Category: MBOE

I recently had to take a friend to an urgent care facility in town after she broke out in hives and itchy skin, likely an allergic reaction to a food item. After making it into the exam room, the medical technician very efficiently completed the vitals and reconciled medication and past illness history. Next in was a physician’s assistant, who performed a quick assessment and confirmed our suspicions about the food allergy.

“Remember that you have the best knowledge, and you learned from the best.” These words came from a student wrapping up her capstone project for Fisher’s industry MBOE program, which ended its third intense and exhilarating year Saturday. This group of doctors, nurses, plant managers and administrators learned and shared principles of lean and applied them at their workplace, changing the way that work is done.

When I walk into a Giant Eagle, I know exactly where I can find my favorite multigrain Cheerios. I also know a box will be waiting for me when I want it. The logistical engineering behind making that happen never occurred to me until a recent presentation by Prof. Thomas Goldsby for our MBOE industry cohort on lean logistics.

In this week’s pre-graduation meeting for our MBOE industry cohort, Lawrence Inks, a guest lecturer and assistant professor of management and human resources at Fisher, shared some key thoughts on talent management. Organizations need talented people, Inks said, more than talented people need organizations. Talented people thrive anywhere, so it’s important to hunt them down and hire them but more important to retain them.  

After three long days over last week, the final day of the MBOE session’s first week came with wrap-ups from COE Executive Director Peg Pennington, Gary Butler and yours truly. Peg went over the basics of A3 problem solving and provided an overview on DMAIC to get the students ready for the six sigma in August.