There are many different types of certification in U.S., and all of them could be very beneficial for improving skills and knowledge as well as promotion and job hunting. This time I tried the Lean Bronze Certification held by Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), and fortunately I passed the exam.
SME is carrying out many activities regarding quality improvement in manufacturing area. The certification programs are one of their activities, and the Lean certification is one of their certification programs.
The Lean certification has three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. I applied for the Lean Bronze with around $400 exam fee. It required 80 hours of training history and five actual projects.
The exam recommended four reading materials, and I bought all of them. The cost of reading material was around $150. My company helped me and paid all cost for me. It was so helpful.
I had to take the exam in one year after paying the fee, but I started studying in three months before the expiring day because it was hard to enhance my motivation and keep it high for long. I didn’t know why. But I studied for the exam in the three months because my company paid for it.
What I did for study was to read the four books and create a note with the key points. I created the note because it was open book exam of multiple selections. But I had to solve 165 questions in three hours – one question per one minute – and I didn’t have time to review the note in the exam. So I had to memorize the key points.
Eventually I got 87.3 points in 100 and passed the exam (the borderline was 75 points). I was so glad for passing the exam, but also very tired for keeping my motivation high.
After the exam, I thought the reason why I couldn’t keep my motivation high. I probably believed that the most important thing in Lean (and Six Sigma/DFSS) was the experiences in real projects. Reading books could increase some knowledge but any experience. The knowledge from the books could not lead a team. Only the real experiences lead the team. Because of such thoughts, I could not keep my motivation high to read those books.
But in reality, I was able to gain a lot of knowledge by reading those books. Studying for the Lean Bronze was so useful in my job and so beneficial in my future.