Six Sigma Supply Chain Process Improvement Training Course

Course overview

Supply chain teams are often asked to reduce cost, improve supplier performance, shorten lead times and protect service levels at the same time. Yet many improvement efforts start with assumptions rather than evidence: expediting is treated as a cure for late deliveries, inventory buffers conceal unstable replenishment, and supplier scorecards report averages that hide variation. This course gives participants a disciplined Six Sigma method for diagnosing these problems across purchasing, inbound logistics, warehousing, inventory control and order fulfilment.

Participants learn to apply the DMAIC framework—Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control—to an end-to-end supply chain process. They develop SIPOC maps, customer-critical requirements, operational definitions, value-stream maps and data-collection plans. The course covers baseline capability, process variation, Pareto analysis, cause-and-effect analysis, hypothesis testing, regression, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), control charts and control plans. Participants use these methods to distinguish common-cause from special-cause variation and to prioritise improvement actions with measurable business impact.

Teaching combines instructor-led explanation with supply chain data exercises, facilitated process-mapping workshops and a running case involving supplier delivery reliability, purchase-order cycle time and warehouse errors. Teams work with realistic operational data in Microsoft Excel and Minitab Statistical Software, then build a DMAIC improvement charter for a process from their own organisation or the course case. Each participant leaves with a structured project pack containing a problem statement, baseline measures, root-cause analysis, improvement options, FMEA and control plan that can be refined into a workplace project.

The course is designed for procurement, logistics, planning, operations and quality professionals who need practical improvement capability without requiring previous Six Sigma certification. It is equally useful to managers sponsoring cross-functional improvement work and seeking clearer evidence that proposed changes will improve service, cost, quality or working-capital performance.

Course objectives

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

• Define a supply chain improvement project using a DMAIC charter, business case, problem statement and measurable CTQs
• Map procurement-to-delivery workflows using SIPOC and value-stream mapping to identify hand-offs, queues and rework
• Create operational definitions and a data-collection plan for supplier, inventory, warehouse and fulfilment performance measures
• Calculate baseline process performance using yield, defects per million opportunities, cycle time and process capability measures
• Analyse supply chain variation using Pareto charts, run charts, control charts and cause-and-effect diagrams
• Test suspected drivers of delay, defects or cost using hypothesis tests, correlation and regression analysis
• Prioritise process changes using failure mode and effects analysis, risk priority numbers and impact-effort assessment
• Develop a supply chain control plan with KPIs, control limits, escalation actions, process ownership and review cadence

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Supply Chain Managers — who need a repeatable method for reducing lead-time variability, inventory waste and service failures
• Procurement Managers and Buyers — who manage supplier performance and need evidence-based approaches to purchase-order and delivery issues
• Logistics and Distribution Managers — who are accountable for transport reliability, warehouse accuracy and fulfilment performance
• Demand and Supply Planners — who need to separate forecast, replenishment and execution variability when improving planning processes
• Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement Practitioners — who support DMAIC projects across procurement, logistics and operations
• Quality Managers and Supplier Quality Engineers — who investigate non-conformance, supplier defects and process-control weaknesses

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-to-intermediate course. Participants should be comfortable reading operational reports and working with basic percentages, averages, rates and charts. Familiarity with common supply chain measures such as on-time delivery, lead time, fill rate, inventory turns, purchase-order cycle time or warehouse accuracy is helpful, but not essential. Participants should bring a laptop with Microsoft Excel available; Minitab exercises are guided and do not require prior software experience. No previous Six Sigma belt, advanced statistics, programming, Lean qualification or specialist mathematical background is required. Complete beginners should expect to practise calculations with instructor support.

Training methodology

The five-day programme alternates focused instruction with applied supply chain analysis. Participants map a procurement-to-fulfilment process, define measures for delivery and quality performance, and analyse a realistic dataset covering supplier lead-time and warehouse-error variation. Instructor demonstrations show how to perform key analyses in Microsoft Excel and Minitab Statistical Software; guided exercises build confidence before team case work. Small groups challenge assumptions, select improvement actions and test control methods. The final session includes application planning, enabling each participant to adapt the DMAIC project pack to a live operational issue.

Course outline

Day 1: Define: framing the supply chain problem

• Six Sigma principles for procurement, logistics and fulfilment processes
• DMAIC phase gates and supply chain project selection
• Voice of the customer and critical-to-quality requirements
• Project charters, problem statements and measurable business cases
• SIPOC mapping for supplier-to-customer process boundaries
• Stakeholder analysis across procurement, planning, warehouse and transport functions
• High-level value-stream mapping of material and information flow

Workshop: Participants create a SIPOC map and DMAIC charter for a supplier delivery, purchase-order or fulfilment performance problem.

Day 2: Measure: establishing reliable performance data

• Operational definitions for defects, delays, complete orders and on-time delivery
• Data-collection plans for supplier, inventory, warehouse and transport processes
• Sampling approaches and data-quality checks
• Baseline metrics including lead time, fill rate, inventory accuracy and defect rate
• Yield, rolled throughput yield and defects per million opportunities
• Descriptive statistics and graphical data summaries in Microsoft Excel
• Process capability concepts for specification-driven supply chain measures

Workshop: Participants build a data-collection plan and calculate a baseline performance dashboard from a supply chain case dataset.

Day 3: Analyse: proving the causes of variation

• Common-cause and special-cause variation in supply chain operations
• Pareto analysis of supplier, warehouse and order-processing defects
• Run charts and control charts for lead time and error-rate monitoring
• Cause-and-effect diagrams and five-whys analysis
• Stratification by supplier, product family, location, shift and transport lane
• Hypothesis testing for process and supplier performance comparisons
• Correlation and regression analysis using Minitab Statistical Software

Workshop: Teams analyse lead-time variation and warehouse errors to produce a validated root-cause statement supported by charts and tests.

Day 4: Improve: designing and selecting changes

• Generating countermeasures for delays, defects, queues and hand-off failures
• Lean flow concepts within a Six Sigma improvement project
• Impact-effort matrices and weighted decision criteria
• Pilot design and before-and-after performance comparison
• Failure mode and effects analysis for supply chain process changes
• Risk priority numbers and mitigation actions
• Supplier collaboration and implementation planning

Workshop: Participants develop, risk-assess and prioritise an improvement package for the case process using an FMEA and decision matrix.

Day 5: Control: sustaining supply chain gains

• Control plans for procurement, inventory, warehouse and delivery processes
• Selecting leading and lagging supply chain KPIs
• Control limits, reaction plans and escalation thresholds
• Visual performance management and supplier scorecard governance
• Standard work, process ownership and change documentation
• DMAIC project storytelling for sponsors and operational teams
• Ninety-day implementation planning and benefits tracking

Workshop: Participants complete and present a DMAIC project pack containing their control plan, KPI dashboard design, ownership model and 90-day action plan.

Tools & standards covered

Minitab Statistical Software, Microsoft Excel, APICS SCOR Digital Standard, ISO 13053

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