Lean Six Sigma at the University of Kigali
By Tiia Madekivi & Maija Luukka
In early March, our Ambitious Africa Team organized the first-ever Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Course at the University of Kigali. The course was coordinated by the Ambitious Africa team, together with European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management, ESTIEM, and supported by two French Universities. Let’s hear one of the Trainers, Maija Luukka´s insights about this extraordinary course:
Why Lean Six Sigma Course in Rwanda?
Lean Six Sigma is a methodology that relies on a collaborative team effort to improve performance by systematically removing waste and reducing variation. It combines Lean Manufacturing / Lean enterprise and Six Sigma to eliminate the eight kinds of waste (muda). It is globally used for quality improvement and project management (82% of Fortune top 100 companies, regardless of the industry) Lean Six Sigma is a management philosophy and a company culture. Here you can see more info about the course and projects, including an after movie of the Lean Six Sigma course organized in Finland in 2016.
“Since 2020, we at Ambitious.Africa have received a lot of requests for quality and process optimization-related programs, and asked if we can make those programs happen in Africa- and of course we can! In 2021, we started discussions with ESTIEM about expanding their Lean Six Sigma course concept to Africa and soon turned the talks into reality. Me (Maija Luukka) and Raul Sotillo, the certified Lean Six Sigma trainers prepared the course, and hosted the first pilot course at University of Kigali together with a larger team”
What was the course all about?
“Course was built around a catapult and the DMAIC cycle (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control). First, we defined a catapult and how to make it shoot fast and good enough, then we measured and analyzed baseline results of a catapult and found out bottlenecks, for example, fetcher. Then we focused on improving the given bottlenecks. Analyzing was done using the tools eg. Minitab. Then, in the end, we controlled that those improvements were sustainable. Eventually, we had a final case where all the teams were solving a catapult manufacturing challenge by applying the taught DMAIC skills and tools into practice. Sunday, we had a graduation ceremony for handing out certificates for the participants”
The biggest successes and excitements of the course?
“Course went very well, and all the students were awarded the Lean Six Sigma certificates of the training. I was extremely happy about the great feedback we got from the students and university staff. In addition to the concrete tools for solving problems, the students were highlighting the new teamwork and presentation skills. Now, we are working on making the LLS course a frequent activity at the University of Kigali and expanding it into other East-African Universities, too. Thanks to the train-the-trainer model, the local students will be the instructors of the upcoming courses."
Learnings for organizers?
“For us the organizers, it was also fantastic to apply our skills in a new environment, create new connections with amazing people, and also learn more about the Rwandan culture. To highlight my personal learning journey, I must say, our students were asking excellent questions thanks to which I got new perspectives on Lean Six Sigma, too.
What are the next steps after the course?
“Now, all the course participants will do a Lean Six Sigma project on a company individually, apply the skills and tools learned from the course and eventually write a report that will be evaluated and verified. That leads to completing the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course and receiving the diploma. Now the students are looking for companies, in Rwanda and all the other parts of the globe for doing their Lean Six Sigma projects. Also, many of the students are eager to become instructors and, in the future, implement the courses in their own universities and beyond. We are excited about the future and looking forward to strengthening the collaboration between Africa and Europe.”
Big thanks to all the participants and organizers of the course. We are happy to host more similar courses in the future. In case you / your University would be interested, feel free to get in touch with Maija: maija@ambitiousafrica.org or Raul: raul@ambitiousafrica.org
