Improvement Specialist Level 5 Apprenticeship Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Apprenticeship

Improvement Specialist full Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification included
Duration – 14 Months
Support by dedicated Master Black Belt
10 training days, coaching, certification support
Open or in house cohorts to choose from
Use the levy or only pay £450 with government grant

*Improvement Specialist Apprenticeships are funded by a co-investment arrangement which is 95% Government funded and 5% Employer contribution. This means that a Level 5 (Black Belt) would only cost you between £0 – £450.

As Business Improvement Specialists, 100% Effective is ideally suited to the delivery of the Improvement Specialist Apprenticeship, having delivered Lean Six Sigma training and coaching since 1999. Our program uses Master Black Belts (MBB) with years of practical experience to train and coach each learner. By supporting the improvement specialist apprentice, our MBBs will ensure that projects are completed so that not only will the apprentice learn the required skills and behaviors but also provide a quick return on investment for the employer.

Our training provides all the skills needed to be certified as an international Lean Six Sigma Black Belt as well as a change manager resulting in a confident and effective improvement specialist apprentice who can solve problems as well as implement them. Every aspect of our program is practical and keeps in mind that both the learner and the employer have needs, and we ensure both are satisfied. This is why our in-house programs can be adapted to suit your culture, history, and objectives

Improvement Specialists - What pre-requisite qualifications are needed?

To complete their certification, Improvement Specialists will need to have achieved a Functional Skills Level 2 in both English and Maths. This is equivalent to a GCSE Grade 4 (or C grade in the previous system). If you have not obtained these levels, then we can support you to achieve them.

Why should you choose 100% Effective?

We at 100% Effective are improvement specialists, supporting companies and learners since 1999.
Your apprentices will be trained and coached by the same highly experienced Master Black Belt coaches and trainers.
Your apprentices will obtain an internationally recognized Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification along with other certifications on top of your apprenticeship, including change management and health and safety.
Your apprentices will obtain an internationally recognized Lean Six Sigma Black Belt within the first month of the apprenticeship.
For line managers, sponsors, and supervisors, there is training on how to best support your learner
Your apprentices will complete 2 major and several minor projects providing Return on Investment quickly providing Measurable business improvements
Each learner is given E-Learning backup with full LSS Black Belt course and multiple other E-Learning titles for 2 years.
We offer a customized program for your apprentices that includes blended learning – a mix of virtual, face-to-face, and e-learning methods. To enhance their learning experience, we utilize a variety of exercises, simulations, teach-backs, games, and projects.
Templates, guides, mock exams, case studies, and videos are used to make learning efficient and easier for everyone.
You will also have access to our alumni so you can network with like-minded people
We provide a personalized development plan for your apprentices to foster their growth and advancement.

What is the improvement specialist apprenticeship standard?

Improvement Specilaists use a combination of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies, project management, and change management principles and tools to identify and lead change across various organizational functions and processes. These practitioners can be found in all sectors and functions, including automotive, banking, engineering, food products, IT, property, retail, telecoms, local and county councils, NHS, voluntary/charity, utilities, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and hospitality.

Improvement Specialists typically report to Improvement Leaders who develop the improvement strategy and governance processes, and who provide technical guidance on advanced analysis. Improvement Specialists draw on their advanced knowledge and skills in applying Improvement principles and tools across a range of programs/projects/areas to build the capability of others. They work closely with other Improvement Specialists to support the delivery of improvement strategies. Improvement Leaders provide technical guidance on advanced analysis. Improvement Specialists manage (directly and/or matrix) Improvement Practitioners who lead smaller improvement projects aligned to the improvement strategy.

A typical optimal ratio of Improvement Specialists to Improvement Practitioners in an organization is 1:10. Improvement Specialists work on multiple simultaneous projects linked to key business objectives, identifying and engaging both subject matter experts and key stakeholders. They swiftly visualize processes, problems, and opportunities and use both graphical and statistical analysis to deliver improvements.

Their work generally requires them to interact with others, but typically involves a high degree of autonomy. Improvement Specialists’ work can encompass a wide range of programs/projects/areas, such as supply chain management, quality control, or customer service. They work collaboratively with other specialists to achieve the organization’s improvement goals. Their focus is to build the capability of others to deploy improvement strategies, and to manage and deliver successful improvement projects.

