Green/Black Belt/Champion in Lean

For our open training schedule in Belgium see www.lean-academy.be

This is the most in-depth and broadest Lean training (24 days!) and certification program in Belgium and the Netherlands, not only covering the basics of Lean but also the advanced tools and techniques for complex value stream design. 

This program started in 2005, the first 6 editions were organized in collaboration with the Department of Continuing Education (IVPV) of Ghent University (Belgium). Currently this program runs once per year in Belgium.

With active contributions of experts from Toyota,  Mars Food, Johnson&Johnson (Jansen Pharmaceutica), Alpro and others.

In the previous editions we welcomed employees of e.g.: Daikin, De Post, Rogers, Record Bank, ING, Radson, Mars, Beaulieu, Swedish Match (NL), UZA, UZ Gent, Waterland Ziekenhuis Purmerend (NL), Maastro Clinic (NL), Instituut Verbeeten (NL), Belgacom, Eandis, Jansen Pharmaceutica, Total, Alliance International, Hunter Douglas (NL), Continental, Sint Elisabeth Ziekenhuis Tilburg (NL), Primagaz Benelux, DSV Solutions, PostNL, Coca Cola, Alcon Couvreur, MIVB, Veurne Snackfoods, Oleon, Cloetta, Armonea, Philips, BRU, Purna, Philips, Vion,...

What can I do with this training?

Lean is a business strategy to be more competitive and succesfull in your business, by improving (continuously) the way how operations are organised, involving everyone in the organization. You will learn about this approach and acquire the necessary knowlegde and skills to succesfully implement this strategy.  

Target Audience

This training is intended for operations managers, process engineers, method engineers, team leaders, everyone who is committed to continuous improvement in manufacturing, office or service environment. The number of participants for the Green Belt, Lean Champion as intensive Black Belt training is limited to guarantee a high interactivity of the sessions and games.

Prerequisites

None for the Green Belt module/certification, a Green Belt certificate or succesfully pass the theory part of the Green Belt certification for the Black Belt/Lean Champion modules/certification.

Participants that have taken (open or in-house) Lean classes with us before, can get exemptions (and a reduced registration fee). Contact us for more details. There are no exemptions with regard to the exams.

Certification

Black Belt

Students who follow all modules, succeed in the Green and the Black Belt theory test, develop a lean implementation case independently and successfully, defend it before a jury of lean experts, receive the "Black Belt in Lean" certificate.

The label Black Belt (mainly known from Six Sigma) ensures a knowledge and skill level to be able to lead a lean implementation on value stream level within the organization. The Black Belt further can instruct and coach team members and take the lead in the implementation. 

Green Belt

It is sufficient to follow the first module. The certificate "Green Belt Lean” is obtained after passing a theory test and a written report of at least one succesfull practical implementation (Kaizen) with actual results of the lean basic tools that are presented during this module. THe participant has to demonstrate that he and the team went at least once through a complete PDCA cycle.

The student in this case has acquired sufficient knowledge in Lean to apply and coach the implementation of the basic techniques of Lean. He can be part of improvement teams and even lead or coach such a kaizen team.

Lean Champion

To support a lean implementation in a management/executive role, one must understand the basic philosophy of lean, the basic tools and the supporting elements to create a lean culture. This is achieved by taking the classes of modules 1 and 4. The certificate Lean Champion is hereby awarded after passing the Green Belt theory test and a successful preparation of a strategic lean implementation plan in your own work environment.

What are former participants saying about this training?

"Very good training, given by knowledgeable instructors. Besides that, there is a good link between theory and practice! A tough exam concludes the training, which really gives a value-added"
(Quality and Engineering Manager - Unitron Group BV) 

"Excellent training, excellent trainers. Teaches fundamentals of Lean in a clear and concise way. Learns to really understand and think the real Lean way" 
(Business Excellence Manager, Philips Healthcare)

"I hadn't encountered a Lean program in the Netherlands without too much Six Sigma. This is the exception, you do have to travel to Belgium. It was more than worthwhile doing this. The instructors who bring the Lean theory linked to practice is a true relief and gives the program speed and practical content. If you're into Lean, you need to take this course. The challenging exam makes the certificate valuable. "(Lean Expert C1000)

"After a disappointing experience with a Lean Six Sigma training (mostly Six Sigma with a small flavor of Lean), this program was right on! Lean as Lean is meant to be, gievn by people who know what they are talking about. The external speakers from Toyota, Volvo, Mars, Johnson and Johnson really make this program complete. Very informative and concluded with an exam (which doesn't come for granted). It is no coincidence that 50% of the participants are Dutch people who travel to Belgium especially for this."
(Program Manager Lean - Jumbo Supermarkets, NL)

"The broad approach with regard to Lean and the value added of the various simulation games, make that, for me,  this is still one of the better training programs among the large offering of workshops and trainings on Lean........ Our efficiency improved with 45%."
(Lean Coach, Swedish Match)

"Very good program: well balanced, end-to-end supply chain approach, looking at different levels (from operating system to management infrastructure and mindset), given by experienced people from different industries"
(Plant Director, Mars)

Why follow a training with us?

The price contains the tuition fee, hand-outs, drink, coffee and sandwiches and also the hotel costs for the residential sessions.

For Flemish SMEs there is the possibility to use KMO portefeuille for this training. Contact us!

