Ed Arnheiter

Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1997
M.S., Engineering Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1994
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Union College (NY), 1983

Research Expertise
Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Quality Control, Continuous Improvement

Areas of Expertise
Business Analytics, Operations Management, Statistics

Ed Arnheiter possesses a unique combination of industrial, consulting, and higher education experience spanning a 30-year period. He is currently a lecturer with the GSM, teaching Data Analysis for Managers and Managing Operational Excellence in the part-time MBA programs (Bay Area and Sacramento). He started his association with the GSM in 2015, teaching the MBA Math Camp and Quantitative Fundamentals boot camp classes.

Arnheiter values experiential learning and uses a variety of pedagogical elements. He often incorporates his own case studies or journal articles as part of the course material. Similarly, if his consulting work is applicable to the classroom discussion, he will incorporate the material. For example, he might offer some interesting examples from Chevron Corp. and explain the approach he used to make processes better, faster, cheaper, and safer. He also values hands-on class exercises that make learning fun and engaging, reinforce fundamental principles, and improve retention.

In addition to his role as a GSM lecturer, Arnheiter is an instructor at Keck Graduate Institute (one of the seven Claremont Colleges) and a clinical professor at Drexel University in the Department of Decision Sciences and MIS. He held several prior faculty appointments, including at the University of the Pacific and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has taught numerous graduate and undergraduate courses spanning operations management, statistics, data analytics, quality control and Six Sigma, supply chain management, project management, production methods, management science, and operations research.

He is the principal consultant for Arnheiter Consulting LLC, which focuses on improving operations and reducing waste by applying continuous process improvement methods. He is also a senior consultant for the ARGO-EFESO Group, a French-based global firm specializing in operational excellence. His consulting experience includes medical device manufacturing, aerospace and defense, oil and gas, healthcare, industrial and consumer products, and food processing.

He earned graduate degrees in industrial engineering and engineering management, an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering, and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. He is a subject matter expert in the history, theory, and practice of quality, continuous improvement, and the Toyota Production System. Arnheiter also has 11 years of full-time industry experience, where his work included developing and monitoring quality plans for high-precision machined components, supervising supplier quality, managing two field-testing sites, supervising welding and fabrication operations, and running a product-testing lab.

Awards

• Case Writing Awards Winner in the Continuous Improvement: the Journey to Excellence Category, European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) for the case study; “Kaiser Permanente: Creating the No-Wait Emergency Department,” 2017.
• Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Fellow Award, LeBow College of Business, Drexel University. Appointed Fellow, Center for Teaching Excellence (two-year term ending October 2016), 2014.
• Outstanding Service Award, Connecticut Quality Council (CQC), awarded at the CQC Quality Symposium, 2005.
• Alpha Pi Mu; The Industrial Engineering Honor Society, inducted December 1996.