The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is undertaking a Lean Six Sigma process improvement project for the development of the WIC state plan. Six Sigma is a data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating shortcomings in processes. USDA selected a variety of state agencies and regional offices to take part in the five-month project. The Arizona WIC Program was one of the state agencies selected.

State WIC agencies and USDA regional offices completed a survey to gather preliminary information in preparation of the development of our annual WIC state plan that showed the process involves more than 20 people, requires more than 200 hours of work, and results in a more than 900 page plan. This is an exciting process that will help make improvements to our WIC programs statewide.