Belt Course Provides The Skills to Succeed Based on Extensive Real-World Experience

Have you seen Six Sigma implementations fail?

We learned from Six Sigma failures. Let me share an experience at a previous employer.

After some success in the Quality arena, a Six Sigma program slowly disappeared. Why? It solely focused on DMAIC projects that took 6-12 months to complete and were too methodical. It was too focused on complex statistical analysis. It was harder to apply these tools in operations, supply chain, or where data availability was a challenge. Yes, some Black Belts were successful and embraced their nerdy side, but they failed to engage with the employees who don’t speak statistics. It also built a culture of superheroes... “Let the Black Belt come and solve this problem”. A handful of employees got rewarded by solving big problems instead of not allowing problems to grow in the first place. And they didn't focus on sustainment.

After top leadership recognized the need for simpler tools to engage the workforce, the opposite effect took place. A transition to Lean alienated previous Six Sigma resources who saw their efforts getting "replaced". The two training programs were never integrated. Six Sigma resources moved on, their expertise was lost.

At Belt Course we've integrated Lean and Six Sigma into the Operating System of our clients.

Have you seen Lean implementations fail?

We've seen failures. We learned from them. Let me share an experience at a previous employer.

We learned you can fail even when having all these training slide decks from a major Consulting firm. You can fail even with the CEO as the biggest cheerleader.

Why did it fail then? A couple reasons come to mind. The week-long bootcamp training materials weren't effective. The materials just taught how to use tools. They didn't enable these "High Performance Teams" that we kept reading about. The materials didn't teach you how to embed Lean into the organizational structure. The implementation solely relied on Kaizen events, failing to recognize you can’t solve a problem if you don’t know the root cause. There were some advanced tools, yes. But the focus was too much on inventory reduction, which is difficult without stable processes and a culture of problem solving.

We also learned from successes though. And that's what matters. And now we're sharing our knowledge with the world.

Have you seen organizational cultures fail to support the OpEx System?

We have seen failures like these as well. Let me share an example.

A manufacturing plant slowly changed its culture after hundreds of kaizen events. However, Top Leadership didn't embrace the cultural change. They were never trained, and they never prioritized people as part of the transformation process.

So, what happened? Well, a new VP didn't believe in empowering the workforce. They believed in "Command and Control". They believed they were smarter than everyone else. They undid all the improvements and replaced them with micromanaging and a culture of blame. A lot of talented employees left the company, of course. And that plant ended up closing.

We also learned from successes though. We learned that Leaders need to be trained! And now we're sharing our knowledge with the world.

Have you seen successful Operational Excellence implementations?

We have also seen success. We learned the keys to success. We've partnered up successfully with expensive Consulting companies. We had a few failures here and there but we learned from them. We have seen entire organizations transform their culture. We have gained incredible improvements in all key metrics. And we are incorporating our experience of what works and what doesn't work into these coaching programs.

Who are my Instructors and Coaches?

We handpicked the best instructors and lessons available in the industry. Why? Because not one person or company can be the most knowledgeable at everything. We have experts in Leadership, Strategic Planning, Safety, Lean, Quality, Six Sigma, Supply Chain, Maintenance, Digital Transformation, Adult Learning, etc.
Each of them will share with you their expertise in the area most applicable to your role!

We also handpicked a small number of coaches who will facilitate the Coaching and Simulation Exercises. Each coach brings over 15-20 years of experience deploying Operational Excellence in Manufacturing and Supply Chain in a variety of markets. Our coaches are bilingual, so they can support your company across regional and cultural boundaries.