Typical activities of Improvement Specialists include:

Leading local deployment of improvement strategy and supporting delivery of business goals
Modelling critical process inputs to verify root causes of complex problems or developing bespoke measurement processes to collect high-quality data in support of change
Providing technical expertise in structured improvement methods and advanced tools such as Multiple Regression and Designed Experiments to analyze relationships between inputs and outputs
Leading advanced and/or cross-functional improvement projects such as process re-engineering and change programs aimed at reducing energy consumption/waste or defects on complex products
Coordinating practitioner-level improvement training, activities, and projects, including delivering Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training and coaching to an awarding body accreditation standard
Coaching, mentoring, and communicating with improvement practitioners, business leaders, and stakeholders
Working in various locations, such as classrooms, shop-floors, or supplier premises, wherever their improvement activities are focused

Roles are commonly found in all industry sectors and functions including:

Automotive
Pharmaceutical
Telecommunication
Retail
Finance
Food
Drink
Travel and Leisure
Local and County Councils
NHS
Voluntary/Charity
Utilities
Insurance
Hospitality

Job titles associated with the Specialist occupation include, but are not limited to:

Business Improvement Expert
Continuous Improvement Consultant
Process Excellence Manager
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Business Improvement Consultant
Business Transformation Consultant
Environmental Manager
Engineer (Environmental, Mechanical, Geotechnical, Civil, Chemical, etc.)
Environmental Data Analyst
Environmental Health and Safety Manager

For more information about the Improvement Specialist standard, please visit the following link: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/improvement-specialist-v1-0

How is this improvement specialist program delivered?

At 100% Effective, we offer two ways to become an Improvement Specialist through our apprenticeship program.

With over 25 years of experience in blended learning, we have the expertise and resources to provide face-to-face, virtual, and eLearning delivery. Our virtual approach allows us to train and coach apprentices from anywhere in the country, reducing travel costs and minimizing lost productive time.

For your Improvement Specialist apprenticeship, you will

Attend 10 days of training
Receive 7 individual coaching sessions
Attend 8 group discussions / cross presentations
Receive support with 12 gate review and sponsor sessions
Receive 8 hours of end point assessment support
Have access to multiple mock exams
Complete at least 10 additional eLearning courses
Complete 1 major and 5 minor projects
Write at least 1 article / case study

How will improvement specialist apprentices be assessed?

The End Point Assessment (EPA) process starts once the employer confirms that the apprentice is consistently working at or above the level specified in the occupational standard, the gateway requirements for EPA are met, and evidence can be provided to an EPAO. The gateway requirements include the following:

The portfolio of evidence must include at least one set of evidence for each of the topic areas assessed by the professional discussion, which should include various documents, such as reports from process improvement projects, graphs showing process analysis, charts showing impact readiness, images of House of Quality, and extracts from project plans. The portfolio must also include evidence relating to the preparation and delivery of a training session. The requirements for the training session and evidence are as follows:

The subject must be selected from the following list: Project Management, Change Management, Process Mapping and Analysis, Lean Principles and Tools, Measurement System Analysis, Data Collection Planning, Graphical Analysis, Process Capability, Root Cause Analysis, Designed Experiments, Statistical Process Control.
The apprentice must prepare the training materials and must not use published training materials prepared by someone else, which will be verified by a signed statement from the employer.
The training session must be delivered to a group of Level 4 delegates in their normal working environment, last for 35-40 minutes and be continuously recorded on video.
The training materials may include PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans, training notes, photographs of whiteboards, handouts, and flipcharts.
All training materials and records of delegate feedback must be included in the portfolio of evidence.
The evidence must be mapped holistically against the KSBs (as shown in Annex A).
The focus should be on the quality of evidence rather than quantity.

Note: The EPAO will provide guidance on what is expected to meet the portfolio requirements.

What advantages can your company gain by training improvement specialist apprentices through our program?

Savings of at least £50,000 per project – Based on our 24 years of experience in delivering Lean Six Sigma. We achieve this by providing multiple support elements for each apprentice, including regular coaching from Master Black Belts with years of experience, formal gate reviews with sponsors and coaches at the end of each DMAIC phase, and readiness discussions prior to the gateway to ensure success.

Each apprentice will also provide other Returns on Investment by completing minor projects to build an impressive portfolio prior to the gateway, as well as writing at least one article that can be used for internal communication and promotion.

