Industry groups say lean practitioner program will be most rigorous effort of its kind

Positive feedback from a lean manufacturing survey of U.S. companies is prompting three important industry groups to develop a Lean practitioner certification program that will be launched at the Association of Manufacturing Excellence's (AME) annual conference in Boston at the end of October.

Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and officials of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.

"This will be the most rigorous certification program in the marketplace today," says Ross Robson, executive director of the Shingo Prize. "There will be a component for mentoring individuals at their level of expertise and understanding. You can't simply sit through 160 class hours, take a test, and be certified. You'll need real experience in lean."

The industry survey of the three developers' membership and affiliated entities generated 1,100 responses. From that data, 77 percent say they'd likely pursue lean certification if it were offered, while 60 percent say the program should be extended and promoted among their suppliers.

The four-step program will involve portfolio development to apply lean to a real-world situation, as well as written and oral examinations. "It will be expected that participants have actual case experience, having to score on Shingo Prize criteria, and prepare a report describing strengths and opportunities, with an oral defense of the application," says Robson.

"SME has a process in place to manage and deliver well conceived and managed certification programs," says Mark Tomlinson, director of membership for SME. "The benefit of this particular program is there will be a standard body of knowledge established for the lean process for continuous improvement. This will allow training to be mapped to the body of knowledge so that when companies are looking to do lean training, they can ensure that all aspects of lean are included."

The mentoring component of the lean certification program will be launched at the fall AME meeting. The first examinations will be offered at the SME Total Manufacturing Experience conference in late March 2006 in Los Angeles.