* For people with a Green Belt certificate.
** All prices are in  € and VAT excluded (21%), payment within 30 days after invoicing date.
*** The Green Belt, Black Belt, Lean Champion exam with maximum 1 reexamination and 1 feedback moment with your Black Belt case.  For additional reexaminations you need to pay 200 €.

GB module: May 4-5-6-25-26-27 2020, Jun 15-16 2020

BB modules: Sep 7-8-9-10 2020, Oct 5-6-7 2020, Nov 16-17-18 -30 2020, Dec 1-2 2020, Jan 11-12-13 2021

Dirk Van Goubergen (Program Director) 
Geert Aerts (Van Goubergen P&M)
Jan Hermans (Toyota Motor Company Europe),
Tom De Weirdt (Van Goubergen P&M)
Geert Engelrelst (TE Connectivity)
Patrick Wilms (Mars Food)
Dick Van Gijzen (P&V)
Bart Vanwaeyenberghe (J&J - Jansen Pharmaceutica)
Rita Vercaemst (Alpro- Danone)

...

MODULE 1 - Lean introduction & basic techniques (Green Belt)

This module provides a basic knowledge about Lean, both production and non-production environments.

• What is Lean? Basic Principles of Lean (with a simulation game).
• Value vs. 'waste' (E 'waste'), the various types of waste.
• Overview of the main pillars of Lean and the main tools to implement Lean in your organization based on the Toyota Production System (TPS).
• Basic Training Value Stream Mapping (VSM): mapping the value flows from raw material to customer delivery. Create a roadmap for improvement from a future state, designed on the basis of eight Lean design guidelines for flow.
• Operational stability as the foundation: Standardized Work, 5S workplace organization, improving the reliability of your technical equipment with TPM.
• Basic continuous improvement techniques (Kaizen, PDCA, A3, 5xWhy, ...).
• Kanban / Pull systems: what are 'pull' systems? Overview of the different implementation forms.
• Reduction of change over times with SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Dies): Flexibility is essential in Lean. Short change over times are therefore a must!
• The Jidoka pillar (built in quality "): Quality from a Lean perspective, but not so much inspection, and Poka Yoke, Andon, autonomation and visual management.
• Translate the TPS approach towards non-production environments (administration, service delivery and support processes). What are the differences?
• Business Process Value Stream Mapping (BPVSM): Mapping service and transactional processes, and develop an implementation plan for more flow, based on an 8-step deisgn for flow process.

MODULE 2 - Advanced Lean techniques

The basic concepts are introduced in Module 1 and are further explored here in more complex situations with more advanced techniques to improve flow in your organization. We treat a.o.

• Mixed Model Value Stream Design: Common product families consist of a large list of products, with different cycle times, setup times, etc. How to improve the flow in the value stream such a situation?
• Flow in value streams with many 'Shared Resources' (ressources which are shared between different product families).
• How to design and improve flow in the supporting, internal logistics value streams 
• Design for Flow: preventing waste by incorporating Value Stream Flow Design thinking and principles during the engineering phase.
• Lean at Supply Chain level: how to connect different plants and warehouses, at different/distant locations with improved material and information flow based on Macro (Extended) VSM and Lean Design principles.
• Additional tools to further reduce and eliminate the waste in office/service environments: Overhead Value Analysis, Contactograms, Written Communication Analysis, Meeting Structure Analysis, Factor Variable Programming (VFP), approaches to deal with variability.
• Work Sampling (NL: Multi Moment opnames - MMO): excellent technique for quantifying waste and your improvement potential in environments where people have a variable or unpredictable work content.
• A hands-on simulation game of a service/office environment involving multiple value streams (including the problem of "shared resources" in these environments) to learn the use of Business Process Value Stream Mapping and its Lean Design for Flow principles in practice.

MODULE 3 - Six Sigma tools to support Lean

Participants who are already certified as Black Belts in Six Sigma are exempt from taking this module while pursuing the Black Belt in Lean certificate. Where Lean initially focuses on eliminating waste and non value added activities in the value stream and improving , with the Six Sigma techniques you try to reduce variation and thus improve the controllability of the value added stepse. Six Sigma can therefore fit perfectly in a Lean context. In this module, the Six Sigma roadmap for executing improvement initiatives (DMAIC) and a selection of basic tools and techniques are discussed. A number of guided exercises in MS Excel to show how the most basic analyzes with this well known software can be executed.

MODULE 4 - Create a Lean organisation

"The soft stuff is the hard stuff",  even with a Lean implementation. Lean is more than the implementation of tools and techniques. As a business strategy lean is only effective if the Lean principles and values in the culture of the organization are anchored, at all levels, not only in "Operations", but also with all supporting departments. In this final module, we focus on the human factor. Hoshin Kanri (policy deployment), communication and dealing with change, A3 thinking, standard work for (daily) management and improvement (the 'Operating System') and Human Resources Development (HRD) are discussed, illustrated with testimonials. Finally, we will also discuss the impact of Lean on accounting and cost calculation  in order to make the impact of flow improvement financially quantifiable. The traditional accounting and costing techniques are typically not able to show the (short term) financial benefits of flow improvements and the impact on the cash flow. Often the financial indicators even seem to be worse, which leads to taking wrong operational and engineering decisions. An effective alternative is to develop cost models at the value stream level, based on Throughput Accounting, in order to clearly show the financial impact of Lean. Hence, we conclude this module with a session on Value Stream Costing and Accounting for Lean.

COMPANY VISITS

The Lean Champion and Black Belt in Lean participants will have the opportunity to join us for one or more company visits to see how Lean is implemented in practice.