Our learning experience is designed around your company and your objectives. Our flexible blended approach means we can support you in any way to meet your industry or business needs. Each apprentice will enjoy a tailored learning experience to maximize their learning and development.

We provide monthly reports on the progress of your apprentices and their major and minor projects, ensuring timely communication for any required internal reporting. We have reliable and professional trainers, coaches, and admin support, all led by a dedicated account manager.

Your apprentices will become more confident and effective. They will be able to identify issues, solve problems, and implement solutions

What can you expect on during your Improvement Specialist apprenticeship programme?

The goal of this improvement specialist apprenticeship is to equip individuals with the necessary skills to identify problems within a company, devise effective solutions, and implement them successfully. The apprenticeship lasts for 14 months and requires dedication to develop both technical improvement skills and softer implementation change manager skills.

To successfully complete this improvement specialist apprenticeship, you will need to undertake a major project that saves an average of £50,000, as well as several minor projects that contribute to improvements in staff and customer satisfaction, quality improvement, time reduction, cost reduction, and delivery improvement. To achieve this, you will attend training courses, coaching sessions, and individual and group project work and research, among other activities. You will work with sponsors, 100% Effective coaches, and other company personnel.

To ensure that you gain hands-on experience, you will spend at least 20% of your time, approximately 6 hours per week, working on business improvement projects, developing confidence, skills, and problem-solving abilities to become a certified lean six sigma level 5 apprentice.

Coaching sessions and gate reviews with sponsors will be provided to ensure that major and minor projects are completed successfully. This will not only demonstrate your learning but also the application of your learning, which will be valuable to your current and future employers.

Throughout the apprenticeship, you will be exposed to real-world examples of tools, techniques, and approaches through case studies that will stretch your knowledge and challenge you to improve.

We will provide support to ensure that you pass your lean six sigma level 5 apprenticeship through discussions with your coaches, mock exams, portfolio discussion practice, and presentation advice prior to the end-point assessment.

Upon completion of the level 5 apprenticeship, you will obtain an internationally recognized Lean Six Sigma certification, along with several other certificates of achievement such as change management and health and safety, to name just two. We only ask for your commitment for 14 months to enhance your learning and development.

Improvement Specialist Course Content

The Improvement Specialist lean six sigma Level 5 Apprenticeship will cover a broad range of topics and models across the entire DMAIC process – Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control. Our expert trainers and coaches will provide you with the key knowledge, skills and behaviours to effectively identify problems, solve them and then implement them. You will cover all the key aspects of Lean Six Sigma as well as change management and many other key skills required for any Improvement Specialist. You will by the end of your apprenticeship have the following knowledge, skills and behaviours as outlined in the apprentice standard.

Improvement Specialists possess knowledge and understanding of the following areas:

Leading improvement teams: including personality types, team development stages, motivational techniques, situational leadership, learning styles, and mentoring models.
Project planning: including multi-element business case, financial plan, benefits realization plan, risk management plan, and project plan.
Project reviews and coaching: including coaching models and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Change planning: including change management methods, impact/readiness, and influencing strategies.
Commercial environment: including business and economic risks that can impact all aspects of improvement, from project selection to implementation.
Principles and methods for improvement: including improvement methods (e.g., Practical Problem Solving, Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control, 8-Disciplines, Identify-Define-Optimise-Verify) across all functions, policy deployment principles, and Lean culture.
Voice of the customer: including interviewing and focus groups, Quality Function Deployment principles, and how to build a House of Quality.
Process mapping and analysis: including activity network diagrams, design structure matrix, process modelling, key function diagrams, and analysis.
Data acquisition planning: including stratification, rational sub-groups, power and sample size.
Statistics and measures: including probability distributions, confidence intervals, central limit theorem, how to test data for stability and normality, and strategies for dealing with non-stable or non-normal data.
Lean concepts and tools: including principles of Lean Thinking and Lean tools, as well as origins and cultural aspects critical to successful application within an organization.
Measurement system analysis: including repeatability and reproducibility analysis, and long term measurement error.
Process capability: including data transformation, life data analysis, and prediction.
Root cause analysis: including matrix plots, multi-vary charts, hypothesis testing principles and methods, correlation and regression principles and methods.
Experimentation: including principles of full and fractional designed experiments, planning and analysis using residuals, main effects and interaction plots, and approaches for model optimization.
Identification and prioritization: including creativity tools such as the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) and Pugh matrix.
Failure mode avoidance: including system state flow, boundary diagram, interface analysis tables, fault tree analysis, robustness checklist, tolerance design and analysis, and principles and links between Failure Modes and Effects analysis for concepts, designs, processes.
Sustainability and control: including control and reaction plans, and prevention controls.

