Lean Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Operations Managers, Continuous Improvement Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-OM-034

Before you join: Participants should have experience of managing, supervising, analysing or supporting an operational process, service, production area or project workflow.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Lean management addresses recurring operational problems: long lead times, avoidable handoffs, backlogs, rework, unreliable delivery, excess inventory and unclear ownership. These issues appear in factories, bank operations, public services, shared-service centres, hospitals, logistics networks and project-based work. Lean thinking provides a disciplined way to define customer value, see end-to-end work, remove waste and build reliable flow without treating cost reduction as the only objective.

This course teaches participants to analyse work using value stream mapping, takt time, standard work, pull systems, visual management and structured problem solving. Participants learn to distinguish value-adding work from delay and failure demand; identify the eight wastes; design future-state flows; establish practical performance measures; and manage improvement through daily accountability. The course also covers quality at source, error proofing, maintenance, leader standard work and strategy deployment.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with realistic operational cases, team analysis, process simulations and guided application to participants' own work. Cases can be adapted for service, transactional, manufacturing, logistics or public-sector operations. Participants leave with a documented current-state analysis, future-state improvement design, A3 problem-solving structure, daily management board outline and a 30-60-90-day implementation plan.

The course suits managers and specialists responsible for operational performance, process improvement, service delivery, production, quality or continuous improvement. It is particularly useful where teams need a common method for improving customer outcomes while controlling workload, quality and delivery reliability.

What you will be able to do

  • Map an end-to-end value stream using current-state and future-state value stream mapping
  • Calculate takt time, lead time, work-in-progress and flow constraints from operational data
  • Design pull-based replenishment using Kanban, supermarkets, FIFO lanes and Heijunka
  • Create standard work and visual management controls for repeatable daily execution
  • Apply A3, PDCA, Five Whys and fishbone analysis to operational problems
  • Assess equipment and process losses using OEE, error proofing and maintenance methods
  • Build daily performance measures using SQDCP, run charts and escalation rules
  • Prepare a Lean implementation roadmap with governance, benefits tracking and review points

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Diagnose delays, backlogs and rework using recognised Lean measures
  • Lead improvement discussions with value stream maps and A3 reports
  • Make evidence-based recommendations for flow, pull and standard work
  • Run more focused daily performance reviews and escalation routines
  • Build a credible improvement plan for an assigned operational area

For your organisation

  • Shorter end-to-end lead times through removal of waiting and handoff delays
  • Lower rework and defect costs through quality-at-source controls
  • Better delivery reliability through pull signals, flow controls and visual management
  • More productive use of capacity through bottleneck management and reduced changeovers
  • Consistent improvement governance through common measures, A3 reports and review routines

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define customer value and identify waste within an operational process.

  • Lean thinking principles: value, value streams, flow, pull and perfection
  • Customer value defined through critical-to-quality requirements and service expectations
  • Value-added, necessary non-value-added and waste activities classified consistently
  • Eight wastes identified using TIMWOODS observation categories
  • Process purpose, boundaries, customers, inputs, suppliers and outputs clarified
  • Voice-of-customer evidence translated into operational value criteria
  • Lean misconceptions distinguished from headcount reduction and isolated cost cutting

Participants can create current-state and future-state value stream maps using operational data.

  • Current-state value stream maps capture material, information and decision flows
  • Process families selected using product-quantity analysis and routing similarities
  • Cycle time, changeover, uptime and inventory data gathered accurately
  • Takt time calculated from demand, available production time and demand patterns
  • Lead time ladders expose waiting, queues, handoffs and rework loops
  • Information flows mapped from customer order through scheduling and release
  • Future-state maps specify flow cells, supermarkets, pull signals and pacemaker processes

Participants can diagnose flow barriers and redesign work for improved throughput.

  • Flow barriers diagnosed through batch sizes, queues, constraints and unbalanced work
  • Little's Law relates work-in-progress, throughput and lead time
  • Work cells designed using sequence, proximity, safety and operator movement
  • Line balancing uses takt time, work content and Yamazumi charts
  • SMED separates internal and external tasks to reduce changeover time
  • Constraint management protects bottlenecks and prevents upstream overproduction
  • Service flow redesigned for casework, approvals and customer handoffs

Participants can design basic pull controls for material, information and service workflows.

  • Pull systems replenish work only after downstream consumption signals
  • Kanban cards, bins and electronic signals control replenishment
  • Supermarkets size inventory buffers at defined decoupling points
  • Kanban quantities calculated from demand, replenishment lead time and variability
  • FIFO lanes control sequence, ageing and maximum work-in-progress
  • Heijunka levels volume and mix to stabilise daily production
  • Pacemaker processes set the schedule for connected value streams

Participants can establish visual controls and standard work for stable daily operations.

  • 5S establishes sort, set in order, shine, standardise and sustain
  • Visual management makes status, abnormalities, priorities and ownership visible
  • Standard work combines takt time, work sequence and standard inventory
  • Job instruction sheets capture critical steps, reasons and key points
  • Layered process audits verify adherence and expose recurring deviations
  • Andon escalation defines response roles, time limits and containment actions
  • Daily management boards connect team measures to improvement actions

Participants can investigate operational problems and manage countermeasures through structured improvement cycles.

