Advanced Operations Strategy and Performance Optimisation Training Course

Course overview

Operations leaders are expected to improve service, cost, capacity and resilience at the same time, often while demand patterns, supply constraints and customer expectations are changing. Local improvements can create bottlenecks elsewhere: higher equipment utilisation may lengthen queues, lower inventory may increase stockouts, and labour reductions may damage service performance. This course equips experienced operations professionals to diagnose these trade-offs using evidence, translate corporate priorities into operational choices, and build performance systems that support sustained improvement rather than isolated projects.

Participants work through advanced operations strategy methods including value-stream and process architecture analysis, capacity and demand modelling, bottleneck management, operating model design, inventory policy, service-level trade-offs, lean flow, Six Sigma variation analysis and operational risk planning. They learn to construct balanced performance measures, use leading and lagging indicators, analyse OEE and process capability, develop scenario models, and prioritise improvement initiatives through financial and operational impact assessment.

Delivery combines instructor-led strategy sessions with data-based workshops, operational case studies and facilitated peer review. Participants use Excel, Power BI and Minitab to analyse a realistic operating environment and turn findings into management-ready recommendations. Each participant leaves with an Operations Performance Optimisation Blueprint: a structured pack containing a current-state diagnosis, KPI hierarchy, bottleneck analysis, improvement portfolio, implementation roadmap and benefits-tracking approach suitable for adaptation to their own operation.

The course is designed for managers and specialists who already understand core operations concepts and now need to influence enterprise-level performance decisions. It is particularly valuable where operations must balance cost, quality, delivery, safety, customer experience and resilience across multiple functions or sites.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Diagnose end-to-end operational constraints using value-stream mapping, flow analysis and bottleneck identification
• Translate business strategy into an operations strategy using performance objectives, operating-model choices and trade-off analysis
• Build capacity and demand scenarios using utilisation, queueing relationships, takt time and throughput calculations
• Design a KPI hierarchy linking strategic objectives to leading indicators, lagging indicators and operational control measures
• Calculate and interpret OEE, process capability and variation measures to target performance losses
• Prioritise an improvement portfolio using cost-benefit analysis, risk exposure, effort-impact scoring and dependency mapping
• Create Power BI performance dashboards that reveal trends, exceptions, bottlenecks and service-level risks
• Produce an Operations Performance Optimisation Blueprint with initiatives, owners, milestones, benefits and governance controls

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Operations Managers — who must improve cost, service, quality and capacity across complex operating areas
• Head of Operations — who need a defensible operating strategy and performance governance model for multiple teams or sites
• Continuous Improvement Managers — who must convert Lean and Six Sigma activity into measurable business outcomes
• Supply Chain Managers — who need to balance inventory, fulfilment capacity, supplier risk and customer service targets
• Production Managers — who must reduce losses, stabilise throughput and improve equipment and labour performance
• Business Transformation Managers — who need to build evidence-based operational cases and implementation roadmaps

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in an operations, production, service delivery, supply chain or continuous improvement role. They should already understand basic process mapping, KPIs, capacity, inventory, lead time, quality and root-cause analysis, and be comfortable interpreting operational data in Excel. Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, ERP systems or dashboard tools is useful but not essential. Participants should bring access to a laptop with Excel; Power BI and Minitab demonstrations are guided. Advanced statistics, coding, finance qualifications and prior Power BI development experience are not required.

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor-led briefings to establish each method, followed by applied analysis using an integrated operations case. Participants map flow, calculate capacity and OEE losses, test demand scenarios in Excel, examine variation in Minitab and build executive-facing visuals in Power BI. Small-group workshops require participants to challenge assumptions, compare operating-model choices and prioritise competing initiatives. Daily outputs build into an individual Operations Performance Optimisation Blueprint, which is reviewed on the final day against a practical implementation and governance plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Operations Strategy and Current-State Diagnosis

• Operations strategy alignment with cost, quality, delivery, flexibility and resilience objectives
• Performance objective trade-offs and order-winning versus qualifying criteria
• SIPOC and end-to-end value-stream mapping for complex operations
• Process architecture analysis across functions, sites and hand-offs
• Constraint theory and system bottleneck identification
• Lead time, touch time, wait time and flow efficiency measures
• Current-state performance diagnosis using operational evidence

Workshop: Participants create a current-state value-stream map for a multi-stage operation and produce a ranked diagnosis of its primary constraints and performance losses.

Day 2: Capacity, Demand and Flow Optimisation

• Capacity planning assumptions, effective capacity and capacity cushions
• Demand profiling by volume, mix, seasonality and variability
• Utilisation, throughput and queueing relationships
• Takt time, cycle time and line balancing calculations
• Little's Law applications for work-in-progress and lead-time reduction
• Theory of Constraints drum-buffer-rope and buffer management
• Excel scenario modelling for staffing, equipment and demand changes

Workshop: Participants build an Excel capacity scenario model and recommend a response to a demand increase without breaching service-level targets.

Day 3: Quality, Asset and Process Performance Analytics

• Overall Equipment Effectiveness calculation and the six major losses
• First-pass yield, rolled throughput yield and cost of poor quality
• Process capability analysis using Cp, Cpk and specification limits
• Statistical process control charts and common versus special-cause variation
• Pareto analysis, stratification and loss-tree analysis
• Failure mode and effects analysis for operational risk prioritisation
• Minitab workflow for analysing variation and capability data

Workshop: Participants analyse production or service-quality data in Minitab and produce a loss analysis with targeted corrective actions.

Day 4: Performance Management and Improvement Portfolio Design

• KPI hierarchy design from strategic outcomes to process control measures
• Leading, lagging and diagnostic indicator selection
• KPI definitions, data ownership, targets and escalation thresholds
• Power BI dashboard design for operational review meetings
• Lean flow, standard work and visual management integration
• Improvement portfolio scoring using benefits, effort, risk and dependencies
• Benefits realisation measures and operational governance cadence

Workshop: Participants design a KPI hierarchy and Power BI dashboard storyboard, then prioritise an improvement portfolio using a weighted decision matrix.

Day 5: Resilient Operating Models and Implementation Roadmaps

• Operating model choices for centralisation, decentralisation and shared services
• Inventory policy, service-level targets and safety-stock trade-offs
• Supplier, capacity and continuity risk scenarios
• Digital operations opportunities and data-quality controls
• Change impact assessment for process, roles, systems and behaviours
• Implementation roadmap sequencing, ownership and milestone planning
• Executive narrative and governance for performance optimisation

Workshop: Participants complete and present their Operations Performance Optimisation Blueprint, including a 90-day action plan, benefits measures and executive governance proposal.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Minitab, ISO 22400

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions