Jump to the Q&A section:
General queries
- Why choose Lean6Sigma as your course provider? There are a number of course providers that offer good material study – where we differ is the number of case studies that we can draw upon ( see Case Studies) from our completed in-house and individual candidate process improvement projects to make the lean six sigma topics come ‘alive’. Our aim is to give candidates the confidence to experiment and practise with process improvement tools and how to apply them to their area of interest.
- Do I need to be employed to register for a course? No – your employment status doesn’t matter. A number of candidates have used our courses when they transition between positions to upskill in problem-solving which is a sort after credential.
- Do I need to have a project to work on? If you want to become certified then we need to see evidence of you completing a process improvement project. We can help candidates at Yellow Belt and Lean Green Belt levels by providing a case study to work on – for the other certifications you really need to provide an appropriate project to show that you know how to use the lean or lean six sigma tools and roadmaps.
- What are the key differences between the belt levels? First of all, we have two learning pathways – Lean and Lean Six Sigma. Lean is for candidates that want a practical hands-on toolkit that they can apply to improve processes. You can study Lean to Yellow (for team member participation) and Green (project leader/co-leader) level. Lean Six Sigma uses the same Lean tools but adds more data analysis as you progress through the belt levels. You can study Lean Six Sigma thro’ Yellow (for team member participation) to Green (project leader/co-leader) and on to Black Belt (project manager and mentor).
- What sectors do your courses suit? Lean started off as a manufacturing ‘thing’ and added Six Sigma in the late 90’s to create a robust problem-solving process which has successfully morphed into most sectors. In New Zealand, we have less manufacturing and more service operational businesses so this is where a lot of our case studies are drawn from. The courses, however, cover a wide range of sectors including Service Operations, Logistics, Construction, Manufacturing, Government, Not for Profit, Healthcare, Energy providers, Airlines, Tourism and Retail.
- What’s the key differences between Lean and Lean Six Sigma learning pathways? We often associate Lean with eliminating process waste and improving flow to ‘speed’ up a process – those simple principles provide a platform for assessing the current state of a process and developing an improved future state that we can implement. Lean has a reputation for being a practical hands-on toolkit and a bias for action. Six Sigma started off as Statistical Process Control (SPC) and aimed at reducing errors and improving ‘quality’ and while that sounds a bit heavy it has been adapted to provide an analytical approach so that we can quantify how a process is performing and prove that a significant difference has been achieved between the current and future states. The combo of Lean Six Sigma provides a robust problem-solving toolkit for process improvement.
- What accreditation do your offer for your certificates? We have chosen not to offer accreditation by an external body such as ASQ or IASSC. Our material is consistent with a Lean Six Sigma body of knowledge and as Lean6Sigma Ltd we have extensive experience in New Zealand with over 40+ clients and 2500+ trained practitioners to issue our own certification. We have incidentally trained Black Belts for NZ Govt to take and pass the ASQ exams.
- What happens after we have completed a course or become certified? We encourage all our practitioners to not stop at the point of certification. This is just the starting point for your process improvement journey and every candidate needs to practise what they have learnt and gain experience completing projects and using the toolkit.
- Can I re-use the material in say an infographic? Yes providing the image is not altered in any way and you reference us as the source at lean6sigma.co.nz
- It sounds like the Green and Black Belt lean six sigma courses require you to learn statistics – will I be able to do this? Yes! – it's our job to make this a fun and practical application – it’s what we do! We regard ourselves as practitioners and not statistician’s per se – we also use some fantastic easy to use software to do the number crunching. We get you to understand how to apply the data analysis - not derive the formulas! If you are still concerned talk to us via the contact page.
- Is there NZ Government funding for all courses? No – not for public or online courses but part-funding may be available for companies that attend the Callaghan Innovation ‘Lean Thinking’ one day course and want to improve their businesses using lean methods. Lean6Sigma Ltd is a registered provider of Better by Lean programmes by the NZ Government via Callaghan Innovation since 2015.
Online Courses
- What if I need more time to complete my course studies or my certification? We can allow a 3-month extension for NZ$129 incl GST – contact us through our contact page to apply.
- Can I retake the online exam if I fail? Yes - we allow one retake for NZ$69 incl GST – contact us through the contact page to apply.
- What if I fail the exam twice or don’t finish my project – can I still certify? We offer a training certificate version if you have completed your studies but unable to complete all the course elements.
- Each course has a short online test – do I need to pass these? Yes – that is part of the protocol to check that you have studied the material and reached a level of understanding.
