Course Director of MSc/HDiploma/HCerts in Medical Technology Regulatory Affairs

University of Galway Operational Excellence Research Group Lead

Title: Operational Excellence, the Circular Economy and Sustainability – optimising the supply chain and saving the planet…..one step at a time!

Description: Operational Excellence has transformed our manufacturing and supply chains and has evolved from Lean Six Sigma into Lean-Green, Green LSS, and Lean-Sustainability, with Design for Lean Six Sigma  (DFSS and DFLSS) principles being increasingly applied to solve problems related to enhancing sustainability and the circular economy, as well as reducing organisations’ environmental impact. OpEx tools and frameworks can be integrated into sustainability and supply chain programs to reduce packaging, environmental waste, carbon footprints, and improve circularity or design sustainable processes right first time.  There are many synergies between OpEx and Sustainability, and OpEx tools are well-suited to addressing societal, sustainability and supply chain circularity challenges.
What tools of OpEx work best, what approaches are being taken by OpEx practitioners in addressing sustainability challenges?. Dr McDermott will present recent empirical research from different organisations showing how they leveraged OpEx to rethink sustainability.