Leadership & Management
Strategic Operations Leadership
This five-day program prepares operations leaders to run delivery as a competitive advantage. Participants build skills in operations strategy, Lean improvement, Six Sigma and SPC quality control, and capacity planning with operational KPIs.
Introduction
Strategic Operations Leadership Training Course prepares operations leaders to run production and service delivery as a competitive weapon. Participants learn how to set operations strategy, design the operating model, and drive improvement that shows in cost, quality, and speed. The program combines operations strategy with Lean, quality management, and performance leadership. As a result, learners gain a system for improving operations continuously without exhausting their teams. Furthermore, the course strengthens capacity planning, risk control, and the leadership habits that sustain operational discipline.
Strategic Operations Leadership Course Objectives
- Set operations strategy aligned with business strategy and customer requirements.
- Apply operations strategy frameworks including the four Vs and the order-winners/qualifiers model.
- Design operating models covering capacity, layout, and process architecture.
- Apply Lean principles, value stream mapping, and waste elimination.
- Use Six Sigma and statistical process control (SPC) for quality improvement.
- Plan capacity and demand with forecasting and aggregate planning methods.
- Apply total productive maintenance (TPM) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- Manage operations risk with risk registers, contingency plans, and business continuity.
- Set operational KPIs with baselines, targets, and productivity metrics.
- Lead continuous improvement, quality culture, and operations teams.
Course Methodology
- Interactive sessions built on real operations and manufacturing cases.
- Workshops on value stream mapping, capacity planning, and KPI design.
- Group work on operating model design and improvement plans.
- Hands-on practice with SPC charts, OEE calculation, and process analysis.
- Simulation of demand surges, capacity constraints, and quality failures.
- Facilitator feedback and peer review on operations improvement proposals.
Who Should Take This Course
- Operations directors, plant managers, and production leaders.
- Service operations and delivery managers.
- Continuous improvement and Lean managers.
- Quality managers and process excellence professionals.
- Supply chain and capacity planning managers.
- Consultants supporting operations transformation.
Strategic Operations Leadership Course Outlines
Operations Strategy and Competitive Positioning
- • The strategic role of operations in competitive advantage.
- • The four Vs: volume, variety, variation, and visibility.
- • Order winners and order qualifiers in operations design.
- • Aligning operations strategy with business strategy.
- • Trade-offs: cost, quality, speed, flexibility, and dependability.
- • Make-or-buy and vertical integration decisions.
- • Case study: an operations strategy that won market share.
Process Design and Lean Thinking
- • Process types and layout decisions.
- • Value stream mapping and identifying the seven wastes.
- • Lean principles: flow, pull, and takt time.
- • Standard work, 5S, and visual management.
- • Kaizen and rapid improvement events.
- • Business process reengineering (BPR) for step-change improvement.
- • Workshop: mapping and improving a core process.
Quality Management and Six Sigma
- • Total quality management (TQM) principles and quality culture.
- • Cost of quality: prevention, appraisal, and failure costs.
- • Six Sigma DMAIC methodology.
- • Statistical process control (SPC) and control charts.
- • Root cause analysis and corrective action systems.
- • Quality standards and audit readiness.
- • Exercise: building an SPC chart and interpreting variation.
Capacity, Planning, and Asset Performance
- • Demand forecasting and aggregate planning.
- • Capacity planning and bottleneck management.
- • Scheduling and throughput optimization.
- • Total productive maintenance (TPM) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- • Inventory, lead time, and work-in-progress control.
- • Operations risk registers and business continuity planning.
- • Simulation: managing a demand surge with limited capacity.
Performance Leadership and Continuous Improvement
- • Operational KPIs: productivity, OEE, cycle time, and defect rates.
- • Dashboards, reporting cadence, and performance dialogue.
- • Daily management and tiered accountability routines.
- • Building a continuous improvement culture and capability.
- • Leading teams through change and improvement fatigue.
- • Sustaining gains and institutionalizing standards.
- • Capstone: presenting a strategic operations improvement plan.
Conclusion
By successfully completing Strategic Operations Leadership, participants will gain a practical command of operations strategy, process improvement, and performance leadership. They will acquire skills in Lean and Six Sigma, capacity planning, asset performance, and operational measurement. Gentex Training Center designs the program to help leaders improve operations continuously and turn delivery capability into competitive advantage.
FAQs
— What is the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course about?
It covers how to run operations as a strategic asset rather than a support function. The course spans operations strategy, operating model and process design, Lean and Six Sigma improvement, capacity and asset performance, and operational performance leadership.
— What are the key benefits of the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
You gain a system for improving cost, quality, and speed together. The course sharpens operations strategy and capacity decisions, strengthens quality and process control, reduces waste and downtime, and gives leaders routines that keep improvement going after the program ends.
— What skills will I gain from the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
You will develop four core skills: operations strategy and operating model design, Lean process improvement, quality management with Six Sigma and SPC, and capacity planning with operational performance leadership.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
The course covers the four Vs, the order-winners/order-qualifiers model, value stream mapping and the seven wastes, takt time, 5S, Kaizen, business process reengineering (BPR), total quality management (TQM) and cost of quality, the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology, statistical process control (SPC) control charts, demand forecasting and aggregate planning, total productive maintenance (TPM), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and operational KPIs.
— How is the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course applied in real-world practice?
Participants apply it to real work such as redesigning a production line, running a Kaizen event on a bottleneck process, setting up SPC monitoring on a critical operation, and building an operations dashboard. The same methods support capacity planning reviews and business continuity planning.
Contact our team and let us help you find the right option.
