You're absolutely right about being an internal consultant if you are hired as a CI specialist by a huge corporation. I do have a home site where I implement and manage on-going CI efforts but I do travel fairly often to "consult" other sites when they're having kaizen events. They basically utilize the CI team from other sites to implement changes they need without disrupting production. Excellent video, Tom.
Thanks Geon, and great tonneau that your company is using your skills to the best use for the group as a whole (and granting you the opportunity to see multiple sites and get much more exposure/experience with the CI tools under different circumstances).
I grant you CI consulting is far from as popular as 10 years ago, but what makes you put it so definite? There are still plenty of companies that want help implementing efficiency and improvement programs, and they’re happy to hire (and pay good money for) external consultants. The absolute need to implement “6 sigma”, “TPM” or “JITM” has mostly faded away as I see it, but I think that’s just the CI world moving on to a more practical approach to improvement programs and less ‘trend of the month’ thinking (luckily).
Not true in the states…I’ve worked in Japanese Automotive, Aerospace, Biotech and Environmental Applied Sciences over the last 20 years. I was hired in a Continuous Improvement leader/consultancy role for each industry…still going strong. It’s a great (lucrative) career! It’s a funny thing, when you save millions of dollars a year for companies, they don’t mind paying you.
Hey Chad, how wonderful to see you comment on one of my videos - it’s nice to see you checking out some of my materials ☺️ Love your stuff - it’s a great addition to the learning materials in our sphere, thanks for that! And yes, Continuous Improvement is still very much alive (and pays well). Do you also see less interest in one specific style of CI, or still get as many requests/discussions about specifically TPM or Six Sigma or the like? @@learnkaizen
@@TomMentink of course! I love supporting this niche. I try to give you views as much as I can. Appreciate your kind words as well. I still get so many requests about six sigma. I believe these requests mainly come from the younger generation. I’m a Master Black Belt but honestly, I’ve used true six sigma about a handful of times. I do not focus my energy there any more. I focus on Lean (Manufacturing and Transactional) Material Flow, Kaizen and Root Cause Analysis. Over the last 25 years, this is where companies (not people) request the most help. People want the six sigma certification, companies want Lean, Kaizen and RCA…at least in my experience…I’ve been asked to reduce variation in a process a few times…mostly when working in automotive. Maybe a couple of times in aerospace. However, I’ve been asked to solve countless problems (RCA)…remove tons of wastes (Lean) and help teams rapidly do both (Kaizen)…as always- this is just my opinion based on my experiences! Thanks for putting out great content, Tom.
You're absolutely right about being an internal consultant if you are hired as a CI specialist by a huge corporation. I do have a home site where I implement and manage on-going CI efforts but I do travel fairly often to "consult" other sites when they're having kaizen events. They basically utilize the CI team from other sites to implement changes they need without disrupting production.
Excellent video, Tom.
Thanks Geon, and great tonneau that your company is using your skills to the best use for the group as a whole (and granting you the opportunity to see multiple sites and get much more exposure/experience with the CI tools under different circumstances).
Tom, you need a fan and the fans come! 😁Thanks for the sharing!
Great to have you as fan!
Thx ❤
My pleasure - hope it helps you in your career and development
Excellent advice ❤
Thanks Don - happy to see your recognition, hope to inspire others in the field to pick the path that is right for them
Continuous improvement consulting died about 10 years ago
I grant you CI consulting is far from as popular as 10 years ago, but what makes you put it so definite?
There are still plenty of companies that want help implementing efficiency and improvement programs, and they’re happy to hire (and pay good money for) external consultants. The absolute need to implement “6 sigma”, “TPM” or “JITM” has mostly faded away as I see it, but I think that’s just the CI world moving on to a more practical approach to improvement programs and less ‘trend of the month’ thinking (luckily).
It's very well and alive in defense and aviation, my friend.
Not true in the states…I’ve worked in Japanese Automotive, Aerospace, Biotech and Environmental Applied Sciences over the last 20 years. I was hired in a Continuous Improvement leader/consultancy role for each industry…still going strong. It’s a great (lucrative) career! It’s a funny thing, when you save millions of dollars a year for companies, they don’t mind paying you.
Hey Chad, how wonderful to see you comment on one of my videos - it’s nice to see you checking out some of my materials ☺️ Love your stuff - it’s a great addition to the learning materials in our sphere, thanks for that!
And yes, Continuous Improvement is still very much alive (and pays well). Do you also see less interest in one specific style of CI, or still get as many requests/discussions about specifically TPM or Six Sigma or the like?
@@learnkaizen
@@TomMentink of course! I love supporting this niche. I try to give you views as much as I can. Appreciate your kind words as well. I still get so many requests about six sigma. I believe these requests mainly come from the younger generation. I’m a Master Black Belt but honestly, I’ve used true six sigma about a handful of times. I do not focus my energy there any more. I focus on Lean (Manufacturing and Transactional) Material Flow, Kaizen and Root Cause Analysis. Over the last 25 years, this is where companies (not people) request the most help. People want the six sigma certification, companies want Lean, Kaizen and RCA…at least in my experience…I’ve been asked to reduce variation in a process a few times…mostly when working in automotive. Maybe a couple of times in aerospace. However, I’ve been asked to solve countless problems (RCA)…remove tons of wastes (Lean) and help teams rapidly do both (Kaizen)…as always- this is just my opinion based on my experiences! Thanks for putting out great content, Tom.