Sept. 5, 2006 issue

I've worked for Eastern Michigan University for more than a decade. I began in the World College and then made the transition to Corporate Training. The Center for Quality provides noncredit quality assurance training to corporations to teach them the tools and process improvement guidelines to meet their customers' requirements.

Quality tools and process improvement can help any industry — manufacturing, service, healthcare and, of course, education. Mapping out a process helps an organization become leaner and more process-driven. As a result, there is improved consistency and efficiency, and they are better equipped to find opportunities for continuous improvement.

Customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal for quality in any organization. When you receive feedback from your customers, you learn where you need to improve, and good quality translates to cost savings. The EMU Centers for Corporate Training have been registered to the ISO 9001 quality standard for nearly seven years, which assures our clients that we practice what we preach. The Center for Quality promotes the University to the nontraditional student — working individuals who want to return to school to complete a degree, pursue a master's degree or learn new tools and techniques.

I work at EMU because I am proud of our community and proud to be part of an institution that is embarking on its own continuous improvement journey. As part of the University's Continuous Improvement team, I know it will take hard work and dedication, but I am confident that we will be successful in finding better and more efficient ways to serve the student population.

By continually assessing and improving services, the University can be more responsive to changing student needs. EMU is primed at this point to take this journey to become leaner, find efficiencies and search out areas where processes can be improved.

 

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