In my experiences this week I continued examining the role of colleges and university in outreach to the business community. I gave a brief overview of the purpose of the Workforce Training and Economic Development division at NEMCC in a previous post, but that brief intro only gave a small window into the larger role of institutions of higher learning in assisting industry in continued growth.
I have discovered that many institutions of higher learning, including my own, offer training to company employees in quality control/management practices, particularly the approach adopted by Toyota known as Lean. Lean Manufacturing, in its various iterations, centers on the elimination of wasteful practices and is intended to improve every aspect of an organization through teaching employees to examine how problems/processes flow from the start of a process to the end product. The training of this approach to quality control entails a rigorous series of workshops that usually culminate in the completion of a project at a company.
The point that has become a vital point of outreach/revenue for colleges and universities in recent years is to offer Lean training to clients within the larger community. The role of the institution is to facilitate on-site training in Lean techniques followed by the awarding of non-credit credentials as proof of a recognized professional certification for a company's employees. Thus, the mission of the university/community college to serve the general public is fulfilled in addition to the building of crucial industrial partners for future collaborations.
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