2020 Shingo Research Award for Torbjørn Netland
Torbjørn Netland, Professor for Production and Operations Management at D-MTEC, has received the 2020 Shingo Research Award for his research on the S-curve theory of lean implementation. He shares the prize with Kasra Ferdows of Georgetown University, Washington D.C. This is the second time Torbjørn Netland has won this prestigious award.
Netland and external page Ferdows’ research appeared in two versions: a practitioner paper published in 2014 in MIT Sloan Management Review and a long version published in the flagship journal Production and Operations Management in 2016. The papers are the first to empirically test the pattern of performance improvement to be expected when deploying an operational excellence programme.
Through an in-depth investigation of the implementation of the Volvo Production System in 67 factories of AB Volvo, Netland and Ferdows developed an evidence-based theory that predicts how operational excellence programmes affect plant performance: the S-curve theory. The S-curve theory has important theoretical and practical implications for operational excellence, and this has now been recognised by the anonymous reviewers at the Shingo Institute.
“What distinguishes this very important research is that instead of starting from secondary literature and theory as many researchers do, the authors genuinely engage with and observe lean practice as it evolves over time in a leading organisation.”Daniel T. Jones, Founder and Chairman of the Lean Enterprise Academy, author of The Machine that Changed the World and Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation.
Torbjørn Netland and external page Kasra Ferdows will receive the award at the Shingo International Conference on 12 and 13 October 2020 in Orlando, Florida.
Literature
Shingo Research Award version of the MIT Sloan Management Review paper “What to Expect from a Lean Program”: Download download here.
About the Shingo Research Award
The external page Shingo Institute is the home of the external page Shingo Research Award, which recognises and promotes research and writing that has had a significant impact and advances the body of knowledge regarding operational excellence.
The Shingo Institute, based at Utah State University, is named after the Japanese quality guru Dr Shigeo Shingo (1909–1990). It is the world’s most renowned institute honouring individuals and organisations for their achievements related to operational excellence. With the award, the Shingo Institute recognises leading thinkers in the field of operational excellence.