by George Lee Sye

It’s been spoken about in political circles, it’s mentioned in finance news, it’s a situation that will benefit those who are in a position to capitalize on it and will cause misery for those who aren’t.

Australia’s Two Speed Economy

The Mining and Energy sector has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, and it’s on the back of this growth that Australia’s economy has remained solid while other countries struggle. The Australian Newspaper reported that construction work on new resource projects rose by 31 percent during 2011.

It’s also very clear that this sector is where the growth will continue to be for the foreseeable future, particularly in Western Australia.

Therein Lies the Opportunity for Action Takers

The question is how can a non-miner without any obvious mining industry skill or qualifications enter and build a career in this sector?

Here’s how, let me tell you about my friend Mick.

A New Career in Mining

Mick was working for the Queensland Government in a community service role. His military background had positioned him perfectly for his job.

He approached Soarent Vision in 2010 seeking to develop his skills further so he participated in our Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training program.

Mick’s participation served him in a number of ways:

Number 1 – He learnt the application of a highly valued methodology now implemented in all major mining companies today, it is also growing rapidly in popularity for the junior mining companies.

Number 2 – He developed a skill set that allows him to work in industries and processes which are foreign to him – in this case the Mining sector.

Number 3 – He chose a training program that was specifically designed for and is recognised as the preferred training for this industry – mining.

Number 4 – He developed a network of contacts that would serve him later.

Not only did Mick do the Lean Six Sigma training, he also took action that accelerated his entry into a career within the mining industry.

1. He chased opportunity to apply his new skills by volunteering to help a small manufacturing business to improve their processes – this gave him some runs on the board and demonstrated his initiative and drive.
2. He maintained his network of contacts.
3. When an opportunity was presented to him … he took it.

Mick now works for one of the largest mining companies in the world!

He has held three positions during his tenure with the organisation, is now financially much better off than he was two years ago, and his career prospects grow as he learns more about mining businesses and their processes.

Do You Want a Career in Mining?

If you do not have mining skills or qualifications, one of the most effective ways to enter and build a career in the mining industry today is through becoming a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Here’s why:
- You do not need to be a content expert or a miner; rather you facilitate process and engage with people who are content experts
- You can quickly generate quantifiable value for an organisation, value that is recognised at the highest levels
- You learn the business rapidly by understanding its processes
- You have room to move around the various functions of the business
- You quickly build a network within the business

The opportunity is there for the taking!

Take care.
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Soarent Vision provides the best Lean Six Sigma Training and Support for Mining and Energy companies in the world today.

It’s accredited, it’s not delivered by academics but people who use it, it’s not cheap but fair value for money, it’s designed purposefully for the Mining and Energy sector, and it can generate enormous value for both the course participant and the host company if they play their part.

For more information about the training, visit here – http://www.soarent.com.au/lean-six-sigma/academy-process-mastery

by George Lee Sye

I am often asked this question …

“What value will we get in return for training people in lean six sigma?”

Fair question I guess.

Here’s the answer …. NONE!

Let’s cut through the crap and use a little blunt force trauma … training NEVER generates a return!

If a manager thinks that training somebody is going to suddenly impact the bottom line, they’ve missed the point entirely.

The ONLY thing that will generate some return is the utilisation of what it is one learns.

Therein lies the problem I see in many [if not most] improvement and leadership training programs today; people learn something and then return to work and go straight back to their old job and ingrained ways of behaving.  Hmmm, George, don’t open that can of worms.

Let’s instead refine the question and ask this …

What quantifiable value will we get if we implement and effectively utilise an appropriate business improvement strategy (which might include Lean, Kaizen, TOC, Six Sigma or any combination of methodologies)?

Much better question!

Let me attempt to answer it this way.

What do the numbers tell us?

