The Shingo Institute recently gained a new director of research. Rick Edgeman, Ph.D. joined the Shingo Institute at Utah State University in August 2015 as research director and clinical professor of management. His role at the Shingo Institute is to conduct studies and help us bridge the gap between scholarly knowledge and practical application.
Dr. Edgeman continues to serve as a visiting professor of quality management in the Industrial Engineering & Management Division at Uppsala University in Sweden, and sustainability and enterprise performance at Aarhus University in Denmark. His areas of expertise are in sustainable enterprise excellence, six sigma innovation and design, quality management, and social-ecological innovation.
With a doctoral degree in statistics and minors in management science and geo-statistics from the University of Wyoming, Dr. Edgeman’s work experience has spanned a wide range of business, engineering and science schools in the U.S. and abroad. A serial academic innovator, Dr. Edgeman created a graduate Six Sigma Innovation & Design certificate program, led M.S. statistical science curriculum innovation enabling full online degree provision, and contributed to creating the VIEW Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Idaho, where he served as professor and head of the Statistical Science Department. He introduced significant innovation in the QUEST Honors Fellows Program at the University of Maryland that enabled 80% growth, and introduced M.S. and Ph.D. programs in quality and reliability management at the University of North Texas.
A six sigma black belt, Dr. Edgeman has been a visiting professor in the Quality & Environmental Management Division at Luleå University (Sweden), EMBA visiting professor at Università della Svizzera Italiana (University of Italian Switzerland) and invited professor at the Versailles Business School – University of Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines (France). He frequently presents international keynote addresses and lectures and is one of only six academics selected for inclusion among 21 Voices of Quality for the 21st Century (American Society for Quality: 2000).
Dr. Edgeman previously acted as the founding executive director of the Multinational Alliance for the Advancement of Organizational Excellence and served from 2002 to 2012 on the Academic Advisory Council of Hamdan Bin Mohamed Smart University in Dubai (UAE). He has served on multiple editorial review boards and is currently the associate editor of Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. Dr. Edgeman is also a member of the advisory board for the Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship Conference.
Housed at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, the Shingo Institute is named after Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo. Shingo distinguished himself as one of the world’s thought leaders in concepts, management systems and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Business System.
Drawing from Shingo’s teachings and years of experience working with organizations throughout the world, the Shingo Institute has developed the Shingo Model™ which is the basis for several educational offerings including workshops, study tours and conferences. It also awards and recognizes organizations that demonstrate an exceptional culture that continually strives for improvement and progress.
The Shingo Institute offers workshops through its nine licensed affiliates in multiple languages. For more information on the workshops, affiliates or in registering to attend the International Shingo Conference, visit www.shingo.org.
