forced the eighty percent still working to either perform their responsibilities remotely or to work in a facility while trying to maintain social distance (along with additional new best practices like increased sanitation or shift staggering). Regardless of where we are doing our work, one thing is certain: we have all had to adapt.307/blogs/opex/2020/05/18/routines-with-a-backbone
Process and Operations When Reopening Our Economy Yes – It Is All About Process and Operations When It Comes to Reopening Our Economy

Aravind Chandrasekaran

Associate Professor of Operations, Fisher College of Business
COE, Culture, Management Sciences, Operations, Problem Solving*The opinions and thoughts expressed in this article are my own and not necessarily those of my employers or any other individuals.305/blogs/opex/2020/04/29/yes-it-is-all-about-process-and-operations-when-it-comes-to-reopening-our-economy
Clock graphic and red background over a warehouse COVID19: Supplies Just-in-Time or Just-Too-Late?

Peter Ward

Academic Director, Center for Operational Excellence
UncategorizedMany failure modes have been attributed to the awful mess that has occurred across the US in supplying frontline healthcare workers and other first responders with sufficient protective equipment (PPE).  There is plenty of blame to go around but one of the suspects often cited as a possible causal factor is Just-in-Time inventory practices (for example, this Wall Street Journal article).  I would argue for a not guilty verdict.304/blogs/opex/2020/04/22/covid19-supplies-just-in-time-or-just-too-late
COVID virus with data overlay Using Data Analytics to Make Informed Decisions in the Time of COVID-19

Christian Blanco

Assistant Professor, Management Sciences Department, Fisher College of Business
Management SciencesHow can we leverage data analytics to help us make informed decisions during this COVID-19 crisis? Access to real-time data on COVID-19 cases can help us determine potential hotspots, allocate resources (e.g., test kits, masks, and other protective gear) to those areas and prevent the spread of the virus to other locations. But we should always be mindful of the limitations of data, and what is hidden from it. What is the data not telling us?303/blogs/opex/2020/04/16/using-data-analytics-to-make-informed-decisions-in-the-time-of-covid-19
Sam Walker delivering a presentation Simple, Not Easy: Talking leadership with bestselling author Sam Walker

Matthew Burns

COE, Events, Leadership DevelopmentLeading Through Excellence: COE Summit 2019What seemed like a clear-cut research project on the “secret sauce” behind the greatest teams in sports history has evolved into a multi-year endeavor and bestselling book for Sam Walker, a Wall Street Journal columnist and one-time editor. Walker, author of The Captain Class: A New Theory of Leadership, took the stage as the kickoff keynote for The Ohio State University Center for Operational Excellence’s seventh-annual Leading Through Excellence summit.301/blogs/opex/2019/05/02/simple-not-easy-talking-leadership-with-bestselling-author-sam-walker