- Can I start my process improvement project before I’ve finished my studies? Yes – in fact, we encourage you to do it in parallel so that you can start applying some of the tools, navigate using the roadmap and gain some practical experience.
- Do the online courses have any F2F opportunity? We include some facetime opportunity with the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt courses since we recognise you might value that as a back up to the online material.
- What if we get stuck can we contact you during the study period? Yes, we offer email contact with a lean coach during your study and certification period. Whilst we haven’t set a limit on the number and frequency of e-contacts we hope our students can work within a ‘reasonable’ range!
- If the study period has a fixed time period can we download the material as a reference beyond that period? Yes – the course material can be downloaded as a pdf and any other templates and files that are offered.
- Do I need to complete the online Yellow Belt before Green Belt? No – the online group of courses have been designed so that you can sign up for the complete Green Belt and work through all the courses (which will include the Yellow Belt courses).
- Do I need to complete the online Yellow Belt and Green Belt before starting Black Belt? No – you can sign up for Black Belt level and this will contain all the Yellow Belt and Green Belt courses.
- Can I upgrade from Yellow to Green Belt? Yes for both Lean and Lean Six Sigma pathways – the courses you need to complete your studies are included in the Upgrade package including your Green Belt certification requirements.
- Can I upgrade from Green to Black Belt? Yes - for Lean Six Sigma pathway but not the Lean pathway. The courses you need to complete your studies are included in the Upgrade package including your Black Belt certification requirements.
- Can I convert from Lean to Lean Six Sigma? Yes you can at Yellow and Green levels. The courses you need to complete your studies are included in the Conversion package including your Lean Six Sigma Yellow or Green Belt certification requirements.
- I have already studied and certified to Yellow Belt or Green Belt level with another training provider – can I upgrade or convert to the next level with your courses? Talk to us about this by filling out the contact page. It may be feasible if your pre-existing qualification is similar. You will still need to meet the Lean6Sigma Ltd certification requirements to certify with us at the higher level.
- Do online courses have homework? Not really homework as such but they have some pre-reading to get you started and most courses offer additional resources to follow-up – apart from that you are self-paced.
- Can we have access to the training portal to see some sample courses? Yes just send us a request via the contact page - we will arrange for you to have 48 hour access to see a couple of sample courses
- What if the courses aren’t what we expected – can we get a refund? Yes sure – please complete our contact page and request a 100% refund within 7 days of starting (providing the group of courses have not been completed)
Public Courses
- What is the main difference between the public courses and online courses? The two public courses offered are practitioner 2 Day Yellow Belt and 3 Day Green Belt classroom-based hybrid (mostly lean and some six sigma) courses. They offer hands-on training using simulations and case studies in a collaborative small group setting. All online courses are self-paced and follow two learning pathways Lean and Lean Six Sigma for a range of belt levels.
- Are there joining instructions? – Yes these will be emailed to you 10 days before the course starts – they provide all the usual joining details such as venue address, times, food choices, what to bring, pre-reading, project choice etc
- Can I do the public Green Belt course without doing the Yellow Belt course? Yes, you can if you have suitable prior knowledge/experience or a Yellow Belt from another training provider. The courses are intended to be part of a practitioner pathway with some overlap of tools used and hence you would benefit from studying Yellow and then Green Belt in terms of familiarity. If you’re not sure to contact us through the contact page.
- Can I do the Green Belt straight after the Yellow Belt (eg next month) – Yes you can but ideally you should finish your Yellow Belt project first and then certify before moving onto Green Belt level.
- Is there takeaway course material? – Yes, we provide hard copies of the presentation material, an eWorkbook (excel templates) and other tool files. The Green Belt course also provides you with a Green Belt tool memory jogger book.
- Do public courses have a test/exam? Yes both Yellow and Green Belt courses have a classroom multi-choice open book exam on the last day as part of the certification requirements.
- Do I need to bring my own process improvement project to work on? Ideally Yes – but we can also supply you with a case study or the opportunity to work with a project buddy if that suits you. If you want to discuss this before the course starts then just contact us – we also provide guidance in the joining instructions.
- What homework is there? We don’t have homework as such but there is some pre-reading and post-course references sources to explore. You will also need to allow some time post-course to finish your project.
