NWTC launches Lean Alliance
Northeast Wisconsin business leaders gathered on the campus of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College Dec. 3 for the launch of the NWTC Lean Alliance, a partnership between the college and Learning to Lean that will begin in 2025.
The alliance will hold its first meeting Jan. 17, and membership is open to any organization for $975 per year. Membership will provide access to at least four exclusive meetings, two business tours, ongoing tools and resources, and discounted admission to the third annual N.E.W. Lean Conference (Oct. 1 at NWTC). Up to five representatives from a member organization will be eligible to attend events as part of the alliance membership fee.
Katie Labedz, a Six Sigma Master Black Belt who is president and CEO of Learning to Lean, says the alliance aims to intentionally focus on Lean principles and provide opportunities to share ideas and best practices on an ongoing basis throughout the year. In her business, she says, customers are constantly asking for opportunities to learn what other organizations are doing and how to apply the principles. She approached NWTC with the idea to form the alliance based on that feedback.
Labedz adds the NWTC Lean Alliance will utilize non-disclosure agreements so that it can follow “Vegas Rules: What happens in the alliance stays in the alliance.”
Prior to the formation of the N.E.W. Lean Conference in 2022, there were no opportunities for Wisconsin professionals to meet around the topic of Lean. Neighboring states including Iowa and Michigan have Lean alliances, Labedz says, but the formation of the Lean Alliance is a first for Wisconsin. Labedz says alliance membership is open to everyone, whether they have prior Lean experience or are just getting started.
“The benefit of the concepts of Lean and Six Sigma is that they work anywhere, and there’s very few things in our life that you can say this toolset or these concepts can work in any industry,” Labedz says. “So we have customers from agriculture to health care to insurance to manufacturing and everything in between, and all of the concepts apply to make their processes save time and money.”
2025 NWTC Lean Alliance meetings will be held Jan. 17 (topic: cybersecurity), March 21 (tour of Green Bay Packaging), May 16 (topic: artificial intelligence), July 11 (tour of Hatco Corporation) and Nov. 14 (topic: key performance indicators).
More information about membership can be found online at events.nwtc.edu/corporate-training/event/detail/2025-lean-alliance-a25420.
— Kate Bruns
Water + Energy Forward grant funding stalls
The Water + Energy Forward Engine spearheaded by The Water Council to promote Wisconsin as a hub of water and energy innovation, which received a $1 million development award from the National Science Foundation in spring 2023, received the disappointing news this fall it has not been invited to submit a full proposal to the regional innovation engine program that provides up to $160 million in funding. In a Nov. 4 email announcing the decision, representatives said: “We will discuss our options to move forward on the strongest segments of the engine and explore new sources of funding. Meanwhile, our planning grant continues through spring 2025.”
Bakers sweep New North pitch contest
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New report details threats to state’s forest industry
Wisconsin Green Fire issued a report Dec. 9 listing the threats and opportunities for Wisconsin’s $37 billion forest products industry, issuing a call for new steps in forest conservation to address loss of tree species like ash, overbrowsing by whitetail deer, climate change and other significant threats. The full report is available on the WGF website at wigreenfire.org/opportunities-now-2024-wisconsin-forests-at-risk.
