Lean Operations Management MSc/PG Dip/PG Cert

About the course

This course is specially designed to meet the need for able graduates with technical, operational, business and/or management backgrounds who are ideally suited to a management role in operations improvement. If you have an enthusiasm for operations management and continuous improvement, want to learn the very latest lean operations management theory and practice, and see yourself progressing into a management role then this is the ideal course for you.

The course provides the distinctive blend of lean technical skills, business and management knowledge, and facilitation & change management skills for successful management of the design, implementation and sustained improvement of lean operations within a wide range of industrial, service and administrative organisations. It takes a holistic and strategic view of lean operations management, concentrating on the latest lean 6-sigma techniques and change management practices. The course is distinctive in that it is delivered by human resource management and lean operations professionals from the Faculties of Technology and Business & Law.

We invite applications from people with a wide variety of backgrounds. No previous lean, operations or management experience is needed, but you will need some aptitude for decision analysis and problem solving. The most essential requirements are an enthusiasm for the subject and an enquiring mind.

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Key facts

Start Date: September or January (please contact the Admissions Team for further information)

Duration: One year full-time (with optional one year placement available), three years part-time

Institution code: D26

Entry and admission criteria

You should have the equivalent of a British Honours degree (2:2 minimum) in a relevant subject.

We are happy to consider equivalent qualifications from anywhere in the world.

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 6.0 or equivalent when you start the course is essential. English Language tuition, delivered by our British Council accredited Centre for English Language Learning|, is available both before and throughout the course if you need it.

If you have no formal academic qualifications but do have extensive industry experience we will consider your application on an individual basis.

If you feel you would like to talk to us about your qualifications before submitting an application please do not hesitate to call or email using the contact details below.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching will include formal lectures, tutorials and labs. You will also be expected to undertake independent study and research to support your assignments and dissertation/project. Assessment will be by various group and individual methods including exams, projects, presentations, written essays and reports.

Course modules

There will be two or three week vacations at Christmas and New Year (December/January) and Easter (March/April), and some students also take a brief break in June or July before completing their dissertation.

First semester (October to January)

During the first semester you will study four modules:

• Research Methodology provides the knowledge and skills development required to support the Dissertation and Individual Project as well as learning outcomes within taught modules that build capabilities involving gaining knowledge and undertaking analysis through research. You will learn to apply data collection techniques appropriate for research in management and business, along with techniques for the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data required to analyse operations-based lean change
• Operations Analysis & Lean Process Design provides knowledge, understanding and capabilities that enable critical analysis and redesign, using lean operations improvement practices, of work environments, within industrial, administrative and service sectors
• Corporate Performance Management make use of a contemporary managerial accounting perspectives to provide students with the capability to monitor and manage performance of business administrations whilst providing a strategic business context for the adoption of lean operations
• Facilitating Lean & Continuous Improvement provides knowledge, understanding and capabilities that enable successfully facilitation of the creative problem solving processes underpinning the design of lean processes and operations solutions, and the knowledge and skills to bridge the ‘facilitation’ barrier between the design of lean processes and their practical implementation and sustained usage

Second semester (February to May)

During the Second semester you will study four further modules:

• Global Operations & Logistics Excellence provides knowledge, understanding and capabilities that enable critical analysis of existing operations and logistics systems and the advanced methods needed to design and manage lean-based supply chains
• Managing Organisational Change provides a critical examination of change and its management in contemporary organisations. It explores competing theories and models of change as a basis for theoretical understanding and practical intervention. The module compares and analyses the way change is being managed in a number of different and contrasting organisational contexts, e.g. profit and not-for-profit, professionalised and internationalised organisations
• Quality & Operations Performance Management provides knowledge, understanding and capabilities that enable the critical analysis of the cost, quality, environmental, delivery and lead time performance requirements of lean-based enterprises and to identify and implement appropriate quantity, rate, timing, lead time and range metrics that enable monitoring, control and improvement of lean performance
• Contemporary Issues in Management & Operations introduces the latest management ideas, theories and practice at the heart of contemporary global enterprises whether manufacturing or service based

Third semester (June to September)

During the final semester you will have a choice of undertaking a lean management-based dissertation or a lean operations based individual project chosen by you and agreed with your project supervisor. Part-time students normally choose to work on their project over an entire academic year.

Academic expertise

Four internationally recognised research groups contribute their state-of-art research to the programme. These are the Lean Engineering Research Group whose specialities are the introduction of lean within highly variable operational environments and autonomous planning and the Contemporary Work and Employment Relations, International and Comparative HRM and Organisational Development & Change research groups who investigate contemporary approaches to evaluating employee experiences and responses to changing organisational conditions, interactions between the forces of globalisation and national business institutions and the effects of change on professional and managerial roles.

Work experience and placements

We offer a great opportunity to boost your career prospects through an optional work placement as part of your postgraduate studies. We have a dedicated Placements Unit

to help you obtain this. Once on your placement, you will be supported by your Visiting Tutor to ensure that you gain your maximum benefit from the experience. Placements begin after the taught component of the course has been completed – usually around June – and lasts for one year. When you return from your work placement you will begin your dissertation.

Graduate careers

We take pride in producing extremely employable graduates for business, government and research. Past students from the Faculties of Technology and Business & Law are now working in a wide variety of organisations all over the world, from small consultancies to large, multinational companies. Typical roles Lean Operations Management postgraduates could apply for include Lean Operations Managers, Logistics/Supply Chain Managers, Lean Operations Consultants, Continuous Improvement Managers.

Fees and funding

Annual Tuition Fees for Higher Education Courses from 1st September 2013 to 31st August 2014.

Full-time UK/EU Postgraduate Courses Standard Fees £4,200 Postgraduate Placement Year Fee £650 Students Equivalent or Lower Qualification Status* £5,000 Overseas
Postgraduate Courses Standard Fees £12,200 Postgraduate Placement Year Fee £750 Part-time (where available) Part-time fees are charged on a credit basis, you will need to complete 180 credits over the course of an MSc programme. 15 Credits £350 Students Equivalent or Lower Qualification Status* 15 Credits
£420 Continuation Fee** £150

For more information please take a look at our Funding| section.

* ELQ Student definition - If you are a Home or EU status student and you already have a qualification at or above the level of the programme you wish to study from any country you will be considered as an Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) student. In 2008 the UK Government decided to stop funding universities for student in this situation and therefore the following fees will apply £5,000. Students from outside the EU are not affected by the policy.

** A fee that is charged on a periodic basis where PG or Research students need to extend their registration to complete the course.

Scholarships

Are you a DMU Alumni? Receive up to £2000 off your Tuition Fees*

As part of the University’s on-going commitment to enhance the personal and career development of graduates, we are pleased to announce that from this September the University will be introducing The Faculty of Technology Alumni Scholarship| which will allow graduates to receive up to £2000 off tuition fees* for Postgraduate study.