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German American Bancorp, Inc., is a NASDAQ-traded (symbol: GABC) financial services holding company based in Jasper, Indiana. German American, through its banking subsidiary German American Bancorp, operates 35 retail and commercial banking offices in 13 southern Indiana counties. The Company also owns a trust, brokerage, and financial planning subsidiary (German American Financial Advisors & Trust Company) and a full line property and casualty insurance agency (German American Insurance, Inc.).

Situation:

German American Bancorp, Inc. was looking to train a team of their employees in problem solving. The training needed to be geared specifically for the service industry and not the manufacturing sector. They wanted to utilize the same problem solving tools that manufacturing companies have longed used, but specialized to fit into their business model. The hope was to train a group of employees who would break into teams and complete cost savings and process improvement projects with the skills they would learn from the training.

Solution:

Working together and utilizing German American Bancorp's input, Purdue TAP designed a 5 day training session called Strategic Problem Solving. The class was taught by Rick Ring over a 10 week period. The class was divided into 8 teams, each working on a project related to our area.

Results:

German American Bancorp, Inc. has estimated an initial cost savings of over $100,000. Most of the projects related to saving time versus an actual dollar figure. All of the projects are still “in process” and ongoing. Final results will be reported to senior management after year-end.

“We are very pleased with the program that was designed for our service industry. The training taught us to look at problem solving differently with everyone following a similar process. Each of us received the tools to help us look into each of our departments and recognize areas of improvement!” said Terri Eckerle.