Improvement Specialists have the following skills:

Leading improvement teams: Holding team members/stakeholders accountable for delivering agreed-upon actions within an improvement project and building/maintaining appropriate stakeholder relationships inside and outside the organization to deliver improvement project objectives.
Strategic Deployment of Continuous Improvement: Contributing to the deployment of the improvement strategy, participating as an active member of the improvement community.
Communication: Preparing and presenting concise proposals and plans. Capturing and sharing progress through effective formats and channels. Using and handling questions effectively. Building rapport with others.
Capability Development: Training, facilitating, and critiquing the application of tools used by improvement practitioners, including tool selection, links between tools, how they are used within a structured method, analysis of results, and presentation of recommendations.
Project Planning: Planning and managing finances, multi-stakeholder delivery, and benefits realization.
Change Planning: Designing reinforcement, engagement, and communication strategies.
Principles and Methods for Improvement: Guiding others on the selection of appropriate methods (e.g. Practical Problem Solving, Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control, 8-Disciplines, Identify-Define-Optimise-Verify) to deliver improvements. Conducting gateway assessments to ensure the suitability of projects to progress.
Project Selection & Scope: Guiding others on the selection and scoping of improvement projects and the initial response to product/process performance issues. Identifying, scoping, and prioritizing improvement opportunities that map to high-level organization objectives and key value streams.
Process Mapping & Analysis: Guiding others on the selection of appropriate process mapping and analysis tools. Critiquing improved state.
Lean Tools: Identifying and analyzing value streams using appropriate methods and tools to optimize flow to the customer. Developing a plan for Lean deployment within the organization, including effective and relevant performance metrics.
Measurement: Guiding others on the planning, analysis, and interpretation of data collection and measurement studies, including the design of tests to recreate failures and steps to diagnose/reduce short and long-term measurement variation.
Statistics & Measures: Confirming data and fit for a range of distribution models. Establishing predictions. Calculating confidence intervals.
Data Analysis-Statistical Methods: Modeling random behavior and making inferences with levels of confidence. Calculating/recommending sample size. Testing hypotheses for all data types. Assessing input/output correlation. Generating, analyzing, and interpreting simple and multiple predictive relationship models.
Process Capability & Performance: Identifying data stability/distribution issues and applying appropriate strategies to enable robust Capability Analysis. Analyzing life data to establish rates and patterns.
Root Cause Analysis: Making appropriate use of data to assess the contribution of critical inputs/root cause(s) to product/process performance using appropriate graphical and statistical tools to draw and communicate conclusions.
Experimentation & Optimization: Guiding others on the planning, analysis, and interpretation of experiments. Planning, conducting, analyzing, and optimizing both full and fractional experiments.
Data Analysis-Statistical Process Control: Monitoring and assessing ongoing process variation and changes through chart selection, control-limit setting, sample sizing/frequency, and control-rules.
Benchmarking: Guiding others on benchmarking to support all stages of improvement projects, including future-state design.
Failure Mode Avoidance: Decomposing complex systems to define main functions. Analyzing system interactions. Cascading knowledge through fault tree analysis. Creating and assessing design rules, standards, and verification methods. Completing robustness studies to select appropriate control strategies and detection methods.
Sustainability & Control: Guiding others on control and sustainability planning, including methods and tools to maintain benefits, extraction of learning, replication, sharing, and consolidation of new knowledge into organizational learning.

Drive for results: Co-ordinates and delivers sustained improvement across the business by engaging with, and inspiring stakeholders; adopting a can-do attitude
Team-working: Leads cross functional project teams proactively, regularly supports others and replicates learning
Professionalism: Exemplifies high standard of professional integrity, ethics and trust within the organisation, whilst maintaining flexibility to the needs of the business
Process Thinking: Drives process-thinking and customer-focused, data-driven decision making
Continuous development: Identifies & models opportunities for development of self & others
Safe working: Adopts a proactive approach to safety, encouraging others and suggesting compliance improvements

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