- What format is the course process improvement project and how long do we have to complete it? To supplement your block classroom training (2 days Yellow Belt/3 days Green Belt) we want you to apply what you’ve learnt on a process improvement project assignment which is also a requirement for certification. So as described earlier this is preferably a project you bring with you but if that isn’t feasible we can offer a case study project or see if you can buddy with another course attendee. We are basically looking for you to gain some practical experience in using the PDCA roadmap (Yellow Belt) and DMAIC roadmap (Green Belt) and some of the lean six sigma tools on a process that needs improving. The expectation is that you will part complete this in training and have to finish this off after the course. We expect this to be done within six months of the classroom training.
- Where are the public courses run? Our main venue is the Adina Hotel in Auckland but if numbers are >6 we can run the courses anywhere in New Zealand.
In-house courses and workshops
- What type of in-house courses/training have you run for other companies? Have a look at the case studies included at linklinklink
- Is Government funding available? Part funding may be available for companies that apply to attend the Callaghan Innovation ‘Lean Thinking’ one day course and want to improve their businesses using lean methods. Lean6Sigma Ltd is a registered provider of Better by Lean programmes by the NZ Government via Callaghan Innovation since 2015.
- Can you run in-house courses virtual remotely? Yes we can offer to run both Yellow and Green Belt courses on-site and virtual remotely. We use either Microsoft Teams or Zoom as the delivery platform. Our virtual training delivers the same content but the live courses are designed differently to be highly interactive, instructor led classes.
- Why should you choose Lean6Sigma Ltd to work with? Once you have satisfied yourself that we have the track record and experience to deliver the continuous improvement elements you are seeking – it’s probably down to what sort of working relationship can we establish together and then price! We have worked with 40+ clients in New Zealand small and big, different sectors, blue-chip names and smaller operators and different products and services and strived to achieve our aim which is to develop a collaborative partnership towards providing the opportunity self-initiated process improvement – see our client list linklinklink. We are happy for you to contact any of our past or existing clients for a reference (in fact we encourage it!).
- We know we need to improve our company continuous improvement – where should we start? The best starting point is a discussion to understand your requirements and then we can make a proposal for a suitable continuous improvement programme to add value to your business. We will often start with a lean audit to gauge the lean maturity of a company and then suggest a six-step continuous improvement journey plan with actions and tactics. Talk to us if you would like a kick-off discussion – you can contact us through the contact page.
- We would like to start lean six sigma training – can you help us? Yes, we can but first, we would like to discuss what your overall goals and objectives are, create a plan and then make some suggestions on how we could support you. A lot of clients often start with a short half-day senior management awareness session (we call this a White Belt workshop) to provide guidance and alignment for some potential continuous improvement initiatives. We usually advise a sequence of; choosing your objectives, deciding on some priority projects, selecting some suitable internal practitioners and then supporting them through workshop facilitation/training.
- What would you recommend – training our own staff to complete projects or using an outside provider to complete the projects? We would suggest initially a ‘blend’ of both. Downstream we are seeking to build your capability internally to complete these projects by yourself. Your own staff have all the local ‘jungle’ knowledge of the processes – what we are providing is the methods and tools so when you have learn to apply these then you will feel more confident to complete projects by yourself.
- What is the benefit of Lean6Sigma running some project workshops for us? Two main reasons are pace and what we would call ‘a detached authority’. Sometimes it helps companies particularly if there could be resistance to change to use an external specialist. In terms of adding pace, we can hit the ground running with any improvement project – engaging with your team, working collaboratively, quickly selecting what tools to use, recognising if a change plan is needed, facilitating a series of internal workshops and gaining traction to execute the improvements but downstream we want you to do this for yourself.
- If you facilitated a typical process improvement project for us how long would it take? Mmmm good question and it will obviously depend on; what you are looking to transform, availability of your staff and what your operational imperatives are. So some companies might say this is a cross-functional project but the sales team are only available for half a day every two weeks to work on the improvement. We work with whatever the client wants. So back to the question – a typical project scenario might involve 3 – 2 hour workshops say every two weeks and after 6 weeks we would expect to have the current process mapped, data collected, issues identified and solutions proposed. If the solutions were largely process changes we could have a pilot improvement tested in a month with some new data collected and implemented soon after that. So an improved process could be operating after say 3 months. This may take longer if IT system changes are needed or could be accelerated using the rapid improvement (kaizen) event tactics that we use.
- What are the costs for in house programmes? We can offer a costed milestone plan where we invoice you when fixed activities or phases have been completed or work on an hourly rate for on-site support and a per candidate per day of training rate. In house, training is more cost-effective (around 50% cheaper) than public courses since you are providing the venue and food/refreshments and usually candidate volumes are higher. Talk to us about providing a quotation tailored to meet your requirements.