United Tractor & Equipment (Pvt) Ltd (UTE), the country’s sole authorised Caterpillar dealer, held a special graduation ceremony recently recognising participants as Caterpillar Six Sigma Black Belts
Nine high profile individuals from leading manufacturers gained access to Caterpillar’s learning materials, through presentations, workshops, role-plays, simulations, and one-on-one sessions and successfully completed the course acquiring vital methodologies and tools necessary to lead change within their own organisations. UTE’s own Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Tharaka Dayabandara supervised the sessions which was conducted over a period of four months covering 160 hours of in-class time. Chief Guest at the ceremony, industry veteran Moksevi Prelis, presented all participants the prestigious course certificate signed personally by Jim Umpleby, CEO Caterpillar Inc., USA.
The training comprised of high quality mentoring, transferred Six Sigma skills, knowledge and real insights for the participants. The programme included modules such as ‘Leverage Continuous Improvement tools for business processes, Lead 6 Sigma Projects, Identify root causes using facts and data, Process measurement and prioritization through People, Quality, Velocity, and Cost (PQVC)’.
Senior management from leading manufacturing companies including Litro Gas, Teejay Lanka, Stretchline and UTE participated.
Commenting on the success of the programme, participant Sudarshan Karunarathna, Operations Director, Litro Gas said, “After this programme I have a better understanding about the methodology, concepts, theories and mostly the application. It was a very useful programme and I request UTE to continue to have this programme, so that others can be trained to apply the concepts in developing this country.”
Six Sigma is a renowned worldwide continuous improvement methodology helping organisations achieve strategic goals and business excellence. The Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) improvement cycle is an integral element as a roadmap for process improvement.
Caterpillar deployed Six Sigma nearly two decades ago as a critical component of the company’s enterprise strategy. Six Sigma is also foundational to the company’s own Caterpillar Production System (CPS) in delivering world-class products and has played a vital role towards the company’s success. “6 Sigma and CPS have helped us achieve outstanding results in safety, quality and profitability across the company,” noted Doug Oberhelman, recently-retired Caterpillar Chairman and CEO.
Leading global multinational corporate giants such as Amazon, Dell, General Electric, Ford etc., have also successfully demonstrated significant benefits from the implementation of this quality management tool in driving change.
As a Caterpillar Dealer, unmatched in delivering integrated solutions tailored to meet customer needs, UTE has successfully embedded the fundamentals of Six Sigma as a formidable competitive advantage that enhances the value of its products and services. The valuable certification with worldwide recognition, Sri Lankan corporates too can benefit by deploying the six sigma methodologies to improve operational efficiencies leading to revenue growth, productivity improvements and even leadership acumen.
“The entire program was designed with a mix of concepts and application to understand the concepts. The projects we carried out have achieved very good results. In inventory reduction project we saw results in couple of months. Thank you for organizing this training,” noted Pamoda Kariyawasam, General Manager, Supply Chain and Planning, Teejay Lanka PLC, also commending the training.
UTE are a recognised pioneer in promoting Six Sigma certification framework to enhance local corporates. Unlike educational institutes which offer Six Sigma training, UTE has also hosted a ‘Six Sigma DMAIC Green Belt Certification’ for local corporates enabling participants to experience ‘hands-on’ learning. Participants take on a project from their own organization, implement key concepts and skills into immediate practice with Master Black Belt assistance and through improvements in existing business processes enhance the quality of a product or service.
Supporting UTE’s Black Belt and Green Belt Six Sigma training is its 5-star world class training centre and Cat 4-star rated workshop facility. The centre has been acknowledged as one of the largest training facilities among the Asian Cat Dealership and also the proud recipient of the prestigious Service Training Excellence Accreditation Award (STEAA) from Caterpillar.
Interested corporates are requested to contact sixsigma@ute.lk for further details of the programme and future dates.
