Palooza Tuesday Archive

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A continuous improvement movement has slowly been sweeping the higher education landscape as more and more institutions seek ways to become faster, better and more cost-effective in servicing their students and community alike. Underpinning this effort is Lean Six Sigma, a proven methodology that provides a common language and framework that promotes bottom-up problem solving and collaboration across the organization. The end result is an engaged staff working together to implement meaningful solutions, no matter how big or how small, ultimately allowing us to focus more on what matters most.

Panelists (click for bios)

Katie Mankins (moderator)
Director of Special Projects, Office of the CIO, UC Santa Barbara

Eura Szuwalski
Business Systems Project Manager, College of Letters & Science IT, UC Santa Barbara
 
Dr. Eric Olsen, Ph.D.
Area Chair, Industrial Technology and Packaging Director, Central Coast Lean, Cal Poly - Orfalea College of Business
 
Brad Sollenberger
Strategic Initiatives Manager, UC San Diego
 
Chris DeMarco
Sr. Business Process Analyst, UC Berkeley
 
Marc Myers
Consultant, Former Director of Process Improvement Programs at San Diego State University

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Over the past few months, UC San Diego has leveraged a continuous improvement mindset and support system it has crafted through the years to help propel the organization forward in these challenging and uncertain times.

From training over 3,200 staff and faculty in Lean Six Sigma’s process improvement methodology to implementing a complete transformation of healthcare operations, we have developed numerous initiatives that together have become the foundation for our continuous improvement success. 

Please join this session to hear from our dedicated Triton team members who are the force behind these impactful programs. We will highlight our process improvement successes that have amounted to tens of millions in savings annually and share our lessons learned. Come away with new insights and inspiration that can help you begin or advance your own continuous improvement journey.

Panelists:

Ahren Crickard, panel moderator
Strategic Academic Initiatives, Office of the EVC, UC San Diego

Melani W. Roberson, Business Excellence Community of Practice (BECOP) representative 
Senior Strategy and Innovation Analyst, UC San Diego 

Prachi Raheja, Lean Bench representative
Continuous Improvement Program Lead, UC San Diego

Tony Nava, Operational Strategic Initiatives representative 
Strategic Initiatives Program Analyst, UC San Diego

Matthew Helton, Transformational Healthcare representative
Program Manager, Transformational Healthcare

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A self-supporting, independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has more than half a million employees responsible for delivering 47% of the world’s mail to over 155 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes per year. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its $69 billion operation. So how do they do it?

At the Postal Service, continuous improvement is used to solve problems large and small to simplify processes, reduce costs, make employees’ jobs easier and improve the customer’s experience.   

Please join this session to learn about USPS’s inspiring continuous improvement journey, and how its principles are being employed to help navigate through times of disruption.

Panelists:

Steven Mummy
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, United States Postal Service

Rick G. Thompson
Pacific Area Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, United States Postal Service