Quality and Productivity Management Fundamentals Training Course

Course overview

Quality and productivity are often managed as separate targets: quality teams track defects and audit findings while operations teams pursue output, labour utilisation and cycle-time goals. This separation produces familiar problems—teams increase throughput while rework rises, introduce inspection steps that create queues, or report KPIs that do not reveal the causes of lost capacity. Managers need staff who can connect customer requirements, process performance, waste, variation and cost into one practical improvement agenda.

This course teaches the core methods used to measure, control and improve quality and productivity in operational processes. Participants learn to define critical-to-quality requirements, map end-to-end workflows, establish meaningful KPIs, calculate basic productivity measures, analyse Pareto patterns, distinguish common from special-cause variation, and identify waste using Lean principles. They apply root-cause analysis, corrective-action planning, standard work and visual management to improve process stability without sacrificing output or compliance.

The five-day programme combines instructor explanation with worked calculations, spreadsheet analysis, team-based case studies and improvement workshops. Participants use an operational case to build a current-state process map, KPI scorecard, Pareto analysis, cause-and-effect diagram, control plan and prioritised improvement charter. They leave with a documented quality-and-productivity improvement pack that can be adapted to a live process in their own department, plus a practical 90-day application plan.

The course is suited to supervisors, analysts, engineers and managers who contribute to process performance in manufacturing, service operations, logistics, maintenance, healthcare, public services or project delivery. It is particularly valuable where leaders need a shared, evidence-based approach to improving quality, capacity and cost.

Course objectives

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

• Map an operational process using SIPOC and swimlane flowcharting to expose hand-offs, queues and rework loops
• Define critical-to-quality requirements and translate them into measurable process specifications
• Calculate throughput, cycle time, first-pass yield, defect rate and labour productivity measures from operating data
• Construct a KPI scorecard linking quality, delivery, cost and productivity performance
• Prioritise recurring losses using Pareto charts, stratification and check-sheet data
• Diagnose probable causes of process variation using run charts, control charts and cause-and-effect analysis
• Design corrective actions using 5 Whys, FMEA priorities, standard work and control-plan controls
• Produce a scoped quality-and-productivity improvement charter with benefits, measures, owners and review milestones

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Operations Supervisors — who must improve daily output while controlling defects, delays and rework
• Quality Officers and Quality Engineers — who need to connect quality controls to operational performance and cost
• Continuous Improvement Practitioners — who require a structured foundation in Lean, measurement and problem-solving methods
• Production and Process Engineers — who analyse process capability, bottlenecks and standard work
• Operations Managers — who set performance measures and sponsor cross-functional improvement activity
• Project Managers — who deliver process-change initiatives and need measurable quality and productivity baselines

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience of working in, supporting or managing an operational or service process and should be comfortable reading simple tables, charts and percentages. Familiarity with basic process terms such as workflow, KPI, defect, target and corrective action is helpful, as is routine use of Microsoft Excel for entering data and making simple calculations. No prior Lean Six Sigma qualification, statistical software experience, ISO auditor training or advanced mathematics is required. Complete beginners can attend, but should expect to work with operational data, calculate common measures and contribute actively to process-analysis exercises.

Training methodology

Instructor-led sessions introduce each method through operational examples from production, logistics and service delivery. Participants then work in small groups with a realistic process-data case, using Excel to calculate measures, build charts and test improvement priorities. Facilitated workshops develop a SIPOC, current-state map, KPI scorecard, Pareto analysis, fishbone diagram and control plan rather than discussing these tools in isolation. Daily debriefs connect findings to participants’ own workplaces. The final session converts the case learning into an individual 90-day application plan and improvement charter.

Course outline

Day 1: Linking quality, productivity and customer value

• Quality, productivity, cost and delivery performance relationships
• Voice of customer and critical-to-quality requirements
• Process boundaries, suppliers, inputs, outputs and customers
• SIPOC diagram construction
• Swimlane process mapping and hand-off analysis
• Operational definitions for defects, rework and first-pass yield
• Baseline data collection plans and check sheets

Workshop: Participants create a SIPOC and current-state swimlane map for a delayed-order fulfilment process, identifying defects, hand-offs and data gaps.

Day 2: Measuring operational performance

• Throughput, capacity, cycle time and lead time calculations
• Labour productivity and unit-cost measures
• First-pass yield, rolled throughput yield and defect-rate calculations
• KPI hierarchies for quality, delivery, cost and people
• SMART targets, baselines and performance thresholds
• Excel formulas, pivot tables and data validation for operational data
• Visual KPI scorecards and daily management boards

Workshop: Participants analyse a week of process data in Excel and produce a KPI scorecard showing baseline quality and productivity performance.

Day 3: Finding waste, bottlenecks and variation

• Lean waste categories in service and production processes
• Value-added, non-value-added and necessary non-value-added work
• Bottleneck identification using queue, capacity and cycle-time evidence
• Pareto charts and defect stratification
• Run charts and signals of process instability
• Introduction to control charts and common-cause variation
• Process observation and time-study planning

Workshop: Participants construct Pareto and run charts from a case dataset, then identify the highest-priority loss category and probable bottleneck.

Day 4: Solving problems and preventing recurrence

• Structured problem statements using problem, impact and evidence
• Cause-and-effect diagrams using the 6M categories
• 5 Whys questioning and evidence testing
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis scoring
• Corrective action versus preventive action
• Standard work instructions and error-proofing concepts
• Control plans, response plans and escalation triggers

Workshop: Participants investigate a recurring rework problem, produce a fishbone and 5 Whys analysis, and draft corrective actions with control-plan checks.

Day 5: Sustaining improvement and leading application

• Prioritising improvement opportunities by impact, effort and risk
• Improvement charters with scope, benefits and success measures
• Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle for controlled implementation
• Pilot design and before-and-after performance comparison
• Daily management routines and visual escalation
• ISO 9001:2015 process approach and continual improvement requirements
• Ninety-day implementation planning and stakeholder communication

Workshop: Participants complete and present a quality-and-productivity improvement charter and 90-day application plan for a process in their own work area.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Minitab, 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