When we hired Dr. Rick Edgeman as the director of research at the Shingo institute, he and I discussed how we could improve the process of improvement. I wrote about how critical it is to engage the research community in this effort in my February 2017 blog, “Improving Improvement.” With Rick’s vast experience in the academic world, he suggested that we create a vehicle for publishing scholarly works – i.e., journal articles – in special issues of key academic journals. The plan is to sponsor one or two special issues each year.
Rick and I had this conversation in late 2015. The wheels of progress in academia sometimes move slowly, but the wheels move with purpose, with care, and with thoroughness. The review and edit process typically takes about a year from the time an article is submitted for consideration until it is published in an academic journal. In the meantime, it is reviewed by the editorial team, as well as by several reviewers, and rewritten several times.
I am pleased to announce that the first Shingo-supported special issue academic journal is now hot off the press. Rick worked with the academic journal, Measuring Business Excellence, to publish this first special issue. In addition to Rick, the special issue was edited by Michael Bourne, professor of business performance in the Cranfield School of Management at Cranfield University; Umit Bititci, professor of business performance at Heriot-Watt University; and Sai Nudurupati, reader in operations management at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Here are the articles in this first special issue:
We express our appreciation to Rick, the editors who contributed their time and talents, and to the scholars who chose our journal special issue as the vehicle to share their new research insights with the world. We look forward to featuring other scholars in future special issues.
