What is Six Sigma?

“Bernie worked closely with the global continuous improvement group in Bausch health throughout 2018. We worked on ambitious programmes such as global obsolescence reduction and global risk assessment to protect key revenue products. Also Bernie delivered six sigma refresher training and helped build green belt modules. I find Bernie’s attention to detail and level of professionalism absolutely reliable. I trust her to deliver at the highest level, to work or research on her own initiative and to travel and host workshops representing me within the corporation. I look forward to working again soon with Bernie and her colleagues and am always reassured by the level of aspiration that she brings to our projects.”

“Bernie has delivered a module on the University of Limerick Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Supply Chain Management. Her in depth knowledge in logistics and supply chain management grounded the concepts being studied in a real world context.  The participants enjoyed the professional approach, excellent feedback and practical application Bernie brought to the material.”

Top qualities: Knowledge Expert, Excellent Rapport, Professional Attitude

“Merit Medical chose Bernie (Lean Ireland) to guide our Business Excellence (BE) programme to success. Based on Lean principles, our operational methodology and focus have changed completely. Lean Ireland have enabled our transformation, resulting in lots of sweet numbers and great business success to date. Lean Ireland’got it right’ for Merit by tailoring a targeted, challenging and realistic road map which encompassed:
Programme planning, Structure, Key people and Training to a high standard, enabling Merit personnel to deliver targeted transformation projects (early successes were key to build confidence and take on the next level projects).
Bernie and Lean Ireland delivered ‘what they said on the label’ … and more, for Merit. We continue to work together and have extended our Business Excellence R-map to inc. Supplier Dev. and collaborative product re-design. The learning and drive to improve never ends.
We made the right choice with Bernie and her company, Lean Ireland.”

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, Good Value

I attended the Introduction to Lean Thinking workshop delivered by Bernie Rushe of Lean Ireland on Thursday April 18th 2013 at the Clayton Hotel in Galway. I found the course to be delivered in a very practical manner, without the use of a single PowerPoint slide! Interactive learning was a key feature. None of the learning material was over complicated with the introduction of attendees to the principles of Lean achieved through the use of a simple every-day scenario portrayed on a DVD. Further learning learning objectives of the day such as the demonstration of “push” versus “pull” manufacturing systems were then achieved through the use of Serious Games and role play with attendees encouraged to work in teams throughout. Overall, I found the Workshop to be highly beneficial for those employees attempting to embrace the Lean ethos for the first time, with the training delivery methods allowing attendees to grasp the principles of Lean and associate them with their own workplace.

“Working with Pat Cullinane was absolutely fantastic. Pat not only brings a wealth of expertise and experience in Lean but also a wonderful understanding of people. In any Lean journey people are key, and engagement is the most important part of the project; Pat’s insights, advice and recommendations in achieving that were invaluable. The energy Pat brought to every visit was genuinely inspiring – his passion and enthusiasm gave our team the regular boosts that were needed. Combined with his energy was the feeling that Pat does what he does because he loves it, and cares. He shared our vision, goals and hopes for APL’s future and helped us achieve them.”

“Bernie has delivered a module on the University of Limerick Continuous Professional Development Diploma in Supply Chain Management. Her in depth knowledge in logistics and supply chain management grounded the concepts being studied in a real world context. The participants enjoyed the professional approach, excellent feedback and practical application Bernie brought to the material.”

‘Fantastic sessions in Six Sigma delivered by Bernie at Norbrook Laboratories! Bernie was excellent at giving relevant examples and explaining situations (and even stats/charting) in a way I could easily understand and remember. Highly recommended ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐’

“Lean Ireland have also carried out lean six sigma sponsor training with the site management team which is proving invaluable in ensuring project success.  As the Operational Excellence lead for the site, and a candidate on the Lean Ireland black belt course, I’ve had the opportunity to experience their service offerings from a number of perspectives. They are professional and innovative in the facilitation of lean six sigma courses, and responsive to Allergan’s particular needs. The response from attendees at their courses is very favourable, which results in increasing interest from our employees to “get involved” in the programme. As facilitators they are results focused, and the plant is enjoying excellent results from the projects being completed.”

“The guys and myself felt the Total Productive Maintenance training session went very well and feedback was positive. Thank you for the material which I will distribute to the team … I will certainly be looking at other opportunity to running a follow up training session with another group. Richard it was a great and very enjoyable working with yourself and to have made the contact.”

My company Doyle Shipping Group have used Bernie’s company Lean Ireland 5 times in the last year. The main items we looked at were :-

• Data Modelling and Visualization.
• Capacity and Vessel planning.
• Staff rostering and planning.

Lean Ireland using visuals were able to take our clients through the full project process. These clients were based in Ireland, France and Holland and found it so easy to have teams calls with the visuals being shared for all to go through the finer details.

We also used Lean Ireland to help us plan and Roster staff for a Government contract and this engagement with Bernie and the team proved very worthwhile.

The things I personally like about Lean Ireland are :-

• Their availability at short notice to convene teams calls pertaining to the projects.
• Their ease of which they interpreted DSG’s plans.
• The clear way they explained the rationale behind their excel files and visuals.
• Their reliability which made our foreign clients at ease very quickly.
• Their enthusiasm for new projects.

I would highly recommend using Bernie and the team to any like minded companies out there.

“We have worked with Bernie and Lean Ireland for many years now and have always been more than happy with the professional delivery of all the training programs provided for our network. Bernie recently delivered an online DOE course for us and we were absolutely delighted with the calibre of the online training materials and exercises she provided, the meticulous preparation in advance of the course; the superb interaction with the participants and the consistent follow-ups between online lectures. It has been such a positive experience for us, that we can’t wait for Lean Ireland to deliver the next training course for our members!”

“Great course that gave me an overview of Lean and its origins, we focused the tutorials on the Toyota 8 Step problem solving model and worked through live examples for each step. Over the course of the tutorials we covered areas like 5s, 7 wastes, Gemba visits, spaghetti mapping, 5 Whys & fishbone, Failure Modes & Effects Analysis (FMEA), SMED and OEE.

Course delivery was via a weekly 90 min Google hangouts session, we had plenty of time for discussion and I got a weekly assignment to complete for the following week’s tutorial. All assignments were linked to the 8 step problem solving model we were studying and I was able to build and develop my own A3 document over the course of the sessions, just like real life in the factory!  

 As someone who came from a commercial background into manufacturing, I have found this learning invaluable. It has provided a solid knowledge base about Lean in a short space of time and also given me more confidence to challenge ways of doing things in our factories as we strive for customer delight and continuous improvement.”

“Highly recommend Lean Ireland Yellow & Green Belt courses with Bernie and Kevin. Lean Ireland use a multimedia approach to learning which kept me engaged throughout. The sessions were very interactive and well structured. I met some lovely people, and was very well supported throughout my project work. I would recommend Lean Ireland to anyone looking for a flexible, engaging course. Thanks Bernie and Kevin.”