Quality and Productivity for Operations Managers Training Course

Course overview

Operations managers are expected to raise output, protect quality, control cost and meet delivery commitments at the same time. In practice, these goals are often managed through disconnected reports, local fixes and escalating overtime. Recurring defects, unstable cycle times, excess work in progress, poor handovers and unplanned downtime consume capacity that should be available for customer demand and improvement work. This course equips managers to diagnose those losses with evidence, prioritise the right interventions and sustain measurable gains across an operating area.

Participants learn to connect quality performance with productivity measures rather than treating them as competing agendas. They use process maps, SIPOC diagrams, value stream maps, Pareto analysis, run charts, control charts, OEE, capacity calculations, takt time, standard work and root-cause methods to identify constraints and variation. The programme also covers daily management routines, visual performance boards, escalation paths, corrective and preventive action (CAPA), and practical approaches to leading cross-functional improvement.

Instruction combines facilitated analysis, worked calculations, operational case studies and team workshops using realistic production and service-delivery data. Participants build an improvement charter for a selected operational process, including a current-state map, baseline KPI set, loss analysis, prioritised countermeasures, implementation milestones and control plan. This is a five-day instructor-led course, available in classroom or live online format, with a certificate awarded on completion.

The course is designed for experienced operations leaders responsible for teams, throughput, service levels, quality results or continuous improvement delivery. It is equally relevant to managers in manufacturing, logistics, maintenance, utilities, healthcare operations and high-volume service environments.

Course objectives

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

• Map an end-to-end operational process using SIPOC and value stream mapping to expose delays, rework and hand-off failures.
• Calculate OEE, takt time, cycle time, capacity utilisation and first-pass yield from operational data.
• Construct Pareto charts, run charts and control charts to distinguish common-cause variation from special-cause variation.
• Prioritise productivity losses using an impact-versus-effort matrix and quantified cost-of-poor-quality analysis.
• Facilitate root-cause investigation using 5 Whys, fishbone diagrams and evidence-based problem statements.
• Design standard work and visual management controls that stabilise critical process steps and daily performance reviews.
• Develop a corrective and preventive action plan with owners, due dates, verification criteria and escalation triggers.
• Produce a 90-day quality and productivity improvement charter with baseline measures, benefits targets and a control plan.

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Operations Managers — who own throughput, quality, labour deployment and delivery performance across an operating area
• Production Managers — who must reduce defects, downtime and changeover losses while meeting output plans
• Service Delivery Managers — who need to improve turnaround times, right-first-time performance and workload flow
• Continuous Improvement Managers — who lead Lean or operational-excellence projects requiring manager-led sustainment
• Warehouse and Logistics Managers — who need to control picking errors, dispatch delays, inventory handling losses and capacity constraints
• Maintenance Managers — who influence equipment availability, planned maintenance adherence and the reliability contribution to OEE

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have at least two years of responsibility for an operational team, process or performance area and be comfortable reading basic KPI reports. Familiarity with measures such as output, defects, lead time, labour hours, service level or downtime is assumed. Participants should be able to use Microsoft Excel or equivalent spreadsheet software for simple formulas, sorting and charts; advanced statistical analysis is not required. Prior Lean Six Sigma certification is not required, and the course does not assume prior use of Minitab, Power BI or formal quality-management systems. Participants should bring a real process challenge and, where permitted, recent operational data.

Training methodology

The instructor uses short technical briefings followed by applied work on operating scenarios involving defects, missed dispatches, unstable output and equipment losses. Participants calculate performance measures in Excel, interpret charts, map a process, and practise 5 Whys and fishbone facilitation in small groups. Case discussions test the trade-offs between speed, quality, inventory and cost. Each day adds to an individual improvement charter based on a participant’s own process or a supplied case, ending with a peer review of the proposed countermeasures, governance and control plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Diagnosing operational performance

• Quality, productivity, delivery and cost performance relationships
• Operational KPI trees and leading-versus-lagging measures
• SIPOC analysis for defining process boundaries and customers
• Swimlane process mapping and hand-off failure identification
• Value stream mapping of material, information and service flow
• Baseline data collection plans and operational definitions
• Cost of poor quality categories and loss quantification

Workshop: Participants map a selected process and produce a baseline problem statement with agreed boundaries, measures and initial loss estimates.

Day 2: Measuring flow, capacity and equipment effectiveness

• Takt time, cycle time and lead time calculations
• Capacity analysis, bottleneck identification and line balancing
• Work-in-progress limits and Little's Law application
• Overall equipment effectiveness availability performance quality components
• First-pass yield, rolled throughput yield and rework measurement
• Changeover loss analysis and SMED improvement principles
• Labour productivity measures and staffing-to-demand analysis

Workshop: Participants analyse a capacity-and-loss data set in Excel and produce a bottleneck diagnosis with quantified improvement opportunities.

Day 3: Controlling variation and solving quality problems

• Pareto analysis for defect, delay and downtime prioritisation
• Run charts, trends, shifts and operational signal interpretation
• Control chart selection and common-cause versus special-cause variation
• Process capability concepts Cp, Cpk and specification limits
• 5 Whys questioning and evidence-based causal chains
• Fishbone diagrams using the 6M cause categories
• Failure mode and effects analysis scoring and action selection

Workshop: Teams investigate a recurring defect case and produce a Pareto chart, fishbone diagram, root-cause statement and targeted corrective actions.

Day 4: Implementing sustainable productivity improvements

• Standard work design and critical task sequence definition
• Visual management boards and tiered daily accountability meetings
• 5S workplace controls linked to quality and flow
• Poka-yoke error-proofing methods for operational processes
• Corrective and preventive action CAPA workflow design
• A3 problem-solving structure and countermeasure testing
• Change leadership, operator involvement and resistance management

Workshop: Participants design a future-state workflow and visual daily management board for their chosen process, including owner and escalation rules.

Day 5: Governing improvement and delivering the business case

• Improvement charter scope, objectives and stakeholder roles
• Benefit calculation for quality, labour, capacity and delivery gains
• Impact-versus-effort prioritisation and project selection
• Pilot planning, test criteria and risk controls
• Control plans, audit checks and response plans
• KPI review cadence and management escalation thresholds
• Ninety-day implementation roadmaps and executive communication

Workshop: Participants complete and present a 90-day quality and productivity improvement charter with measures, countermeasures, benefits, milestones and controls.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Minitab Statistical Software, Microsoft Power BI, ISO 9001:2015

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