BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Business education and muffins were on the menu at Tuesday's North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Breakfast, where attendees learned about educational outlets.

The event’s special speaker, Alabama Technology Network Program Specialist Harry Cecil, explained that the network is a government agency that collects a small fee to help businesses in engineering technical support and training and lean-enterprise management, going on to provide the basics on technical support.

“Imagine if everyone on the staff had a good, working knowledge of how to solve problems,” he said. “We teach root-cause analysis. We teach a systematic approach on how to analyze and solve problems.”

Cecil went on to break down lean-enterprise management as “a business (that) is equal to its number of processes. So we try to shorten the duration between order and cash.”

He explained that these are key elements in helping improve businesses as “94 percent of business failure is based on processes, not people.”

But the network also offers aid for that other 6 percent, according to Cecil.

“We offer leadership- and management-development through communication skills, dealing with problems and working on schedules with a standard approach,” he said.

Cecil assured business leaders at the breakfast that any type of business or any type of problem could find a solution through the networks aid or through the aid of its affiliates.

Bob Higgins, a vice president of business alliance, said that the company has helped others in the past. He said he had seen the network aid auto industries and “they’re as good as anyone I’ve seen, nationally, and at a fraction of the cost.”

Cecil added that lessons the network teaches business employees often result in more self-sufficient workplaces.

“We show them the process of continuous improvement,” he said. “It tends to take on a life of its own.”

For more information on the network, visit www.atn.org. For more information on chamber events, call 937-5665 or visit www.northbaldwinchamber.com.