College of Engineering News • Iowa State University

Student project helps improve efficiency at Mercy Medical Center

A multi-disciplinary team of students was recently featured in Vitals, a Mercy Medical Center newsletter, for their innovative approach to learning about supply management. The “ISU professor” mentioned in the article was Jacqulyn Baughman, ABE lecturer.  As a result of the successful collaboration, Mercy and the TSM 440 class, cellular lean manufacturing systems, are looking forward to future projects together.

Original article:

A team of Iowa State University students has been studying at Mercy Medical Center this spring semester. These students have been collaborating with employees from supply chain, Cardiovascular Non-Invasive and Lean to improve supply chain management as part of their class curriculum. Mentoring these students has been a great way for Mercy staff members to help foster the experiences and careers of these college seniors.

The relationship with ISU began when a professor approached Sandra Ahrendsen, Lean facilitator, at an Iowa Lean Consortium meeting and discussed the feasibility of sponsoring a student project. Sandra forwarded it to Karna, who got the wheels turing.

The last student visit was April 26 in the Lean department. Students developed recommendations regarding how Mercy could improve their replenishment/inventory system. Utilizing Lean principles, the student team worked to improve the efficiency and reduce departmental inventory costs.

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