Upcoming Events
August 19 | 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | In-Person Tour
Hit the road with the Center for Operational Excellence and experience operations in action at Copeland and Midmark during a special full-day tour opportunity!
Copeland is a global leader in sustainable heating, cooling and refrigeration compression technologies and controls solutions for commercial, industrial, cold chain and residential end markets. In the morning, participants will tour Copeland’s multifunctional campus in Sidney that houses offices, labs, and manufacturing plants for building compressors and assembling condensing units. Participants will learn about the Copeland Business System and how the facility optimizes their processes and scheduling in a high-mix, low-volume environment.
In the afternoon, participants will head to Midmark’s largest manufacturing facility and headquarters in Versailles. Midmark Corporation designs seamless clinical care experiences that millions of medical, dental and veterinary visits depend on every day. They manufacture a comprehensive ecosystem of products and solutions, including exam tables, dental chairs, cabinetry, and diagnostic stations. Participants will see metal fabrication, paint lines, and assembly areas, while learning about the Midmark Production System that supports efficient workflows in their high-mix, low-volume setting.
This tour will be led by on-site hosts at each facility. Lunch will be provided. Selected participants will be responsible for their own transportation and should be prepared for extensive walking inside the facilities. Keep in mind that travel time from Columbus to the first location is roughly 1.5 hours.
This is a limited-capacity, in-person only event. Please submit your interest using the form below. Participants will be selected from interest form submissions in coordination with COE board representatives from each member company. If you have been selected, you’ll receive an email with additional instructions by July 30.
August 26 | 12 – 1 p.m. | Zoom Webinar
Lean Into AI Series
Agentic automation is quickly becoming the next frontier of enterprise AI, yet organizations are rushing to deploy ‘agents’ without first establishing a common definition of what agentic actually means or designing the organizational systems required to support it. The challenge isn’t selecting the right technology—it’s redesigning the enterprise to govern, integrate, and continuously improve a digital workforce alongside human teams. This is a challenge Lean and operational excellence leaders are uniquely positioned to solve.
To continue our Lean Into AI series, transformation leader Sandeep Chennikara will join Steve Pereira for a conversation on agentic automation as an enterprise design challenge. They’ll discuss why every AI-enabled solution shouldn’t be considered an agent and where the real competitive advantage lies. The conversation will highlight how Lean capabilities such as systems thinking, operating model design, governance, and continuous improvement can evolve from optimizing human work to orchestrating human and digital work together.
Webinar attendees will gain:
- A practical approach for evaluating agentic automation beyond vendor claims and technology hype.
- A new perspective on how operational excellence, transformation, and Lean leaders can extend their expertise from process improvement to enterprise design.
- Actionable ideas for building the structures, governance, and operating capabilities needed to scale agentic automation responsibly.
Speakers
Sandeep Chennikara is a transformation leader with more than 15 years of experience driving measurable outcomes across large financial services organizations, with a focus on operating at the intersection of process and technology. He currently serves as Director of RPA and Automation at HUB International, one of the largest and fastest-growing insurance brokerages in the United States, where he is part of the AI & Automation organization focused on scaling automation and advancing AI-driven capabilities across the business.
At Discover Financial Services, Sandeep built and led a Finance Transformation Office and established an intelligent automation capability by evolving an RPA program into a broader automation function. He also led large-scale technology initiatives within the digital payments organization, working closely with product teams and implementing Agile operating models. Earlier in his career, he led Lean transformation initiatives at Liberty Mutual Insurance focused on improving operational performance at scale.
Sandeep holds an MBA from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a bachelor’s degree in business management from Purdue University.
Steve Pereira, emcee, is obsessed with making tech human and leveraging it to deliver continuous value. Steve has spent over two decades improving the flow of work across organizations. He’s worked through tech support, IT management, build and release engineering, and as a founding CTO for enterprise SaaS.
He serves as lead consultant for Visible Value Stream Consulting, as a board advisor to the Value Stream Management Consortium, Chair of the OASIS Value Stream Management Interoperability technical committee, and co-founder of the Flow Collective to bring flow-focused professionals together. Since 2017, he has been developing and facilitating Flow Engineering to make flow improvement in large organizations accessible, collaborative, and actionable.
Host Organizations
This series is part of the collaborative work of leading OpEx consortia under the shared initiative Future of People at Work:
- Catalysis
- Central Coast Lean
- Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership (GBMP)
- Imagining Excellence / Eyes to See
- Lean Enterprise Institute (LEI)
- Ohio State’s Center for Operational Excellence (COE)
- Shingo Institute
- Toyota Supplier Support Center (TSSC)
- The University of Kentucky Lean Systems Program
This initiative represents an unprecedented collaboration among leading improvement-focused organizations dedicated to building better ways of working together. Together, these networks are reimagining work and continuous improvement for a new era of technological change.
