Lucky thirteen
Thirteen employees from across the Synseal Group have successfully passed their exams as part of the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt manufacturing training.
Lean Six Sigma is a world-renowned training programme which uses DMAIC methodology (define, measure, analyse, improve and control) to support the improvement of quality manufacturing outputs driven by individuals.
Steve Hill, director of quality and continuous improvement at Synseal, said: “This is a fantastic result for all the individuals who sat the exam. It’s a real personal challenge to complete the Green Belt training and the candidates have put in a lot of extra time and effort to ensure they meet the demands of the exam, so I’m really proud of each and every one of them.
“Lean Six Sigma is a world-class training programme and the investment we put in to delivering the Green Belt training across our sites will bring us improvements worth tenfold the cost we put in.”
The Green Belt candidates worked in three groups, leading on improvement projects of their own design while using the skills and methodologies developed from the Lean Six Sigma framework. They have been mentored by Synseal’s continuous improvement team who have decades of experience driving improvements in the automotive industry, where Lean Six Sigma has been the established framework for a long time.
The candidates for the first wave were selected from across the company, from shop floor through to HR and finance including employees at Global Glass and Masterdor.
Two projects addressed areas that could be improved in the lamination department by looking at the material flow to help streamline the process, and assessing how base products are ordered, picked and received – both identifying ways in which employees can work smarter and reduce waste. Moving forwards, the continuous improvement teams is aiming to get more than 150 individuals involved in the training to find efficiencies in even more areas of the business.
“We are already planning our next wave of Green Belt training to start straight away, with the previous candidates working as mentors to the new ones,” Steve said. “We will also be putting some of our best candidates forward for Black Belt training, which will really help develop our talent into leaders in manufacturing best practice.”