PART 1 – THE FINANCIAL RETURNS CAN POTENTIALLY BE SIGNIFICANT

In the 2nd edition of my book, Process Alchemy, I quoted figures drawn from the publicly available financial reports of some major companies. (refer to page 54 of Process Alchemy – 2nd Edition)

Those figures are a bit old now, particularly if we focus on the $ values. So let’s not do that.

The problem with $ values is they vary so greatly and we can’t really compare conpanies against one another because of the variation in size and situations.

We can instead focus on a metric which is more appropriate across all organisations.

That metric is the $ value of bottom line impact converted into a ‘percentage of revenue’. Now we begin to get a clearer picture which we might use to understand impact on our own companies.

The returns experience by companies who do it properly are reportedly up to about 3 percent of revenues.

• General Electric – 0.35 to 1.79 percent (1996 to 1999)
• Motorola – 0.44 percent (1986 to 2001)
• BHP Billiton – 0.23 to 0.74 percent (2001 to 2003)
• Black and Decker – 1.91 to 2.27 percent (2001 to 2002)
• Honeywell – 2.11 to 2.80 percent (1998 to 2000)
• American Express – 0.84 percent (2002)

How does that relate to your situation? I’ll leave it for you to do the maths.

If you are seeking this type of quantifiable return, my advice is this.

1. Clearly understand the performance of your VALUE STREAMS – a business unit leader or line manager who cannot refer to or analyse a value stream map of their business will never realize the potential of their business

2. Write your BUSINESS PLAN (I mean at the business unit / asset level) around profitability targets and any other appropriate business objectives

3. Identify where you need to make PROCESS PERFORMANCE SHIFTS in order to achieve that plan – your PROJECT PIPELINE will eminate from these focal points

4. If you need to train people to close the PROCESS IMPROVEMENT SKILL gap, do it properly – develop them according to your needs, don’t just copy somebody else or reinvent the wheel to satisfy somebody’s ego

5. If you have trained improvement people (green belts and black belts), get line managers to USE THEM for projects that are going to make process improvements related to achieving business plan objectives

Always remember this … Lean Six Sigma today is a business execution strategy, not speculation about where you might save a few dollars by training people.

PART 2 – FEW ACTUALLY SUCCEED

It would be impossible to get a true picture of company failures and successes with lean six sigma initiatives.

Even so, I have heard it claimed consistely around the traps by consultants and industry experts that the failure rate is in the vicinity of 80 percent.

Only 20 percent succeed? Seriously … that’s ridiculous!

Towards the end of the GFC (the first one I mean), I spoke to representatives of 126 companies around australia and asked them one question – Have you increased, decreased, maintained the same or eliminated your efforts in business improvement in response to the GFC?

Here’s what I learned – 92 companies had either REDUCED the size of the business improvement team (and the financial commitment that went with that) or had ELIMINATED it completely.

I know one guy who was given 30 minutes notice that he was now redundant!

Why?

I have one thought here … if business leaders / executives in those companies believed BI was generating a genuine $ return, they would never decrease their efforts or investment in it.

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

If you want to kill your BI initiative do this!

Number 1. Just TRAIN PEOPLE (Western Mining Corporation did this when they trained some 15 black belts during 2004 – not one project was completed in the 12 months I observed them and only 1 of those black belts was still at the company 12 months later)

Number 2. Don’t drive your improvement PROJECT PIPELINE from a value stream perspective, do it piecemeal and without any real framework behind it

Number 3. Do not SYSTEMISE BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT nor make it part of the business execution process – let it sit out there on its own as a bolt on and another thing to do

Number 4. Set it up so it only survives and thrives on the back of a HIGHLY MOTIVATED INDIVIDUAL and hope they stay in your company

Number 5. Take on as many projects as you can and create a STATE OF CONTINUOUS CHANGE and initiative overload – don’t worry about that control phase [of DMAIC] where we lock in change and stability

Number 6. And finally … if you do train green belts and black belts, LEAVE THEM IN THEIR OLD JOBS and pray they use their newly learned skills to make business related improvements

It’s depressing to see this so often in businesses in Australia.

