Comments on: Demand for Lean People Higher Than Six Sigma People?

By: Mike T.

Mike T. — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Unfortunately, in order to create symmetry, our company is combining the Lean and Six-Sigma personnel and combining the training. Their goal is to have Lean/Six-Sigma green-, black-, and master blackbelts. Great for synergy, not so good for someone with 8 years Lean experience (with company and before), a greenbelt (but from another company, so not honored), and no company-taught Six-Sigma background.

Now I’m trying to keep from having to start at the bottom after 2 years of successful Lean leadership. While I dislike certifications, this is where it would be beneficial to have industry standards, as opposed to “my company” and “your company” standards…

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By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:17:00 +0000

I agree that it may be that companies don’t understand the difference. In fact, when I first started learning about lean, I was confused by this because in the reading I was doing, it seemed like lean and six sigma were used almost interchangeably. If you only have a vague understanding of lean (which might explain why a given company would have a job posting looking for experts), I think it would be easy to be confused by the two.

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By: Mike LaChapelle

Mike LaChapelle — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:46:00 +0000

I think that most companies are looking for people with both Lean and Six Sigma skills. One of the reasons may be something that Dean alluded to. It’s very difficult to judge the qualifications for Lean Six Sigma folks, but it’s easier for Six Sigma than for Lean.

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By: Dean Bliss

Dean Bliss — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:10:00 +0000

I still find it interesting that most of the calls I get from recruiters about Lean jobs also ask for black belt certification. Granted, I’m in healthcare, and Six Sigma was first to the table in our industry, but I think organizations are struggling to know what qualifications to ask for with Lean people. Maybe it’s the idea that they want both – but I think some of it has to do with taking the Sigma job descriptions and adding “lean” to the list.

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By: Panu Kinnari

Panu Kinnari — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:24:00 +0000

Not here in Finland. Very rarely there are open positions for lean professionals, practically only McKinsey is continuously recruiting people with lean skillset.

But then again Six Sigma isn’t in that much better position.

Checked from local Monster.com pages and currently they are pretty even, few positions for both.

One thing to note is that none of the adds I have seen requires extensive lean skills, mainly just “Knowledge of LEAN-principles is beneficial”.

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