Modern operational skills and management training.
Lean techniques including 5S, SMED, TPM, Value stream mapping, Industry 4.0 technology opportunities and much more.
Our role is to provide world-class training and hands-on support in an affordable and convenient way.
In doing so, we can maximise the contribution that people make to improve their own organisations and help them to be the catalyst of continuous improvement initiatives within their own teams.
We do this by providing the most appropriate and up-to-date tools, techniques and support.
We also help you to understand how Industry 4.0 digital technologies could transform your operations when allied with Lean techniques.
Pay as you Learn!
Modern Operational Skills and Management Techniques Training paid for by the hour.
Blue-chip standards provided at affordable prices and applicable to all business sectors.
Based on over 40 years of experience in a wide range of industries and world-leading companies.
Incorporating the latest university-based research and digital technology techniques.
Responding to a changing world!
The business environment has changed significantly in recent years, caused by such things as the development of Industry 4.0 technologies, the Coronavirus epidemic and Brexit.
It is critical therefore, to give people the tools and skills to thrive in this more challenging environment.
What do we offer?
- Customised training developed to match your exact needs from our extensive range of modern training materials.
- You only pay for the hours in which your people are being trained.
- Our services are delivered on-line at a time that suits your people.
How do we deliver?
Increasingly, client requirements are for our support courses and mentoring to be delivered as a series of 1 or 2-hour digital webinars, delivered at a time and frequency to suit their convenience.
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We believe this to be the most efficient and cost-effective mode of delivering training and support – particularly in these trying times.
We have the experience and specialist skills that enable our courses and support initiatives to be delivered using both traditional methods and the latest on-line and multi-media tools.
In this way companies can:
- Design a unique support programme that meets their exact needs.
- Receive state-of-the-art learning in the form and at delivery times that best suits them.
- Progress at a pace that least disrupts their day to day activities.
- Integrate work-based projects into the training, where they simultaneously deploy the techniques they have learnt into their day-to-day work.
This complements ‘The future of jobs report’ published by The World Economic Forum in August 2023 which stated:
- 44% of workers’ core skills will be disrupted, because technology is moving faster than companies can design and scale up their training programmes.
- Employers expect that six in 10 workers will require training and up-skilling before 2027.
- There has been a four-fold increase in the numbers of individuals seeking out opportunities for learning online.
- Analytical and creative thinking, along with problem solving remain the most important skills for workers.
The top 10 skills for 2024 identified in this report.
Cognitive skills top the list of those deemed to be of greatest importance for workers in 2024.
Analytical thinking is considered to be a core skill by more companies than any other skill, making up, on average, 9.1% of the core skills reported by companies. Our courses focus on this particular skill set.
Creative thinking comes second, ahead of three self-efficacy skills – resilience, flexibility and agility; motivation and self-awareness; and curiosity and lifelong learning – which recognize the importance of workers’ ability to adapt to disrupted workplaces. Again, our courses focus on these core skills.
What expertise do we offer?
New range of courses
In addition to our long-standing range of Lean and Leadership courses, we have developed a series of modules which seek to enhance the strategic, analytical and problem-solving skills required to meet the demands of the more demanding modern world.
These include:
- From Pandemic to Prosperity : refocusing your business strategy.
- Writing a Business Plan for the post-Covid world.
- Embrace and exploit the opportunities of Industry 4.0.
- Organic Chemistry in the workplace.
- The Unexpected Project Manager.
- Communicating effectively with your colleagues.
- Innovation management : new Product and Process Development.
- Capacity and Inventory management in a digital world.
- Supply Chain Management in the digital world.
- Kaizen : continuous improvement tools and problem-solving skills.
- The Lean Office: adjusting to hybrid working arrangements.
- Project management in a post-Covid and digital world.
- Time management in a post-Covid world.
- Leadership skills for the 2020’s
These new courses fit in perfectly with our tried and tested range of courses:
Dr. John’s Lean Toolkit
Based on techniques deployed, honed and optimised in over 200 companies in at least 15 industries, we have developed a series of tools and techniques to help companies achieve World Class standards.
What courses are contained in the toolkit? (Click link for details)
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Developing a safe, well-organised Workplace : The modular 5S programme.
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Are you sweating your assets? : Maintenance best practice (Total Productive Maintenance).
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Profit from product changeover efficiency : Grand Prix Style S.M.E.D. Changeovers.
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Losing money because of material leaks from your Process Pipe? : Waste management.
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Enhancing the efficiency of your supply chain : Value Stream Mapping.
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How cost effective is your design process? : Design for manufacturing.
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Can you make it at a profit? : Understanding your Process Capability.
- Reducing product and process variability using Statistical Process Control.
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Problem solving in a systematic way.
- Preventing things from going wrong : Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
- Capacity and Inventory Management.
- The use of O.E.E. to prioritise improvement programmes.
More details of these and all the other courses we provide are outlined in the What We Offer section of the website.
Click the icon to view the full portfolio of courses.
Rapid ‘onboarding’ of new or redeployed staff
Another service we offer is a ‘tailored onboarding service’ designed to rapidly absorb new staff in key skills.
In this way they add value to the organisation much faster than if left to adsorb these skills in a traditional fashion.
(Adsorption is simply the process of adhesion to the surface. Absorption is a phenomenon of complete integration.)
Programmes can be constructed to contain the most relevant aspects of the above portfolio of courses, so that these skills can be learnt effectively and delivered rapidly.
A Leader In The Industry
Our USP in all of this : making it easy for your organisation and your people to learn up-to-date skills using the most effective methods at the most convenient time!
Improvement techniques will focus on addressing specific business issues within your organisation so that their relevance can be clearly seen.
- People are being trained, but also being prepared to solve real business problems
- The modularised structure of our support programmes, allows for a practical project to run alongside the course
- Each module will be designed to suit the exact client needs for both content and delivery method.
Client Testimonials
“Dr. John Thomas has worked for DS Smith for over 20 years initially as an employee and latterly as a consultant, supplying operational improvement services such as Lean, 5S, Manufacturing Audits and various other training and consultancy services.
During his time with DS Smith, John transformed many of our sites into beacons of excellence, working with local managers and crews, building engagement and commitment so that the improvements have been sustained.
I would have no hesitation in recommending John for any business/operational transformation projects where engagement and pragmatic solutions are key.”
“Dr. John has delivered results within my businesses on numerous occasions. The great thing for me, is that John not only delivers results, but he makes it easy for me in doing so, as he is exceptionally good at quickly understanding how an organisation works, and focusing his efforts in the right places. He is able to work with everyone, from Line Operators to Managing Directors, which many may claim to be able to do, but few can actually do as well as John. I’ve experienced the good, the bad and the indifferent when it comes to external consultants over the years . . . & John is ‘excellent’ ! It’s all about results!”