  • PDCA structures iterative improvement from problem definition through follow-up
  • A3 reports frame background, condition, target, analysis and countermeasures
  • Five Whys tests causal chains without assigning personal blame
  • Fishbone diagrams organise causes under people, methods, machines, materials and measurement
  • Pareto charts focus investigation on the few largest loss categories
  • Process confirmation compares actual work against documented standard work
  • Countermeasures tested with defined owners, dates, measures and follow-up checks

Participants can reduce defects and equipment-related losses using prevention-focused Lean methods.

  • Built-in quality stops defects at source through immediate detection
  • Poka-yoke devices prevent errors or make errors immediately visible
  • First-time-right measures distinguish defect rates, rework and scrap
  • Overall equipment effectiveness separates availability, performance and quality losses
  • Autonomous maintenance assigns basic inspection, cleaning and lubrication routines
  • Planned maintenance uses failure history, condition checks and maintenance intervals
  • Failure mode and effects analysis prioritises prevention actions by risk

Participants can build a daily management system linking performance gaps to timely action.

  • Operational metrics align safety, quality, delivery, cost and people performance
  • SQDCP boards make daily performance gaps visible at team level
  • Leading indicators distinguish process discipline from lagging business results
  • Run charts reveal shifts, trends and recurring variation over time
  • Control charts separate common-cause variation from special-cause signals
  • Tiered daily accountability escalates abnormalities within defined response windows
  • Metric definitions specify owner, formula, source, frequency and action threshold

Participants can align Lean improvement priorities with leadership routines and business objectives.

  • Hoshin Kanri connects breakthrough objectives with annual improvement priorities
  • Strategy deployment matrices translate objectives into owners, measures and initiatives
  • Catchball aligns targets and feasibility through structured vertical dialogue
  • Obeya rooms coordinate cross-functional priorities, decisions, risks and milestones
  • Leader standard work schedules observation, coaching, review and escalation
  • Gemba walks examine actual conditions using facts, questions and respect
  • Change plans address stakeholder concerns, capability gaps and resistance patterns

Participants can prepare a practical Lean implementation plan with controls for sustaining results.

  • Improvement charters define problem, scope, target, team and business case
  • Kaizen event plans sequence preparation, observation, changes and follow-up
  • Benefits tracking validates savings, capacity release, quality and service gains
  • Control plans assign measures, standards, audits, triggers and response owners
  • Implementation roadmaps stage pilots, replication, governance and review milestones
  • Personal application plans identify a value stream, sponsor and first actions
  • 30-60-90-day reviews sustain commitments and remove implementation barriers

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Current-state value stream map template
  2. Future-state value stream design
  3. A3 problem-solving report template
  4. Standard work and visual management checklist
  5. Daily management board model
  6. 30-60-90-day Lean implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Operations Managers — improve delivery, capacity, quality and workforce productivity
  • Continuous Improvement Managers — lead structured Lean initiatives and coach teams
  • Production Managers — reduce changeovers, bottlenecks, defects and excess inventory
  • Service Delivery Managers — shorten case handling, approvals and customer response times
  • Process Owners — redesign end-to-end workflows using customer value and flow data
  • Project Managers — apply Lean methods to recurring project controls and handoffs

Skills and tools covered

Value stream mappingFlow designPull system designA3 problem solvingDaily performance managementLean implementation planning

Tools and standards

Value Stream Mapping, A3 Problem Solving, PDCA, 5S

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce each Lean method, followed by case-based analysis, group exercises, process simulations and structured discussion. Participants work with realistic operational data such as demand, cycle times, queues, quality losses and service levels. Teams develop maps, identify waste, test flow and pull decisions, and practise A3 problem solving. Facilitated application planning helps participants translate the methods into a focused improvement initiative for their own area.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience of managing, supervising, analysing or supporting an operational process, service, production area or project workflow. They should be comfortable discussing basic measures such as volume, time, quality, cost and customer demand. Familiarity with process mapping is helpful but not essential. No prior Lean, Six Sigma, statistical process control or manufacturing experience is required. The course uses examples from both service and production settings, so participants do not need to work in a factory.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

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

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need experience of an operational, service, production or project workflow and familiarity with basic performance measures. Previous Lean or Six Sigma training is not required.

Bring a laptop if possible and details of a process you know well, such as demand volumes, cycle times, recurring delays or quality issues. Existing process maps or performance reports are useful but optional.

It is designed for managers, process owners, improvement specialists, supervisors and project leaders responsible for operational performance. It applies equally to transactional services, logistics, public services and production operations.

This course focuses on customer value, waste removal, flow, pull, visual control and daily management. It uses practical data analysis but does not focus on advanced statistical methods or formal Six Sigma certification.

Participants select a suitable process or operational issue and build an application plan during the course. The templates support an initial value stream review, A3 analysis, future-state design and implementation discussion with a manager or sponsor.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, simulations, group work and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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