Anyway, enough of that, let’s take a quick look at real business improvement benefits.

Benefits you can (and must) decisively set out to achieve.

1. Increase Earnings (cost reduction and / or revenue increases visible on the profit and loss statement)

- Reduce fixed and variable costs (i.e. power, insurance, maintenance, cost per unit produced, rework, life of non capital assets, interest paid)

- Increase revenue (i.e. process yield, unit sales volume, interest earned, unit price)

2. Convert Current Assets Into Cash (move balance sheet $ into the bank as cash)

- Reduce debtors (i.e. payment cycle time, accounts receivable)

- Reduce inventory (i.e. parts, work in progress, stockpiles)

3. Defer or Prevent Capital Outlay

- Increase the useful life of plant and machinery

- Increase plant capacity (i.e. reduce defect production rate, increase production capability)

4. Increase Asset Value

- Increase future growth potential (i.e. customer data base, future production, management capacity, staff capacity, process capacity)

- Reduce business risk (i.e. key person risk, cash flow smoothing, potential liability etc)

Here’s some tips to consider so you don’t waste your money!

TIP 1. If you plan to do some training and have no idea what the return will be, don’t do the training till you do.

TIP 2. Get support in developing the framework that will drive quantifiable financial success with this improvement thing we all talk about.

TIP 3. One size does not fit all … Six Sigma may well be the correct methodology to introduce first in a manufacturing business, Lean is more appropriate in the first instance in an organisation where throughput is the main issue.

TIP 4. One size does not fit all … Lean Six Sigma for manufacturing is not Lean Six Sigma for mining or energy.

TIP 5. If leaders and line managers are not going to take responsibility and drive this, forget it. Invest your money in rental property instead.

TIP 6. The initiative must impact the key variables that in turn positively affect (a) the multiple of valuation (Price Earnings Ratio or PER) and (b) company earnings … only then will you get corporate executive support.

- Note – if you’re not sure what this means, get a copy of How to Create Wealth IN Business – for Kindle or iPad only

TIP 7. Put energy into project pipeline development and management.

- Note – some good learnings can be gleaned from How To Select Great Improvement Projects – available for Kindle and iPad

That’s it!

Until next time, take care

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Soarent Vision is the provider of nationally accredited Lean Six Sigma Training in Australia under the governance of ….. hang on a minute, that is so boring. Let me start again.

Soarent Vision provides the best Lean Six Sigma Training and Support for Mining and Energy companies in the world today. I gotta call it as I see it.

It’s accredited, it’s not delivered by academics but people who use it, it’s not cheap but fair value for money, it’s designed purposefully for the Mining and Energy sector, and it can easily convert into an investment IF you play your part.

For more information about the training, visit here – http://www.soarent.com.au/lean-six-sigma/academy-process-mastery

This video presents an argument that what we think incentivises people at work is not really true. Very interesting and highly appealing way to present this argument too.

Watch it and let me know what you think.

Soarent Vision’s nationally accredited Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (Diploma in Business Improvement Leadership) training program for Mining and Energy companies is now locked in for public delivery in Brisbane, the sunny capital of Queensland.

On the back of it’s consistent success in generating returns for host companies, the program has grown from strength to strength since it’s first delivery in Queensland during 2002.

The Next Training Cycle

The next cycle of training begins in February 2012 and some places are still available.

GREEN BELT / DIPLOMA

• Module GB1 – Lean Thinking Foundations
• Module GB2 – Six Sigma Fundamentals
• Module GB3 – Diploma Bridging Course

BLACK BELT / ADVANCED DIPLOMA

• Module BB1 – Quantitative Decision Making
• Module BB2 – Quality Function Deployment

Training Schedule and Registration Options

• Online – visit here www.soarent.com.au/courses
• Phone – Call us on 1300 551 294 (Australia only)  or  61-7-3377 0824

NOTE: If you are registering for the full Diploma in BIL or Advanced Diploma in BIL qualifications, call us first to enrol.

