Whether you’re new to Corporate Culture or have years of experience, you might be challenged by your manager to take Lean Manufacturing or Lean Leadership courses. Many companies provide on-site Lean training, but those can cost thousands of dollars and usually require special training requests. However, if you want to be ahead of the curve, then you can enroll in affordable Lean courses online and take the lessons after work or on the weekends.
If you’re feeling “behind the ball” on Lean principles, then you can take a few of these courses to get caught up quickly, without breaking your budget.
In this article, we’re going to explore six Lean Manufacturing (and Lean Management) courses, that can boost your resume, lead to that promotion, and increase your understanding of Lean principles.
Additionally, at the end of this post, I will explain why manufacturing engineers should learn about Lean Culture. I’m also going to touch on why it’s worth spending money on personal development courses like these. You’ll notice that the ROI on $50-$500 courses can be astronomical, especially when you compare that investment to how much money you can earn through promotions and raises. (More on this later.)
If you’re trying to climb the corporate ladder, these are some lean manufacturing courses to shift your engineering mindset into a business and operations mindset for smart decision-making.
1. Lean Leadership, Lean Culture & Lean Management
In this course, you’ll learn about change leadership, Lean Culture, Lean Manufacturing, and Continuous Improvement concepts. You’ll learn more about how to implement continuous improvement and model the Toyota Production System in your organization.
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By the end of this course, you’ll be able to eliminate waste and share continuous improvement strategies through kaizen events.
You don’t need any experience to enroll in this course, so I recommend checking it out if you have no clue what “lean” entails, but you want to get caught up quickly (without feeling dumb).
Course Details
- Rated 4.5/5 with over 9,900 students enrolled
- 6.5 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner Level
- $59.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
2. Six Sigma Green Belt
Once you complete the Lean Leadership course, you might be interested in pursuing a Six Sigma Green Belt. This course covers the critical path method and Excel calculations (Single OLS regression, Geometric Mean, Correlation Analysis, Standard Deviation, etc) to help you make decisions based on data.
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Plus, you’ll learn about the Design of Experiments (DOE), 6 Sigma DMAIC, and ways to improve your supply chain. All of these concepts are very important if you’re looking for a leadership role in operations, quality, or management.
This course is suitable for those who have a little more than the basic knowledge of the LSSGB curriculum and want to get a more in-depth understanding of how to use Excel for the most common Six Sigma calculations.
Course Details
- Rated 4.4/5 with over 3,000 students enrolled
- 6 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner Level (Part 1 Highly Recommended)
- $69.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
3. Essential Lean Manufacturing for Management Consultants
This course is a practical guide on how to improve production and operations and analyze savings using Excel. If you’re working on a factory floor—either as an engineer or a production lead—then you can use topics outlined in this course for identifying and removing bottlenecks.
Additionally, you’ll be able to walk through existing production processes to make them more efficient (faster, cheaper, and higher quality). Then, you can apply lean manufacturing techniques and calculate potential financial benefits using Excel.
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By the end of this course, you’ll have the toolset needed to be a leader in process optimization, cost reduction, and lean manufacturing techniques.
This is super valuable skillset to have because the more money you can save your company, the more valuable you are to the company. Therefore, your position is worth more, and your role in the company becomes more critical over time.
To take this course, it’s recommended that you have basic or intermediate experience with Excel (or willing to learn) and some basic understanding of economics and finance.
Course Details
- Rated 4.3/5 with over 4,300 students enrolled
- 4.5 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner/Intermediate
- $59.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
4. Lean Masterclass: Part 1
The Lean Masterclass is a two-part series to help you become Lean Proficient. Part 1 focuses on Lean Management Manufacturing, and Service to help drive waste elimination and increase impact, influence, and income.
If you’re looking for a course that will help you gain a holistic understanding of how to identify waste and gaps in your company, then this is a good course to take a look at. You’ll also learn about Lean Tools and techniques and practice project management skills to drive lean projects within your organization.
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Overall, this is an interesting option because you’ll learn about each Lean Tool (Value Stream Maps—VSM, 5S, 8 Wastes, Jidoka, JIT, Kaizen, and more) all through an in-depth set of lessons.
