Current State of Practice in Developing Lean Six Sigma Training and Certification Programs - an Irish Perspective

The study aims to review how Lean Six Sigma training and certification programs are conducted in organisations to develop employee competence and advance the programs. The types of training and certification programmes, the approach to development, the critical factors for success and failure, and barriers to development were all investigated. A quantitative survey was conducted with Operational Excellence professionals from various Irish manufacturing industry sectors who had Lean Six Sigma programs. It was found external accreditations of LSS expertise were more prevalent than internal certifications in Irish organisations, and many organisations encouraged completing of continuous improvement projects with valid financial savings before individuals were certified. As well as this, a lack of management support, not setting aside time for the individuals to complete the training, and a lack of recognition and reward for completing training and projects were deemed critical failure factors. The findings from this study can be used to develop a best-practice Lean Six Sigma training and certification program that is open to all employees and is externally accredited. This paper is one of few studies that expose the current practice for designing a Lean Six Sigma training and certification programme in industry.