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Soarent Vision is the provider of nationally accredited Lean Six Sigma Training for Mining and Energy companies in Australia under the governance of its Academy of Process Mastery and the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). For more information about this world-class training visit here -http://www.soarent.com.au/lean-six-sigma/academy-process-mastery

Since it’s first delivery in Perth (Western Australia) in 2010, attendance at Soarent Vision’s nationally accredited Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (Diploma) and Black Belt (Advanced Diploma) program has grown beyond expectations.

It is now a part of the Business Improvement staff development strategy for a number of major companies including Fortescue Metals Group, Anglo American, Woodside Energy, Citic Pacific Mining and Western Power.

The main expectation of industry is to receive content that can be applied immediately after training has been delivered to generate value. The fact that Soarent Vision meets this expectation and these are also AQF accredited Diploma and Advanced Diploma qualifications has been the biggest differentiator.

The Next Cycle of Training

Registrations are now open for the next cycle of training which begins in Perth during February 2012.

GREEN BELT / DIPLOMA

• Module GB1 – Lean Thinking Foundations
• Module GB2 – Six Sigma Fundamentals
• Module GB3 – Diploma Bridging Course

BLACK BELT / ADVANCED DIPLOMA

• Module BB1 – Quantitative Decision Making
• Module BB2 – Quality Function Deployment

Training Schedule and Registration Options

• Online – visit here www.soarent.com.au/courses
• Phone – Call us on 1300 551 294 (Australia only)  or  61-7-3377 0824

NOTE: If you are registering for the full Diploma in BIL or Advanced Diploma in BIL qualifications, call us first to enrol.

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Soarent Vision is the provider of nationally accredited Lean Six Sigma Training for Mining in Australia under the governance of its Academy of Process Mastery and the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). For more information about this world-class training visit here - http://www.soarent.com.au/lean-six-sigma/academy-process-mastery

Here’s great news!

Soarent Vision’s new schedule of 2012 LEAN SIX SIGMA TRAINING for Mining and Energy companies just gets better and better.

Here are the major improvements for 2012.

1. Additional Modules are Converted to Self-Paced Training

The Diploma Bridging Course (DBC) is now self paced . It will be delivered in a similar format to the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) module now offered in the Black Belt training.

Students will be provided with study and assignment documents to be completed in their own time within a designated period and they will use the text provided as reference.

This provides the opportunity to spend more time on mentoring course participants without increasing student fees.

2. New Mentoring Sessions / Master Classes

We are going to give students a lot more mentoring. They will now be able to attend up to Four x Soarent Vision hosted master classes throughout the year.

Our goals for this mentoring component of training are to:

(a) relieve internal pressure for mentoring for the host (your) company,

(b) significantly enhance the development of student capability, and

(c) reduce time for students to get certified.

3. Industry Focus

Our public training will be focused on the Mining and Energy sector processes with relevant service components included. The simulation will more closely resemble the work of this industry.  Our intention is to provide the very best training possible for our specific customer market, not be everything to everybody.

Soarent Vision will still provide tailored in-house training as requested.

Wrap Up

Give us a call if you have any questions or want more information.

Our entire team is looking forward to Soarent Vision being of service to you in the new year, take care.

The take up of Soarent Vision’s Business Execution, Change Leadership and Business Improvement Courses has been so positive that the company has been able to establish long-term contracts with venue providers. Savings generated are now being passed on to the customer so Soarent Vision offers even greater savings for its clients.

Savings Passed On

Effective from 1st of January 2012, the NEW SCHEDULE OF COURSE RATES reflects savings as great as $2,500 for some of the most valuable qualifications and education in the business improvement world today.

Greater savings are also available for volume participation.

