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August 22, 2005 Volume 30, Issue 3 |
New program helps streamline departments
The Department of Human Resources Management has become a hands-on learning lab for Six Sigma program participants by guiding its development while deploying the methodology on campus.
The Six Sigma Certificate Program teaches students how to blend problem-solving and quality-control techniques into the practice of their profession. The Bagley College of Engineering received more than $500,000 from the 3M Co. earlier this year to establish the program, designed to provide students with industry’s latest customer satisfaction training through quality control. St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M introduced the business process methodology more than three years ago to help the company achieve excellence in all of its business processes.
The diversified technology company praises Six Sigma for bringing “a systematic, root-cause analysis to problem-solving with a common language our people use on a global basis.”
The engineering college and HRM recently worked to improve the system affecting critical paperwork for newly hired and existing employees by using the Six Sigma method. In this case, proper routing of paperwork coming in to HRM is critical to ensuring employees are paid on time and correctly.
Process improvements implemented so far include developing standard operating procedures and newly designed training programs for departments. To measure success, the team will collect new data and use updated statistical reports to determine if the new process is making a difference. Cross-functional teams in HRM will continue to work on internal processes with additional projects chartered.
Currently, Six Sigma Director Larry Dalton is working on projects involving the Division of Finance and Administration.
For information on participating in the program, telephone Dalton at 325-3865.