Tomos Rodrigues from SMTL’s Research and Development (R&D) department recently underwent training to become qualified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Lean Six Sigma methodologies have been adopted by a range of companies worldwide to improve processes and increase quality. The training encompassed the deployment of Lean techniques and the application of advanced statistical methods, as well as lean management and risk assessment approaches.

SMTL’s R&D department fulfils a number of functions, including health technology assessment, technical assurance and method development. Their wide-ranging scientific expertise underpins their high-quality outputs for NHS Wales and commercial workstreams. Through the adoption of Lean Six Sigma toolkits, the R&D department will continue to improve the capability of its processes, whilst delivering sector leading service provision for the benefit of the patients of Wales and its commercial clients.

Tomos has since provided training on core Lean Six Sigma tools to the R&D Department that will support efficient service delivery and drive a culture of continuous improvement. He is currently developing a Design of Experiments (DoE) training programme to establish the use of this systematic and efficient framework for experimentation within SMTL. Tomos is now looking forward to introducing Lean Six Sigma to staff across SMTL departments later in the year.