The Shingo Prize is the most prestigious award in the field of lean engineering. This second Shingo Prize for Oppenheim, who won it along with 13 co-authors, is for the book “The Guide to Lean Enablers for Managing Engineering Programs” that integrates the domains of program management, systems engineering and lean thinking. Lean seeks to maximize value while reducing waste through intelligent, systematic and comprehensive optimization of resources.

Oppenheim won it the first time, along with two co-authors, for their publication “Lean Enablers for Systems Engineering,” which was published in the Journal for Systems Engineering (2009). 

The prize is given by the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. The authors will receive the award at the 25th Annual Shingo Prize International Conference held in Provo, Utah, the week of May 6-10, 2013.

“Receipt of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award signifies authors’ significant contribution to the body of knowledge surrounding operational excellence,” saidRobert Miller, executive director of The Shingo Prize. “The intent is to motivate others to learn from them.”

“The Guide to Lean Enablers for Managing Engineering Programs” is based on the findings of a one-year project executed by experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project Management Institute and the International Council on Systems Engineering during 2011 and 2012. The guide identifies 43 “lean enablers” with 326 sub-enablers or best practices that organizations can utilize to increase efficiency and eliminate wasteful activities. Organizations that have implemented even a few enablers reported improvements in cost, schedule, quality and stakeholder satisfaction.

The book was edited by Dr. Josef Oehmen of MIT, and Oppenheim contributed about  half of the material.

The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence is named after Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo, who distinguished himself as one of the leading thinkers in the world in developing concepts, management systems and improvement techniques that have become known as the Toyota Business System.

In addition to the Shingo prize, Oppenheim has been the recipient of a Fulbright Lecturing Award to support talks given in Poland, Italy, Russia, Norway and Sweden in 2011; an INCOSE Best Product Award; as well as the Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the Los Angeles Council of Scientists and Engineers in 2007. Oppenheim, a faculty member for 32 years in the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at LMU, is a Fellow of the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering.