What CI specialists and managers do | The role of Continuous Improvement in organisations

The role of a CI specialist or CI manager is very diverse. You touch almost every part the organisation, because there is improvement potential to be found everywhere and a successful company needs all departments to be performing at world class levels.
This video goes over the role of CI in relationship to other departments, how you look at the operation and organisation and how a CI professional works and behaves within this system.
#continuousimprovement #operationsmanagement

[@poomtipmonta4177]

Great video. Thank you for making!

[@TomMentink]

Thanks for the compliment!

[@mosespa555]

Great video !! Thanks for your very clear explanation!

[@TomMentink]

Glad to have been of service to you.

[@nikilemley2996]

I just discovered your youtube channel; excellent material!

[@TomMentink]

Thanks for sharing that!
I hope you find lots of useful information among my videos. If you’ve got a question or suggestion for a future video, please let me know.

[@franckmenin3611]

Very good. Thank you very much

[@TomMentink]

Thanks for telling me, Franck; great to hear that you like my stuff

[@JuanCruz-rt7gz]

thank you, great video

[@TomMentink]

Thanks, great to hear that you like it!

[@sthembisoalvinxaba974]

Brilliantly explained 😊

[@TomMentink]

Glad you liked it, hope it can also help you explain our field to friends and colleagues 😉

[@meenakshipandey9171]

Nice explanation Sir

[@TomMentink]

Thanks for sharing that feedback.
If you every have a question or video request, don’t hesitate to ask 😉

[@albertacevedo5913]

Very good explanation, thanks

[@TomMentink]

Happy to hear you liked it, thanks for sharing that.
I hope you also like my other videos, that go deeper into the CI work field.

[@albertacevedo5913]

@@TomMentink Yes! I am watching them, and all are great, I have been for a little while into CI field, but will always consider myself an apprentice

[@TomMentink]

@@albertacevedo5913 great attitude - the basis of life long learning. I also keep watching others' video, reading (well, actually I listen more than I read) books, and of course there's a lot to learn from colleagues and others you directly work with.
I wish you the best of luck and joy in your learning journey. If there's ever a question or topic for a future video, please let me know - I love making videos 'on demand', that way I'm sure that it'll be of value to at least one person 😇, but if you've got a question, there's a huge chance that others will wonder about the same thing (and others might even directly answer you in the comments).

[@massimosanto]

Hi awesome content.
Can you recommend any six sigma online course.

[@TomMentink]

Thanks for your kind words.
For the 6 sigma course it depends on what you want:
* if well accepted certification is your main goal, go for an exam with ASQ or ILSSI. There are tons of online trainings available to study specifically for them, I don’t really know them well enough to give advice on which would be better. I hear Study Guide is a pretty good one (sixsigmastudyguide.com), but I’d love to hear you and others’ feedback on any LSS exam prep courses you have direct experience with.
* if you’re looking to learn how to practically apply six sigma methods and tools (no certification), go with Paul Allen: his book “drink tea and read the paper” (www.lulu.com/shop/paul-allen/drink-tea-and-read-the-paper/paperback/product-22932490.html) or his online courses on the 7 quality tools - you can find Paul Allen here on TH-cam with lots of free content to see if you like his style.
* for a more comprehensive application of six sigma and other CI tools into a system that a company can use to successfully run the whole efficiency program you can’t go wrong with Belt Course: you’ll get even more value from that if your organization adopt this path, but even for just a single learner they’ve got great course (again, not really for certification, but honestly much more valuable in practice) - you can try a mini course for free and check out the paid programs from there (www.beltcourse.com/a/2147633031/6eADKB6z).

[@christopherwood3643]

Do you get a kaizen certification like a six sigma cert? I am trying to find one but it seems there r training courses and short videos but no real certification.

[@TomMentink]

Hi Christopher, I got a green belt certified by a consultancy multinational (EFESO), but never actually got around to certify as black belt. It wasn't of added value to my previous employers and I'm not sure if I'll go for it now...
But to get back to your second question, there are several organisations certifying six sigma black belts (and a whole bunch of local and international consultancies certifying green belts): the most widely respected are the American Society for Quality (ASQ.org) for (Master) Black Belts in Six Sigma and the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC .org) for Lean Six Sigma black belts. There are a couple more widely recognised institutions, just 'Google them'.
You will also see many providers of courses and coaching to learn for those certifications and help you get through what is a pretty tough exam. You'll also need to provide proof of implementing at least two well-executed Six Sigma projects.

[@christopherwood3643]

@@TomMentink yes i plan to shoot for the six sigma from ASQ. My company uses Villanova, id prefer ASQ. Sorry didnt mean to confuse you..yes I found a ton of six sigma courses. They came up instantly even youtube videos. I was looking for something similar for kaizen but couldn’t find anything,

[@TomMentink]

@@christopherwood3643 I don’t think there are Kaizen certifications in a similar style to Six Sigma certifications. There are definitely courses on it, most of which will hand out a certificate, it’s just not as strictly organized. This is also because Six Sigma uses a set of specific statistical tools that are quite involved - this is relatively easy to certify (not easy to pass the exam, but easy to design an exam around). Kaizen is more of a structured improvement philosophy - that’s much more difficult to certify somebody for at different levels.
There are good Kaizen courses by TH-camrs too: Lean Smarts Academy by Daniel Crawford (@LeanSmarts) and Lean Accelerator by Chad Burroughs of Learn Lean (@LearnKaizen) both come to mind. And you can check out their style before buying into any course materials.

[@christopherwood3643]

@@TomMentink thanks Tom, I found one kaizen institute of north America. Its online and is catered toward my industry. I completely understand now. I want to gain the knowledge but also would like to add something to my cv during the process. I enjoyed CI projects during my time in operations rather it was eliminating waste of improving operation processes to increase effectiveness. It totally can be a headache getting people on board and coming up with a strategy for all departments to follow and keep up to date. I believe that was the hardest part, making sure the process self sustains and it not thrown in the rearview. I still enjoyed that challenge, I can see myself doing something similar long term. What would you suggest position wise as a entry or mid level CI position?