LEVERAGING LEAN SIX SIGMA AND AI FOR HUMAN-CENTRED PROCESS OPTIMISATION IN UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT SERVICES

This paper examines systems design methodologies to enhance human-centred product-service systems by leveraging the transformative impact of engineering Lean Six Sigma techniques. It investigates the integration of AI within a university context, exploring how these approaches can; drive process improvements, optimise resource use, and deliver enhanced service outcomes for students, faculty, and staff. The study focuses on improving the efficiency of the placements booking process within engineering and design areas of a university located on the southern coast of the UK. Executed over 18 months, allowing both the implementation of improvements and the subsequent analysis of their effects throughout an academic period. This approach yielded a substantial corpus of quantitative data. The utilisation of key engineering tools such as; Stakeholder Mapping, SIPOC, Gemba walks Hypothesis Testing and Control Charts, played a pivotal role in streamlining processes. The initial study involved 142 students across two placement areas, with only approximately 40% managing to book their second Placement Review in a single email transaction. The remaining 60% required additional contact, consuming valuable staff time. The post implementation study involved 157 students across the same two placement areas, a comparable data set. It was found that an AI assisted booking system only reduced the number of students requiring further contact by 8.66%, not a significant figure. However, the real benefit of the new system was that the mean time to book the students Placement Review was decreased by 67.03%.