Specialist Diploma - Six Sigma

Hi
i am looking to do the above course in the University of Limerick .The course is distance learning as i live in north dublin.Has anybody any experance of the course and the distance learning ,
Cheers
Ray

If you want to work in mass production and love spread sheets, and are seeking like minded people, it's the thing for you.

Couple it with a Lean Manufacturing course, or Kaizen techniques, then you are adding useful skills as a manufacturing engineer.

sustanon said:

Couple it with a Lean Manufacturing course, or Kaizen techniques, then you are adding useful skills as a manufacturing engineer.

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I've read up quite a bit on Kaizen techniques (or events) and lean manufacturing... how do they differ from "talking it through" and "common sense"?

"people don't Listen", and "common Sense" is a myth

Purple said:

I've read up quite a bit on Kaizen techniques (or events) and lean manufacturing... how do they differ from "talking it through" and "common sense"?

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By and large they don't, been through a number of LSS projects and whereas the methodology is useful, it's nothing that common sense and some thinking that any competent manager should be able to do. To me they are just buzz words for the latest hot management topic, replacing things like JIT (just in time) and ISO 9000 as "must haves" for executives with more money then sense

Might look good on a CV if you want to get into consulting

Mpsox said:

By and large they don't, been through a number of LSS projects and whereas the methodology is useful, it's nothing that common sense and some thinking that any competent manager should be able to do. To me they are just buzz words for the latest hot management topic, replacing things like JIT (just in time) and ISO 9000 as "must haves" for executives with more money then sense

Might look good on a CV if you want to get into consulting

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Yea, that's my view as well. I can see the value of ISO 9000 as it establishes an audit trail without imposing a one size fits all structure.

Purple said:

Yea, that's my view as well. I can see the value of ISO 9000 as it establishes an audit trail without imposing a one size fits all structure.

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Problem with ISO 9000 and any of these techniques is that they can become more bother then they are worth. I remember working for a multinational and when we ended up having check sheets to control our checksheets, I lost any faith in it

Its a very limited subject IMO, I am a green belt and I work in IT services so its a good as useless unless you want to move into manufacturing. The course I did was two lots of two day sessions but I will not bother looking for my black belt.

I have done a number of these over the years Total Quality, Lean etc and none of them has increased my salary. Possibly made my CV stand out more but nothing more than that. You still need experience or a qualification as this is only a "cherry" on top.

Mpsox said:

Problem with ISO 9000 and any of these techniques is that they can become more bother then they are worth. I remember working for a multinational and when we ended up having check sheets to control our checksheets, I lost any faith in it

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That's more to do with a bad quality engineer than doesn't understand the basic ISO requirments.

Purple said:

That's more to do with a bad quality engineer than doesn't understand the basic ISO requirments.

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Absolutely, but that is the problem with a lot of these "techniques", they're badly implemented and defeat the purpose for which they were intended

While it is true that the mythical common sense will get you some way towards optimisation, an understanding of statistical methods and analysis gets you even further and prevents going down misleading avenues (I have done a lot of numerical analysis to support business decisions and the results were often not what a lot of the experienced managers expected. Which is why I was asked to produce rigorous analysis in the first place; they knew that there was enough complexity there that intuition, experience and common sense were not enough). Six sigma is a set of tools, which, if understood have a lot of scope for optimisation, increase in quality and cost reduction. But you can't blindly follow them - you have to engage the brain.

By the way, they are applicable to the software industry too, but you need to be selective and careful in the implementation. A qualification in itself will not get anyone a pay rise by default, and why should it? But demonstrating results as a result of learning new methods is a better bet for a pay rise any day.

Diziet said:

While it is true that the mythical common sense will get you some way towards optimisation, an understanding of statistical methods and analysis gets you even further and prevents going down misleading avenues (I have done a lot of numerical analysis to support business decisions and the results were often not what a lot of the experienced managers expected. Which is why I was asked to produce rigorous analysis in the first place; they knew that there was enough complexity there that intuition, experience and common sense were not enough). Six sigma is a set of tools, which, if understood have a lot of scope for optimisation, increase in quality and cost reduction. But you can't blindly follow them - you have to engage the brain.

By the way, they are applicable to the software industry too, but you need to be selective and careful in the implementation. A qualification in itself will not get anyone a pay rise by default, and why should it? But demonstrating results as a result of learning new methods is a better bet for a pay rise any day.

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The problem is that many people who think its great don't understand it. If you don't have the volume to give meaningful figures then a statistical analysis is useless.
I’m in low volume, high-end manufacturing. I had a customer in high volume manufacturing who thought 6-Sigma was great. It took 8 weeks and a green-belt project to show him that it was a waste of time

ISO9000-2008 places a large emphasis on continual improvement aka Kaizen. There is no one size fits all solution. For me it was a massive investment in production equipment, allowing me to triple the output of my plant without increasing the headcount. Needless to say the owner is very happy, and I get a fat paycheck. however, I still see waste, we have a great continual improvement program that involves everyone, and has cash rewards.. still waiting to see how that pans out, but we dish out a $100 petrol card each quarter to the best suggestion. before you ask, the merit is not based on the monetary benefits of the suggestion, more for the creative thinking that gets applied.

We have a reasonable level of complexity in our products, but we also have a reasonable level of repetition. This is why a current installation of MRP software is proving disastrous. For me, simple is best, this is where 5S, Kaizen, lean flow, kanban, visual cues are all great. We're not a multinational, so we don't have these philosophies coming to us from a far away parent, which is the case in Ireland a lot of the time. My point to the OP is to gain the skills, you'll have them for life, but Manufacturing in Ireland is changing. there are plenty of opportunities to use these skills in home-grown operations, but "Home-grown" may not mean Irish....

Purple said:

I had a customer in high volume manufacturing who thought 6-Sigma was great. It took 8 weeks and a green-belt project to show him that it was a waste of time

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So they thought it was all great (which part exactly, I wonder?) without actually doing the analysis. The whole point of the 6 sigma approach is the numerical analysis. But I agree that if it is used a a blind cribsheet it does not have much value. And a bit of training does not make one a good analyst - this takes experience and, as I said before, being critical and engaging the brain.

Diziet said:

So they thought it was all great (which part exactly, I wonder?) without actually doing the analysis. The whole point of the 6 sigma approach is the numerical analysis. But I agree that if it is used a a blind cribsheet it does not have much value. And a bit of training does not make one a good analyst - this takes experience and, as I said before, being critical and engaging the brain.

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The problem was that they were asking us to draw conclusions from small batch runs so the numerical analysis would have been next to worthless.

Purple said:

The problem was that they were asking us to draw conclusions from small batch runs so the numerical analysis would have been next to worthless.

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Quite agree - which is where being critical and engaging brain comes in handy!

There are numerous such courses around this or very similiar topics run by our institutes of technology or fas.What is your reason for wanting to do this course? What is your previous education in this area? Why not attend a course..I think drogheda and dundalk do these type of courses
Also.. what advantage do you think this type of qualification would be for you in the current job market?

I can’t take the time off work to attend a course, I also work shift. I have an ordinary Degree in manufacturing Engineering. I also have gained a lean qualification from work. I am going to do the course to gain more experience in Six Sigma. I hope this will give me an extra edge if I need to change job. Six Sigma is been used in all sectors.

People doing these courses usually do so to actually get a job....so your first priority is to keep the job you have .Do you think this or a similiar qualification will give you any advantage in the workplace either in your own company or a different company. The answer is probably not. How much will the distance learning course cost? and who will pay for it? If I were you, I would just go to the bookshop or amazon on the internet and buy a good book on 6 sigma or lean manufacturing etc and study it by yourself.