Collaboration NOM and RUG in International Lean Project

Within the framework of the European project European Regions for Innovative Productivity (ERIP), NOM and the RUG - Faculty of Economics and Business - will start a collaboration. Together with other regions in England, Germany, Belgium, Norway and Sweden, a so-called Lean Change Methodology is developed in order to improve production processes in SME companies.

This methodology is developed on the basis of best practices in the participating regions. The aim of the three-year project is to develop and test a lean approach for the realization of productivity improvements. SME companies in the North of the Netherlands are expected to benefit much from this project.

NOM

“This project aims to develop a valuable and usable Lean Change Methodology for SME companies which does currently not exist and which can be applied to companies in the partner regions and beyond”, according to Folkert van der Meulen, project manager Development & Innovation at NOM.

FEB

On behalf of the RUG, the Faculty of Economics and Business (RUG FEB) participates in the ERIP programme. The role of the RUG is to do research into the use of these kinds of methods, to evaluate the methods used in this project and to further develop these methods for SMEs. Warse Klingenberg, project manager on behalf of the RUG: “Also SMEs are looking for the optimization of the production process, but the well-known lean methods focus largely on bigger companies.”

In total, the programme consists of 9 partners, among which are institutes from Germany, Denmark, Sweden, England and Belgium. NOM is the Dutch partner in ERIP, which is financed by various sources, including the Interreg regulation, a contribution from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and from NOM itself. RUG FEB is NOM’s research partner in the project. In addition to NOM and RUG, a number of Northern companies with a lot of experience in lean implementations will be asked to put in their expertise. This will result in a great combination of practical experience and knowledge, with which northern companies will be able to strengthen their competitive position.

Information

N.V. NOM, Folkert van der Meulen (050) 521 44 94 
RUG, Warse Klingenberg (050) 363 74 91