April 2019
Farewell to Al Ryan-
Miami University’s Director of Lean Initiatives
Al Ryan will begin the next chapter in his life on April 30th as he retires from Miami University. He will leave behind a legacy of continuous improvement and has had a major impact on Miami’s Lean program. During his time as Director of Lean Initiatives, Al assisted in the development of Lean training which has now been provided to over 3,000 Miami faculty and staff. He has encouraged 200 staff members who have entered the Lean Leader Certification program and celebrated with the 79 that completed the program. In addition, Al’s input was critical to the development of a Lean organizational support system and during his tenure the Lean office transitioned from tracking projects on an Excel spreadsheet to developing a database to manage the entire life cycle of a continuous improvement project from Lean idea submission to project completion. To date, over 1800 ideas have been submitted and have resulted in the completion of 1507 projects for a total financial impact to the University of over $83M. In addition, Al has paid it forward by sharing Miami’s Lean journey with countless schools and universities.
Through all this, Al Ryan’s commitment to Miami’s Lean principles has never wavered. One of those principles is to grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work, live the philosophy and teach it to others. Al Ryan most certainly embodies that principle.
A few words from Al Ryan as he closes out this chapter in his long career- “I would like to thank Miami for the opportunity to be a part of Miami’s Lean journey. I have appreciated the hard work that hundreds of Miami employees have completed over the past ten years in order to make Miami University one of the best universities in the country for education and efficiency! I would also like to say thank you to the Miami leadership in supporting the program and their investment in employees. A special thanks to Dr. Creamer for this support and leadership as our Lean Champion.”