College of William and Mary Partners with Maersk

The College of William and Mary's Mason School of Business has partnered with Maersk Line, Limited to provide training in a newly developed Lean Six Sigma management system. A subsidiary of parent company A.P. Moller-MAERSK, the plan calls for the comprehensive training of key Maersk Line, Limited managers and professionals in its newly developed Lean Six Sigma management system, a powerful and unique collection of quality and efficiency methods, tools and techniques.

Maersk has corporate headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and one of its newest and largest container port facilities in Norfolk, Va. Maersk's selection of the Mason School of Business Executive Education as a training partner is viewed as a significant recognition of the Mason School's experience and capabilities in this area. The contract represents a customized engagement, where the faculty of the Mason School designed the Lean Six Sigma training and project management program to fit Maersk's unique needs and operating environment. Participants in the program will represent Maersk's key operating and business processes that will bring added value to its operations by using Lean Six Sigma methods to dramatically improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their processes. Lean Six Sigma is an integrated methodology, applying in a harmonized way two proven, powerful management methodologies: Lean and Six Sigma. Of these, Lean is primarily concerned with ensuring the efficiency of processes, so that they operate at minimum cost and at maximum speed, using resources in an optimal way. Six Sigma focuses chiefly on process effectiveness, that is, customer satisfaction, high quality and near-zero defect