Chamber of Commerce, Salina Regional Announce Landmark Training Partnership

Representatives with both the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce and Salina Regional Health Center were on hand on Thursday morning to announce a landmark partnership benefiting many chamber members.

The two organizations announced the implementation of a partnership for Six Sigma training program which will be of no cost for members of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mark Ritter and Don Weiser were on hand representing the chamber alongside Salina Regional Health Center Quality Improvement Director, Brian Weisel, who all announced that as part of Six Sigma, those enrolled in the program can receive either a Yellow Belt or Green Belt in Lean Academy training.

Lean Manufacturing, Lean Production, or simply Lean is a methodology that focuses on eliminating waste and improving processes in order to create more value for customers. Toyota perfected these principles over many decades to become one of the largest automakers in the world. The company’s success created a demand for knowledge about Lean thinking, which has spread beyond manufacturing and distribution to many other sectors including retail, construction, maintenance, health care and government.

“The principles of Lean are universally applicable. It doesn’t matter you’re baking bread, manufacturing automobiles, providing a service or taking care of patients; eliminating waste in our processes and pursuing perfection by making continuous improvements cuts across all business sectors,” said Weisel.

After more than five years since implementing the business principles made famous in the Japanese manufacturing industry, SHRC’s Quality Improvement Department surpassed two noteworthy milestones in July 2018, training more than 1,100 people across Kansas in Lean methodology and executing more than 1,000 Lean projects within its own organization.

SRHC’s Lean Academy Yellow Belt and Green Belt programs are designed to teach Lean fundamentals as students are trained to improve their understanding and ability to apply the tools and techniques and integrate Lean into an overall approach to process improvement and project management.

The Yellow Belt training coarse is an eight hour, one day course while the Green Belt program is more in depth and includes approximately 32 hours of academic curriculum and training. Both programs will assist small and large organizations looking to identify opportunities to improve their business processes, increase revenue and reduce costs.

“The chamber is proud and excited to partner with Salina Regional Health Center on this unique and innovative partnership,” Weiser said. “We are excited to be able to offer another great training avenue to our membership to continue to grow the professional skills of the workforce in the Salina area.”

The two organizations have already been convincing, as they already have someone signed up for the course that includes teachings of the seven wastes of business. Weisel said that besides SRHC, Phillips has implemented the principles of Lean into its procedure. Central Kansas Foundation has also sent some employees to train through the program set up by the hospital.

While members of the chamber are offered to participate in the training for free as added value to their memberships, non-members must pay to enroll in the Six Sigma program. However, Weisel says that the rates offered are very competitive.

The partnership with SRHC’s Lean Academy will begin in Sept. 2018 with training seats available to chamber member organizations. For more information or to reserve your spot, please contact the SRHC Lean Academy Registrar, Toni Schlabach at 785-452-6794 or [email protected].