Six Sigma is a hot commodity.

Demand for training in Six Sigma was so strong this year that a program run the by the Juran Center for Quality in Leadership could admit only 10 of the 30 students who applied. The center is now looking for alternatives to accommodate student interest.

Six Sigma is a system of advanced process management methods meant to produce world-class levels of quality and service. Its methods are based on statistical analysis and problem-solving techniques and it is used by many of the country’s top companies, including Motorola and 3M.

The Carlson School’s “Strategic Experiment in Six Sigma” program works with sponsor organizations to provide training both to students and representatives from the sponsoring organizations. The program gives the organizations a good start at implementing Six Sigma, while allowing students to learn the basics of this quality tool and help an organization in the process.

This year’s organizations include the University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Systems.

Sponsoring organizations send five employees to take part in the program, and two MBA or MHA students join each team. The team works together to solve a problem the organization is experiencing. Teams go through two weeks of intensive training as they work on their projects.

“This is kind of an active lab,” said Jim Buckman, director of the Juran Center.

For Melinda Pavek, as second-year MBA student and former participant in the Six Sigma program, the learning experience was invaluable and opened new doors for her career.

“Six Sigma gave me a new way of looking at a process for finding system-wide improvement,” said Pavek. “I was hired by Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems because of my Six Sigma experience,” she added. “I would strongly recommend it to other students.”

Such enthusiastic endorsements seem to be having an effect. The Carlson School is developing a reputation for Six Sigma training—a bigger reputation than Buckman had realized. Some international students come to the Carlson School primarily for the Six Sigma program, he said.

In the fifth year of its existence, the program is now so popular that it can only accommodate a fraction of the qualified students interested, said Buckman.

In response to the demand, Buckman and the Juran Center are working with a number of organizations, including Honeywell, 3M, and General Electric, on alternative arrangements to make more Six Sigma internships available.

But internships aren’t the only option. Six Sigma’s concepts and methods are used more and more in the business world and in academia, said Buckman.

“It’s getting into the curriculum, into the research, and we’re pretty certain it’s going to continue to grow,” he said.