Then, when you complete Part 1, you can continue to Part 2 for continued learning.
Course Details
- Rated 4.4/5 with over 2,000 students enrolled
- 3.5 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner Level
- $59.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
5. Lean Masterclass Part 2
Next is the second part of the Lean Masterclass, which focuses on intermediate and advanced concepts of Lean. You’ll dive into Continuous Process Flow,
A nice thing about this course is the examples and exercises, which make it easy to learn and understand in an applied way.
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A lot of reviewers mentioned that this course provides “insight and exposure you need to gain confidence in Lean Management processes.” Topics included in Lean Masterclass Part 2 are Takt Time, Pull System, Kanban, Standard Work, Visual Control, and the coveted 5 Why Analysis.
All of the concepts are common “buzzwords” of the corporate manufacturing and operations industry. If you’re a professional looking to up your vocabulary and productivity, then taking the Lean Masterclass will give you a high-level insight into a lot of these common terms.
Course Details
- Rated 4.4/5 with over 1,400 students enrolled
- 2 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner Level (Part 1 Highly Recommended)
- $59.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
6. Lean Project Management
Lastly, this course is designed for Project Managers looking to add Lean principles to their craft. You’ll learn how to define, design, and run projects that deliver lasting business value.
Then, you’ll use the Lean Project Management Framework to deliver successful projects. Tools in this course can be directly applied to your projects.
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I recommend checking out this course if you’re a Project Manager looking to advance your skills. This course is also beneficial if you’re an engineer looking to gain skills to step into a Project Management role.
Lessons include the Principles of Lean Thinking for Projects, Identifying Value and customers, Generating Alternative Solutions, and Managing Delivery. If you’re looking for a way to add a Project Management credential to your resume, this could be a great option.
Course Details
- Rated 4.2/5 with over 2,000 students enrolled
- 2.5 hours of on-demand video
- Beginner Level (Project Management Experience)
- $119.99 for Lifetime access
Enroll now! Sign up on Udemy
Why Manufacturing Engineers Should Take a Lean Course
Even as a highly technical manufacturing engineer, you must be at least aware of Lean. In a lot of the big companies, they probably already have “Lean” training programs that you have to take.
And if not, you can expect to hear about “cost reduction,” “reducing waste,” “improving processes,” and more initiatives focused on retaining more money and producing better products.
If you’re responsible for work instructions, standard work, and procedures, then you’ll want to make sure you can answer to key stakeholders how your processes are doing. There’s nothing worse than being questioned by a Senior Executive or Production Manager about metrics that weren’t considered when your process was created or analyzed.
That’s why it’s important to take lean manufacturing courses.
Plus, any manufacturing engineer who already has a firm grasp on Lean is more likely to have better career growth opportunities than those who just stick to the work that they’re assigned to.
That brings me to the next point. If you grow your career, you’re going to grow your wallet.
And who doesn’t like making more money…?
Invest in these Courses and See the ROI
When I was working in manufacturing and operations (as an Automation Engineer), I always wanted to put myself in the best position to be successful within the organization. When you’re 1 of 200,000 employees, it can be challenging to climb the corporate ladder in a reasonable amount of time.
That’s where taking lean manufacturing courses on your own comes into play.
While a lot of companies have budgets set aside just for employee training—and I encourage you to use it—I also recommend spending a portion of your income on personal and professional training. You don’t have to shell out thousands of dollars (unless you want to), but spending $50 or a few hundred dollars on a course can have a high ROI on your future role.
Additionally, working on an online course that directly relates to your career path, shows initiative. And initiative, knowledge, and action, are highly sought after traits for the next generation of company leaders.
And, well, company leaders are usually the ones making the real money…right?
So, that $50 you spend on a course might feel like a waste now, but it could pay off thousands when you get promoted into a more Senior Leadership role. The best thing you can invest in is yourself. Do the work and you really can’t go wrong. Now, talk about that ROI!
Which one of these lean manufacturing courses are you going to take? Are you new to Lean Strategies? Let me know in the comments below!
And, if you found value in this article, please share it with a colleague who’s looking to complement their technical resume with Lean Operations experience!
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