Lean Six Sigma – Green Belt

Lean Six Sigma is a pragmatic approach, which emphasises the critical importance of focusing on delivering what the customer wants. To achieve this Lean Six Sigma participants will learn how to engage with the customer and utilising the Lean Six Sigma skill set produce a much-improved to-be process.

This course focuses on the Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control i.e. DMAIC aspects of Lean Six Sigma and continuous improvement projects. The aim is to reduce the cost of poor quality, increase process capability, minimise process cycle time and remove waste to deliver what the customer wants in the most efficient way possible - given the changing conditions in which processes operate. Ultimately resulting in increased customer satisfaction, whether this is for internally focused customers (for example HR, Finance, Procurement, Operations or others) or external ‘paying’ customers.

This course also includes content to enable participants to consider how teams work and perform in the Lean Six Sigma environment with a consideration of some concepts of organisational change management.

The course is aimed at general continuous improvement practitioners in either a service or manufacturing domain. However, the statistical content has been reduced as Statistical Process Control (SPC) in now seen as a more in-depth skill, and beyond what most Green Belt practitioners require on a day-to-day basis. A further bridging course covering SPC is offered on the journey to becoming a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Course Contents

1. Introduction

• History of Lean and Six Sigma
• The Lean Six Sigma approach
• Lean Six Sigma approach, DMAIC overview, background on DMADV (or DFSS)
• The Lean Six Sigma belt system, and other important roles
• Teamwork
• Statistical and other tools to assist the Green Belt

A Case Study activity will run throughout the course to provide reinforcement of key concepts.

2. Pre-DMAIC

• Lean Six Sigma and Project Management
• Project Selection
• Business Case
• DMAIC tollgates
• The Organisational Change Management (OCM) theme

3. Define

• Overview of the Define stage inputs, processes and outputs
• Project Charter (Problem Definition, Goals and Business Case)
• Voice of the Customer (including Critical to Quality, Kano, Affinity diagrams)
• Voice of the Process (including SIPOC)
• Voice of the Stakeholder (the business)
• Understanding the Cost of Quality and the Cost of Poor Quality
• Define tollgate (DMAIC or DMADV sponsor discussion)

4. Measure

• Overview of stage Inputs, processes and outputs
• Understanding the current process (in detail)
• Process swim lane diagrams
• Value stream mapping
• Selecting the right metrics
• The Data Collection Plan
• Statistical sampling basic concepts
• Yield, Defects and process capability measures
• Developing and communicating the process baseline
• Measure tollgate

5. Analyse

• Overview of the Analyse stage inputs, processes and outputs
• Analyse, the process door
• Value stream
• Flow analysis
• Waste analysis
• Cause-Effect matrices
• Analyse, the data door
• Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA)
• (Visual data analysis)
• Root Cause Analysis
• Fishbone diagram
• 5-Whys
• Analyse tollgate

6. Improve

• Overview of the Improve stage inputs, processes and outputs
• Creative problem solving & solution ideas
• Selecting improvements to move forward into production
• Process improvement strategies
• Further Lean principles
• Developing the to-be process and other artefacts
• Risk management of to-be processes
• Piloting considerations
• Improvement planning
• Improvement qualification (quantifying improvements)
• Improve tollgate

7. Control

• Overview of the Control stage inputs, processes and outputs
• Sustaining improvement Statistical Process Control (SPC) Control charts
• Control plan contents
• Handover to the business
• Final measurement and business case & charter check-back
• Control tollgate