JEFFREY SCHULTZ:  

Life With hard work I succeeded in earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville without a large debt. I worked a couple of summers at Marriott's Great America, but it was working at Wisconsin Electric's Pleasant Prairie Power Plant during my final summers that allowed me to pay for my college education without huge student loans. A month after graduating I began my first industrial engineering job with Ashley Furniture Company. I supervised an engineer (Todd), a technician (Sheri) and an intern student (Mike) to staff the second shift of the department. I built a method for using standard data based upon correlating time standards to factors so that direct time studies weren't required. We also started using random observation sampling to check whether the earnings earned were fair based on these observations. Ashley was a great experience, but I wanted to live in a larger city. So two years later, I left for CUNA Mutual Group in Madison. CUNA Mutual was a fantastic career experience. I learned many different process design (business process reengineering), process improvement (DMAIC or six sigma, total quality management, Joiner Seven Step, etc.) , and organization design methods (operating models and Downing Kates). I also learned project management, change management, and consulting methods which enabled me to make a huge impact for CUNA Mutual Group and Credit Unions. I was so successful at business process reengineering that I became method owner (meaning I documented standards for how to do the method, what tools and templates to use, and to provide best practice examples to follow on our intranet). I also acted as webmaster, overseeing the other method owners to assure they refreshed their content and acted on customer feedback. Last, my peer Walter and I were responsible for the technical interviews during the interview process for Process & Quality Consultant hiring. While a...Expand for more