UB TCIE announces fall schedule of business improvement classes

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Fall offerings from the University at Buffalo’s TCIE feature new business improvement classes for professionals working in any industry, as well as early bird pricing for two popular certification courses.

All 10 courses, which range from a half-day seminar to a nine-month program, assist professionals with improving personal and company performance. New topics include mitigating company risk, creating and managing instructional documents and conducting a design of experiments.

The discount, available until July 31, is applicable for the Certified Lean Professional (CLP) and Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Transactional (CLSSBBT) trainings. Savings equate to $100 for CLP and $400 for CLSSBBT.

Registration is on a first-serve basis. The deadlines are one week before the respective class start date. TCIE course details are as follows:

• CLP – 6-9 p.m. on Mondays, Sept. 15 to Dec. 8 (except Oct. 13 and Nov. 24); and Jan. 5 and Feb. 5 for project mentoring. The 39-hour course is offered at UB’s Baird Research Park, 1576 Sweet Home Rd., Amherst. It introduces participants to the Lean methodology of saving money and reducing waste by identifying unnecessary processes.

• Strategic Project Selection – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 17 at the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center, 2402 North Forest Rd., Amherst. This course targets professionals who are interested in launching an improvement project at their company, but are unsure where to start and how to gain maximum impact.

• CLSSBBT – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 22, Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Nov. 3-6, Dec. 1-4, Jan. 5-8 and Feb. 2-5 at the Ramada. This course is designed for people interested in mastering the Six Sigma methodology and process improvement tools at a high level. While applicable across all disciplines, it was developed with service industry businesses in mind and incorporates finance, government and health care examples.

• Root Cause Analysis and Corrective Action – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 1 at the Ramada. This program is designed to improve the problem-solving skills at all employee levels by providing an understanding of the processes and techniques for determining the root cause of a nonconformance and the corrective action needed to prevent the problem from occurring again.

• Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) – 8 a.m. to noon on Oct. 8 at the Ramada. Participants will learn about the ERM framework and opportunities, challenges and recent trends regarding risk management, control and governance processes.

• Documentation and Control – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Ramada. Participants will learn the characteristics of effective instructional documentation (such as procedures, work instructions and standard operating procedures) and the process of document control.

• 3-Day ISO 9001:2008 Internal Auditor – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 21-23 at the Ramada. Participants learn about the ISO 9001:2008 standard, audit activities and techniques, objective evidence to gather and expectations of third-party external auditors in determining compliance.

• Minitab Software – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 28 at the Ramada. This training navigates participants through the statistical tools of Minitab^® software, so that they may comfortably manipulate data and solve problems.

• “What is Your Data Telling You?” – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 5 at the Ramada. This course explores the basic tenets of drawing value from data, and how the resulting analysis is helpful in making better decisions to improve the bottom line.

• Design of Experiments (DOE) – 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Nov. 19-20 at the Ramada. This course educates participants in the Six Sigma problem-solving tool of DOE, which identifies factors most important to the success of an improvement project.

Course details and registration are available on the TCIE website, or contact Mariah Glass, TCIE training program coordinator, at 716-645-8840 or mariahgl@buffalo.edu for more information.

TCIE is Western New York's bridge to excellence; it provides a dynamic link between UB’s expert resources and the region’s business community. Its core focus on engineering solutions and operational excellence drives continual improvements, and ignites innovation and technological advantages. For more information on how TCIE can assist Western New York businesses, visit www.tcie.buffalo.edu or call 716-645-8800.