October 7 | 11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. | In-Person Workshop
Join the Center for Operational Excellence for an interactive workshop designed to introduce the fundamentals of the A3 problem-solving method—a structured, proven approach to tackling complex challenges and driving continuous improvement.
The workshop begins with an introduction to A3 Thinking, a structured approach to problem solving that underpins continuous improvement. Participants will learn how the A3 framework helps individuals and teams define problems, understand current conditions, identify root causes, and develop effective countermeasures. Rather than focusing on completing an A3 report, the workshop emphasizes the disciplined thinking behind the process, using the A3 as a tool to organize and communicate key insights.
Participants will apply these concepts through a guided case study before bringing one of their own organizational challenges to the workshop. Working in small groups with guidance from the instructors and input from peers, participants will practice using the A3 framework to analyze a real problem, refine their thinking, and develop a practical path forward.
In this workshop, participants will:
- Strengthen their problem solving skills using a structured, time tested methodology
- Apply data driven thinking to continuous improvement efforts
- Learn to identify root causes rather than treat symptoms
- Build clarity, alignment, and consensus around improvement opportunities
- Receive coaching and peer feedback in a collaborative learning environment
To get the most value from this session, participants should come prepared with a real organizational challenge, along with any relevant data or background information. Additional preparation guidance will be provided in advance.
This workshop is designed for individuals who are new to Lean or early in their continuous improvement journey. It is ideal for those seeking a practical introduction to A3 Thinking and a structured approach they can immediately apply in their work.
Whitney Mantonya is a Senior Lecturer in the Fisher College of Business Operations and Business Analytics Department, where she teaches Operations, undergraduate electives and in the Master’s of Operational Excellence program. Whitney serves as a mentor for the Pathways for Women in Supply Chain program and teaches in multiple Executive Education programs. Prior to joining Ohio State, Whitney worked with organizations as a leader and consultant to empower organizations including Mount Carmel Health System, Cardinal Health, and Nationwide Insurance to empower people and achieve extraordinary results through Operational Excellence. Whitney earned her BS in Business Administration from The Ohio State University and an MBA from the Baker College Center of Graduate Studies.
Jill Treece is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management Sciences. Treece began her career as a registered nurse and has nearly two decades in the healthcare industry. Her most recent role before joining Fisher, was the Director of Nursing for one of Central Ohio’s largest hospitals. In addition, she has experience with leading large hospital re-design and build projects, including leading teams through workflow design and optimizing patient flow. She has coached in Fisher’s Executive Education, Master of Business Operational Excellence program since 2015, and continues to teach in this program as well as several other offerings at the business school.
This is a limited-capacity, in-person only workshop on the campus of the Fisher College of Business. Please submit your interest using the form below. Participants will be selected from interest form submissions in coordination with COE board representatives from each member company. If you have been selected, you’ll receive an email by September 16.
October 21 | 12 – 1 p.m. | Zoom Webinar
Organizations are constantly pursuing improvement, launching initiatives, implementing new technologies, redesigning processes, and responding to changing customer needs. Yet many improvement efforts struggle to deliver lasting results. Initial gains fade, old habits return, and teams find themselves revisiting the same challenges months or years later.
One of lean's most enduring lessons is that sustainable improvement requires more than good ideas or successful projects. Lasting change is achieved by creating value for customers, eliminating barriers to performance, developing people, and building systems that support continuous improvement over time.
Join Kelly Reo, COE's Executive Director, for a practical exploration of the foundational lean principles and practices that continue to drive performance improvement across industries. Whether you're new to lean or simply looking to reconnect with the fundamentals, this session will explore how organizations create meaningful and sustainable improvement by:
- Defining value from the customer's perspective and aligning improvement efforts accordingly
- Identifying and eliminating waste that prevents value from flowing effectively
- Creating stable processes through standard work and visual management
- Building systems that support continuous improvement rather than one-time gains
- Developing leaders and teams through lean's principle of respect for people
Attendees will leave with practical ideas for creating improvement that delivers results, engages people, and stands the test of time.
Kelly Reo is Executive Director at the Center for Operational Excellence (COE) at The Ohio State University, a business consortium that connects organizations of all industries on their journeys to build and sustain a culture of problem solving and continuous improvement. Kelly’s passion for operational excellence stems from her 20 years in IT and business consulting – first as a program and project manager of strategic initiatives and business transformations for clients in financial services, utilities, retail, healthcare, and higher education – then as Vice President of Operations & Marketing. She is a committed leader with a proven track record of managing technology-enabled business transformations and managing and mentoring teams.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and a Master of Business Operational Excellence, both from The Ohio State University. Kelly also received a Marketing Management certificate from Harvard University and maintains several other certifications including the Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Black Belt.
Save the Date
September 23, 12 - 1 p.m. | Webinar - Topic and speaker to be announced!
December 4, 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. | 4th Annual AI Insights from Academia to Industry Event (Hybrid - In-Person at the Fawcett Center or via Zoom)
April 6 - 8, 2027 | COE Summit 2027