01/16/04
Tech Employees Achieve Master Black Belt Certification

On January 16th 2004 after 10 months of intense training and development three Tech Group employees, Mike Kobashi, Tom McLean and Jerry Schmidt attained their Master Black Belt Certification. "This is a major milestone for the company" say Mike Treadaway, VP of Manufacturing Operations. "We now have the expertise and resources within the company to train and certify employees. This will not only eliminate the high cost of outside consulting, but it will also allow us to become even more focused as we drive the Six Sigma culture throughout the company".

The Master Black Belt certification requirements include working a project and 6 weeks of training spread over a 6 month period. During this time, not only are advanced topics covered, but each candidate must practice and successfully teach each Black Belt training module. In addition, they must develop a training module, mentor and certify Green & Black Belts, and successfully complete a Six Sigma project.

Mike Kobashi also serves as Director of Process Excellence with a team of two Master Black Belts (Tom & Jerry) and 4 Black Belts. This group heads of all 6 Sigma Lean training & mentoring for TGNA and provide 6 Sigma problem solving support wherever needed. The ultimate objective of this team is to change the culture by helping people understand and use 6 Sigma Lean as a regular part of doing business. "We are all very excited about this accomplishment and look forward to using these new skills to help bring the organization to a higher level" says Kobashi.

Congratulation to Mike, Tom & Jerry for a job well done!