For a Quotation or to discuss how Soarent Vision can reduce your BI costs and increase returns ….

• Call us on 61 – 7 – 3377 0824, or
• Email us at home@soarent.com.au

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Soarent Vision arguably provides the most advanced and business relevant Lean Six Sigma and Master Black Belt training in the world today. Soarent Vision’s AQF accredited Lean Six Sigma program for Green Belts and Black Belts integrates perfectly with the MBB program and prepares participants to become the most influential and high performance leaders on the planet.

If you are participating in our Lean Six Sigma training program and you have not yet completed assignments for your Diploma or Advanced Diploma, this is relevant to you.

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Getting Certified

Certification is actually quite a simple process once you have completed the training and end of course exams. All you need to do is complete the assignments and send in your work.

The assignments are listed in FORM 5 in your certification kit which you can DOWNLOAD HERE.

Myths About Certification

Myth #1: You have to do a project or projects that get you to use all of the tools listed in your assignments.

Not true … all you need to do is at least 1 [value adding] improvement project that demonstrates your competence in applying the DMAIC model. You support this work with an affidavit signed by the project champion.

The assignments not covered in the project can be completed individually for literally any scenario.

Myth #2: You have to facilitate project work with a team for all assignments.

Not true … as long as you facilitate at least 1 Lean or Six Sigma project using the DMAIC model, you can complete all other assignments on your own. All you need to do is demonstrate competency in the use of the tool. Follow what FORM 5 says and you can’t go wrong.

Myth #3: There is too much work to do in completing the assignments.

Definitely not true … let me make 2 important points in relation to this.

(a) The list of course assignments is longest for module 1 (Lean) and they get progressively shorter for each course. By the time you get to the statistics portion of the Black Belt program, you only have 4 simple assignments to complete.

(b) At Diploma and Advanced Diploma levels, these are the highest training body accredited qualifications for Lean Six Sigma practitioners in the world today.

• Nobody offers an Advanced Diploma which is the equivalent of two thirds of a Bachelor Degree.
• With a bit of effort, you can attain the Ad Dip in less than 12 months.

Certification is so important to you I just cannot stress it enough.

There is already a change in the employment market, and just like what happened with MBAs, the quality of your certification and where you got it from is coming under more scrutiny.

If you have any questions about your certification, drop us a line here – help@soarent.com.au

Take care.

by George Lee Sye

A little while ago I had the good fortune to participate in a unique training event – a Lean Business Simulation for the Mining Industry.

The simulation was designed to help line managers and supervisors be more effective in achieving their business goals and doing it in a way they don’t kills themselves in the process. The goal is not to work harder, it’s to work smarter and this simulation helped participants understand just how to do that.

Check this out:

This is a short video of approximately 5:09 minutes in which I spoke to the host of the simulation, Harry Sinko, about the nature of this unique Lean Business for Mining training simulation.

Why does this simulation work so well?

This particular simulation is designed specifically for the mining industry. That alone makes it more relevant to a specific group of people.

It also works incredibly well in connecting business improvement and lean concepts to business execution activities for these reasons.

• It involves people in the mining organisation at the level where training has historically been inadequate – the line manager and supervisor level.
• It gets focus back to the right business level so that improvement takes place where the greatest value can be generated for the organisation.
• It drives a collaborative approach to business improvement with the entire business value stream in mind.
• It is not about an improvement method, it’s about improvement.

Next Steps

I absolutely recommend that you get this training for your line managers and supervisors. You can get that underway by:

• (1) Call our office on 1300 551 294 (Australia only) or 61-7-3377 0824
• (2) Email us at home@soarent.com.au

For more information, visit our website – www.soarent.com.au/simulation

Pure Inspiration

While his country was in poverty and famine, a 14 year old Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family’s home. Now 22, William Kamkwamba wrote his take and now shares in his own words the moving tale of determination that has changed his life.

Use the comments area below to share what you think.