LinkedIn 
EmailA Metropolitan Transit Agency
From Pilot to Waiting List: 200+ Green Belts and Counting
The Challenge
A large metropolitan transit system was wrestling with chronic inefficiencies in service delivery and internal processes. As part of a renewed commitment to its riders, agency management launched a major continuous improvement initiative — and recognized that a Lean Six Sigma methodology was the right framework to anchor it. Through a competitive bid, the agency selected Corporate Education Group to lead the effort.
Why Lean Six Sigma
Lean Six Sigma combines Lean’s focus on efficiency with Six Sigma’s emphasis on quality and consistency, helping organizations reduce waste, minimize variation, and improve customer outcomes through data-driven decisions. The methodology’s spine is DMAIC — a five-phase framework for solving real operational problems:
- Define Identify the problem, goals, and customer requirements
- Measure Collect data to understand current performance
- Analyze Identify the root causes of inefficiencies or defects
- Improve Develop and implement solutions
- Control Monitor the process to sustain improvements
CEG’s Approach
CEG proposed a pilot delivery of its Green Belt program, customized to the operational realities of a complex public transit system. The pilot ran across four months and eight training days, walking a hand-picked cohort of senior managers through the full DMAIC toolkit.
The defining choice: from day one, every participant worked on a real, sponsored agency project. Cohorts were divided into cross-functional teams of five, each assigned a project scoped in advance by agency management against five criteria — data availability, process focus, manageable scale, executive sponsorship, and clear value. The result is training that produces outcomes, not just certificates.
Outcomes
The pilot succeeded — and then it kept going. CEG has now delivered the program to more than ten cohorts and over 200 graduates. More than 50 team projects have been completed, many with tangible, lasting impact on agency operations and the riders who depend on them.
What began as a senior-management initiative has spread across multiple employee levels, and each new cohort fills with a waiting list. The Lean and Six Sigma toolset — and more importantly, the continuous improvement mindset — now shows up across every corner of the agency’s operation.
That, more than any single project, is what success looks like.
For more information on this topic, as well as how Corporate Education Group can help power your organization’s performance, contact us via email or call 1.800.288.7246 (US only) or +1.978.649.8200. You can also use our Information Request Form!
