Training in a Multi-Industry Environment

Every process and business, and thereby project, is unique and the skills needed by the Engineer/Scientist can be different dependent upon the nature and the objectives of the project.  In order to achieve sustainable gains/improvements, flexibility in programs is necessary.  The degree and nature of the flexibility is dependent upon:

• The type of processes—for example, continuous, chemical processes often require mixture designs and service processes typically need survey development skills.

• The needs of the organization—for example, an organization that is primarily needing to drive a common focus on process improvement across the entire organization may need a more basic tool set combined with good motivational sessions.  On the other hand, an organization that needs to resolve critical product failures whose effects have been mitigated without discovery of underlying causes will need advanced statistical tools combined with excellent engineering skills. 

• The nature of change needed to achieve sustainable gains in process/product performance—for example, if the existing process structure is incapable of achieving the desired level of change in a critical response, then redesign is necessary.

Our programs are designed using a 3-tiered approach to content customization. Some tools and training elements are universally applicable, since they represent the fundamental tools useful in any process, regardless of the industry type.  These tools represent roughly 70% of the Sigma Science tool set.  For these core tools, I present material customized by providing industry and function specific examples around the standard core and integrate current projects into the curriculum. Secondly, some industries and functions will require specific tools to most efficiently drive business results.  Those specific topics will be limited to those areas of the organization where benefit can be derived.  As mentioned before, these topics represent 30% of the total training content. In addition to the material customization around a core as mentioned above, I may also conduct symposiums or follow-up sessions for program participants.  In these symposiums I will present additional tools and methods not part of the core, but useful in project work in select areas.  The delivery of material via symposiums gives those individuals with specific requests the ability to expand their knowledge while retaining the efficiency of the core program. With this in mind, I provide three examples of integrated programs I tailored to the needs of individual organizations.  Within these programs, it is apparent some of the tools are foundational in nature while others are more specific to the needs of the individuals and/or organizations.  These examples do not cover all of the situations but are simply a sample of some common situations.

“To believe that one specific tool set applies everywhere or across every issue is to ignore fundamental differences….”

Situation 1: Transactional, Business Process Training Content The content was adjusted to meet the needs of both product development and marketing research in the same program.      

Situation 2: Chemical Division of a Larger Organization   The content was adjusted to meet the needs of closed-loop, chemical processes with large quantities of on-line process data as well as prohibitive costs for equipment or process layout changes.    

Situation 3: High Volume, Discrete Parts Manufacturing, Assembly and Refurbishment In order to increase productivity and reduce the amount of scrap, the project work needed to focus on implementing fundamental manufacturing practices, reducing variation, and implementing one-piece flow.  Hence, the training was designed to accommodate the needs of the organization.