Introduction
Strategic Operations Leadership Training Course prepares operations leaders to run production and service delivery as a competitive weapon. Participants learn how to set operations strategy, design the operating model, and drive improvement that shows in cost, quality, and speed. The program combines operations strategy with Lean, quality management, and performance leadership. As a result, learners gain a system for improving operations continuously without exhausting their teams. Furthermore, the course strengthens capacity planning, risk control, and the leadership habits that sustain operational discipline.
Strategic Operations Leadership Course Objectives
- Set operations strategy aligned with business strategy and customer requirements.
- Apply operations strategy frameworks including the four Vs and the order-winners/qualifiers model.
- Design operating models covering capacity, layout, and process architecture.
- Apply Lean principles, value stream mapping, and waste elimination.
- Use Six Sigma and statistical process control (SPC) for quality improvement.
- Plan capacity and demand with forecasting and aggregate planning methods.
- Apply total productive maintenance (TPM) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- Manage operations risk with risk registers, contingency plans, and business continuity.
- Set operational KPIs with baselines, targets, and productivity metrics.
- Lead continuous improvement, quality culture, and operations teams.
Course Methodology
- Interactive sessions built on real operations and manufacturing cases.
- Workshops on value stream mapping, capacity planning, and KPI design.
- Group work on operating model design and improvement plans.
- Hands-on practice with SPC charts, OEE calculation, and process analysis.
- Simulation of demand surges, capacity constraints, and quality failures.
- Facilitator feedback and peer review on operations improvement proposals.
Who Should Take This Course
- Operations directors, plant managers, and production leaders.
- Service operations and delivery managers.
- Continuous improvement and Lean managers.
- Quality managers and process excellence professionals.
- Supply chain and capacity planning managers.
- Consultants supporting operations transformation.
Strategic Operations Leadership Course Outlines
Operations Strategy and Competitive Positioning
- • The strategic role of operations in competitive advantage.
- • The four Vs: volume, variety, variation, and visibility.
- • Order winners and order qualifiers in operations design.
- • Aligning operations strategy with business strategy.
- • Trade-offs: cost, quality, speed, flexibility, and dependability.
- • Make-or-buy and vertical integration decisions.
- • Case study: an operations strategy that won market share.
Process Design and Lean Thinking
- • Process types and layout decisions.
- • Value stream mapping and identifying the seven wastes.
- • Lean principles: flow, pull, and takt time.
- • Standard work, 5S, and visual management.
- • Kaizen and rapid improvement events.
- • Business process reengineering (BPR) for step-change improvement.
- • Workshop: mapping and improving a core process.
Quality Management and Six Sigma
- • Total quality management (TQM) principles and quality culture.
- • Cost of quality: prevention, appraisal, and failure costs.
- • Six Sigma DMAIC methodology.
- • Statistical process control (SPC) and control charts.
- • Root cause analysis and corrective action systems.
- • Quality standards and audit readiness.
- • Exercise: building an SPC chart and interpreting variation.
Capacity, Planning, and Asset Performance
- • Demand forecasting and aggregate planning.
- • Capacity planning and bottleneck management.
- • Scheduling and throughput optimization.
- • Total productive maintenance (TPM) and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
- • Inventory, lead time, and work-in-progress control.
- • Operations risk registers and business continuity planning.
- • Simulation: managing a demand surge with limited capacity.
Performance Leadership and Continuous Improvement
- • Operational KPIs: productivity, OEE, cycle time, and defect rates.
- • Dashboards, reporting cadence, and performance dialogue.
- • Daily management and tiered accountability routines.
- • Building a continuous improvement culture and capability.
- • Leading teams through change and improvement fatigue.
- • Sustaining gains and institutionalizing standards.
- • Capstone: presenting a strategic operations improvement plan.
Conclusion
By successfully completing Strategic Operations Leadership, participants will gain a practical command of operations strategy, process improvement, and performance leadership. They will acquire skills in Lean and Six Sigma, capacity planning, asset performance, and operational measurement. Gentex Training Center designs the program to help leaders improve operations continuously and turn delivery capability into competitive advantage.
FAQs
— What is the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course about?
It covers how to run operations as a strategic asset rather than a support function. The course spans operations strategy, operating model and process design, Lean and Six Sigma improvement, capacity and asset performance, and operational performance leadership.
— What are the key benefits of the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
You gain a system for improving cost, quality, and speed together. The course sharpens operations strategy and capacity decisions, strengthens quality and process control, reduces waste and downtime, and gives leaders routines that keep improvement going after the program ends.
— What skills will I gain from the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
You will develop four core skills: operations strategy and operating model design, Lean process improvement, quality management with Six Sigma and SPC, and capacity planning with operational performance leadership.
— What tools, methods, or standards are covered in the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course?
The course covers the four Vs, the order-winners/order-qualifiers model, value stream mapping and the seven wastes, takt time, 5S, Kaizen, business process reengineering (BPR), total quality management (TQM) and cost of quality, the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology, statistical process control (SPC) control charts, demand forecasting and aggregate planning, total productive maintenance (TPM), overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), and operational KPIs.
— How is the "Strategic Operations Leadership" course applied in real-world practice?
Participants apply it to real work such as redesigning a production line, running a Kaizen event on a bottleneck process, setting up SPC monitoring on a critical operation, and building an operations dashboard. The same methods support capacity planning reviews and business continuity planning.
Partners in Learning
Our Partners in Learning include leading companies and organizations that trust Gentex Training Center for high-quality training courses and professional development programs. Together, we deliver impactful training programs that support skills growth, leadership development, and organizational excellence.
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