It’s becoming increasingly common to encounter a wide array of quick, online training programs offering Black Belt certifications in Lean Six Sigma (LSS). These programs often promise a fast-track certification but may not provide the depth of knowledge and practical experience required for truly effective Black Belt performance. Many programs that promise to create Black Belts are just creating Yellow Belts, people who know and understand things but aren’t skillful at creating required results in a timely fashion.
With so many options available, it’s essential for management overseeing Black Belt projects, as well as those who are looking to obtain these designations, to understand what distinguishes high-quality training from other quick fast track offerings.
A well-rounded Black Belt training program typically involves an extensive, hands-on approach and goes beyond theoretical knowledge. These programs usually last several months and require participants to work on real-world projects, demonstrating their ability to solve complex problems effectively applying lean methodologies. For example, a practical training program might require participants to work on projects aimed at reducing operational inefficiencies, improving quality, or solving complex organizational challenges. These practical approaches to learning ensure that certified Black Belts have applied their new skills and are well equipped to drive substantial improvements within their organizations.
In contrast, many online or abbreviated training programs offer a basic overview of Lean Six Sigma principles without providing significant practical experience. While these programs can grant certification quickly, they often fall short in preparing individuals to handle complex, real-world challenges. The distinction between a Black Belt who has completed a rigorous, hands-on program and one who has only participated in an online course can be quite pronounced.
Graduates of online programs might understand theoretical concepts but may lack the practical skills to tackle significant challenges and deliver meaningful results in their projects.
Note: The effectiveness of problem-solving and the quality of project outcomes are often directly related to the depth of the training received.
The following examples are from some of our client engagements demonstrating the effectiveness of a rigorous Black Belt training program on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) initiatives we have executed. The application of Lean Six Sigma should bring tangible benefits including cost savings, improved efficiency, and enhanced quality.
Case 1:
With the recent growth in their customer base, a Non-Profit Food Bank was reaching its capacity to service the community in its current state. From receiving to storage to delivery, improvements were necessary to better utilize space and operate more efficiently.
Our Black Belt candidate applied process improvement and optimization techniques, including trend charts, process simulations, hypothesis testing, and regression analysis, to identify inefficiencies. This approach resulted in solutions that doubled capacity and achieved projected throughput increases.
The flow chart outlines the flow of products through the inbound and outbound processes in the warehouse, showing the journey from initial reception to final delivery.
Value Created: Our Black Belt trainee identified a significant issue in the wrapping stage, where products were piling up. By conducting a regression analysis, it became evident that inefficiencies in the wrapping process and the number of workers involved were the main bottlenecks. The analysis concluded that optimizing these two factors—enhancing the wrapping process and better workforce allocation—would greatly improve overall output. This solution led to the recommendation of adding a pallet wrapper, which would increase throughput by 129k lbs per day, helping the client address their capacity issues.
Case 2:
A custom storage solutions company faced significant issues with high liabilities in their financial statements, primarily due to aged payables and processing inefficiencies. Duplicate and erroneous transactions compounded the problem, making it difficult to maintain profitability.
Value Created: Our Lean Six Sigma Black Belt trainee implemented process improvements by identifying and correcting duplicate and erroneous transactions. He developed new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for aged payables management, leading to a direct profit gain of more than $2 million.
The visual outlines the invoice processing and approval workflow, highlighting inefficiencies in the three-way match and approval stages where discrepancies and delays frequently occurred. The trainee’s root cause analysis and process redesign targeted these areas, streamlining operations, which led to a 32% decrease in invoice processing time and reduction in aged payables over 90 days (about 3 months) from $1.8 million to $227k.
Case 3:
An Engineering Consulting firm faced rising employee dissatisfaction, stress, and turnover, despite limiting its utilization rate for client projects. There was a critical need to understand and mitigate these issues to enhance operational efficiency and employee well-being.
Value Created: Utilizing process mapping, affinity grouping, data analysis, and solution selection matrices our Black Belt candidates developed solutions addressing most of the identified pain points, leading to a significant increase in EBITDA, along with substantial savings in employee hours and indirect costs.
SIPOC maps (a high-level tool used in process improvement: Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers) enable leadership to pinpoint inefficiencies and clarify roles within the procurement process, leading to streamlined operations. In this case, the SIPOC map was modified to create an easier-to-understand version for leadership, focusing on the necessary information and documentation required. Ultimately, the client found significant cost savings by reducing process redundancies and ensuring timely approvals.
TPG has been involved with the design, development and execution of best in class Integrated Lean Sigma (business process improvement) training for the past 20 years. There are many variants of ILSS training and development in the market available today.
‘Let your results be your guru’, as they say.
What we’ve learned in providing business consulting services is that our success has been founded on high quality lean training through a ‘blended training model’. The ILSS certification model incorporates the martial arts metaphor to differentiate knowledge and skills. Ideally your training program will result in having Black Belts that not only know what to do to improve process capability and performance but are also skillful at creating those results.
The Poirier Group Lean Six Sigma Black Belt program was designed, developed, tested and refined between 2004-2007 at a major Global Life Sciences firm. Further refinements took place from 2007-2020 through a major University Industry partnership program that created significant benefits, more than $20M, across some 30 different organizations and industries.
By investing in thorough, hands-on Black Belt training, organizations can not only optimize processes and achieve significant cost savings but also build alignment amongst your team knowing the best approaches are applied to create sustainable improvements that drive long-term success.
Our clients put their trust in us because we practice what we preach, holding ourselves accountable to high standards and quality outcomes. For us, continuous learning is a key component to performance improvement.
To learn more about how you can bring your Lean team to the next level, reach out to see what can be done to improve your project outcomes. TPG’s approach to LSSBB training, Operational Excellence and Business Process Improvement are what generates the significant value we create for our clients. Are you ready to raise the bar?
