Why Should You Invest in a Lean Certification?

The efficiency of your company’s internal operations is a crucial aspect of your organization’s fight for market supremacy and enhanced profitability. However, the workflow of your employees and the smooth sailing of your production line strategies will be influenced by the methodology you choose to adopt. Are you looking to streamline the processes adopted by your staff? Do you want to eliminate production line waste and improve the use of internal resources? In this case, a good idea would be to invest in Lean certification and adopt a methodology aimed at long-term cost reductions.

Lean methodology is suitable for companies that want to reduce operating costs, get rid of excess inventory, avoid production mishaps, and increase worker efficiency. As with Kaizen and Six Sigma, one of the core pillars of Lean is the focus on continuous business improvements and adaptability to changes in the industry. For this reason, the Lean philosophy is currently used in a wide range of industries, from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and services.

Investing in your Lean certification can be one of the most astute professional decisions you will make. Lean concepts are ideal for companies that want to create bespoke solutions to the challenges they face and are also a great help if you want to eliminate non-valuable production line operations. Lean concepts can be combined with Six Sigma or TQM, are a way to involve the expertise of your employees in the continual improvement processes of your firm, and place a great emphasis on the value that customers put on the services you market.

What Is Lean? 

The Lean methodology represents a set of business principles designed by Toyota in the late 1980s that involve an enhanced focus on manufacturing processes that can reduce defects in the production line and minimize waste that affects the efficiency of workers’ in-house operations. The focus of Lean is improving the quality of products offered to customers while minimizing waste and reducing the costs associated with manufacturing. And it works, as Toyota, with the help of Lean, is one of the world’s leading car manufacturing companies.

Like Six Sigma, Lean operates on a set of internal principles, whose role is to help organizations enhance their efficiency gains and increase their market reputation by creating high-quality products. This focus on quality, above all else, is suited to the healthcare, financing, and manufacturing industries, where defect rates must be kept low and cost margins are tight. Can Lean also be used for industries where rapid change is the order of the day, like in IT? Yes, but here, it all depends on the specifics of the company and the competitiveness of the business.

What Are the Principles of the Lean Methodology?

The first Six Sigma principle refers to the process of identifying the value that customers place on a marketed item. At this stage, the company adopting the Lean philosophy must identify the factors that contribute to the quality of the products sold, understand the customer perspective, and identify the elements that would lead to improvement. The second principle of the Lean philosophy is the mapping of the value stream, which represents the steps a company must take before it can market its manufactured products to customers.

Value stream mapping is a method of visualizing areas where there are significant efficiency losses. Therefore, it is a tool through which internal operations can be streamlined. The third principle is the creation of the flow, which involves the development of solutions to eliminate interruptions in the production line that contribute to miscommunication between departments and affect lead times.  Once the production flow is achieved, the optimization of the pull systems can proceed.

In the Lean methodology, pull refers to the production of goods based on real-time customer demand, which is distinct from relying on market forecasts and stockpiling. The concept of pull has been used successfully by Toyota, which historically avoided overproduction and excess inventory by optimizing the production line input based on market demand. This has resulted in less waste and better financial stability, albeit with the risk of production line issues down the road in case of external supply chain delays. The last principle of the Lean methodology is a continuous strive for perfection that fosters a culture of innovation and quality without compromises.

What Are the Tangible Advantages of a Certification? 

Investing in a Six Sigma or Lean certification can be one of the most informed decisions you make to enhance the productivity of your workers and improve your business profitability. Obtaining a Lean accreditation will provide your employees with the knowledge necessary to address your business needs and improve their problem-solving skills. Moreover, Lean accreditations are internationally recognized, can enhance the reputation of your brand, and are an ideal way to extract maximum efficiency from your value stream management strategies.

 

Are you an employee and want to invest in an internationally recognized Lean certification for professional advancement reasons? If so, you have made an excellent decision, as business certifications are a perfect way to enhance your career pathways and increase your chances of obtaining a better-paying job at a firm with an international reputation. As with the Six Sigma certification levels, Lean philosophy uses a system of belts to convey knowledge about the concepts of the approach. And these range from yellow belts to master black belts.

What will you learn after you get your Lean credential? First of all, you will be knowledgeable about the history of the philosophy, its applications, the industries in which it is used, and the other methodologies with which it can be combined. Then, you’ll learn how to use root cause analysis for medium to large-scale internal projects, you’ll go through the intermediate concepts of pull systems and TPM, you’ll learn the five “S’s” of the Lean methodology, and you’ll study how to apply RCA to identify internal elements that affect production lines.

A Great Help for Future Profitability 

Whether you are an employee looking to diversify your career advancement prospects or an employer keen to streamline the methods used in the production line, investing in Lean Certification will be an excellent idea. Lean philosophy is based on the concept of continuous improvement of production factors and aims to eliminate waste and inefficiencies that can affect both the quality of products sold and the reputation of your brand. Why invest in the accreditation of your workforce? Simply put, you should because qualified Lean-certified employees have the knowledge and skills to implement the framework of the philosophy in a cost-efficient manner that resonates with the requirements of your industry.

Why invest in your Lean accreditation if you are an employee? Expertise. Lean is a trendy methodology among internationally active companies. Therefore, a Lean accreditation would recommend you for management positions and could be a plus in your CV that differentiates you from other applicants. Obtaining a belt in Lean Methodology will demonstrate that you have detailed knowledge of the framework behind the philosophy. In addition, you can use this knowledge to improve the reputation and efficiency of your workplace and enhance your long-term financial prospects by making yourself more employable by reputable international companies.