Two major activities in Corporate Services this summer have been the kickoffs for our Operational Excellence program and the summer internships.
Following up on her presentation at the June town hall meeting, here is a summary from Holly Grissom of the work completed on Operational Excellence so far and what to expect next over the next few months:
Lone Star is excited to partner with Duggan Associates, an Operational Excellent Consultant company. In early June, we finished phase 1 (of 2) when Robert McAleer visited Grand Prairie and Georgetown to understand the following three processes: Sales to Design, Project Management Planning, and Field Operations. His feedback was excellent, “Lone Star has been building the foundation of Operational Excellence over the last two years, this will make the results of Phase 2 even better.” Phase 2 will begin July 24th when volunteers from Sales, Engineering, Account Managers, and Accounting will gather for training on Operational Excellence and to create the future state of our Sales through the Design process. Phase 2 will continue in the second and third weeks of September as we bring in Operations, Engineering, CAS, Programming/IT, and Accounting, to train and create future states for Project Management Planning and Field Operations. And the best news is, these three processes are only the beginning for Lone Star.
As we head into phase 2, I want to remind everyone that if you ever come across any process that you think is not working properly or if you have any suggestions for process improvements, you can email the suggestions to QM@lonestarcom.com. Depending on the suggestion, it will either be used during the continuous improvement process, investigated by our ISO QM subcommittee, or recommended for immediate implementation.
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And from Trey Meador, here is an overview of our Ignite internship program and a little bit about each of the interns:
After the pandemic, NSCA reignited the Ignite internship program (see what I did there?). If you’re unaware of the program, it is part of a larger initiative to introduce our niche industry to upcoming talent from our high schools and universities. In addition to that, the initiative and program also target job seekers looking for a career change.
This year, we have three talented individuals who share a love of technology but are also still exploring what they want to do with it. During the first two weeks, they had a hectic schedule that emulated a standard process flow for a project and visited every department. After that, they chose which departments they wanted to focus on. For the rest of the summer, they will each be doing three-week rotations in their chosen departments. The idea is to gradually release them from shadowing to participating in department responsibilities.
Grand Prairie
Ryan Decker, University of North Texas
Ryan is a student at the University of North Texas and is from Mansfield, Texas. He enjoys working in a team environment, and he believes his time with the Ignite internship will allow him to further develop an understanding of communications technology and continue to develop interpersonal skills. He has limited work experience with Mansfield ISD and Mouser Electronics but a demonstrated learning focus on IT.
Houston
Aruf Ali, University of Texas in Austin (Pronunciation: a-roof)
Aruf is a student at the University of Texas but lives in Sugarland, Texas. He has several internship experiences and has worked as a math and reading tutor. He has experience developing applications and has an interest in furthering his understanding of life communication technology. Aruf is also an Eagle Scout.
Georgetown
Hussain Aldulaimi, Austin Community College
Hussain is an Austin Community College student living in Hutto, Texas. He has experience in education but is transitioning his learning to technology. On top of that, he has an interest in integrating technology to improve education and create a better learning environment.
In addition to the Ignite interns, Holly has also been working with an intern in Arkansas:
Lone Star has partnered with Don Tyson School of Innovation in Arkansas to offer an internship to a High School Student heading into her Senior year. Andrea Lopez-Pineda is learning how to work safely, pull the cable, and read prints during her 8-week internship over the course of two nurse call retrofit projects. We are excited to introduce low-voltage technology to young talent and hope to encourage more of the next generation to enter the low-voltage technology field in the future.
If you would like to learn more about either of these programs, feel free to reach out to Holly, Trey, or me. Stay hydrated out there and I hope you have a great July!
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