The NFQ Level 5 Specific Purpose Certificate in Lean Practice for Sustainable Business is a recognised QQI award that brings Lean thinking into the everyday Irish workplace. It isn’t about big slogans or glossy reports. It’s about working smarter, cutting what’s wasteful, and keeping things steady over time.
Across Ireland, agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, SEAI, and the EPA Ireland have backed this kind of approach for years. Their message is simple enough – use less, save more, and keep the place tidy while you’re at it. The programme shows how Lean tools like PDCA, 5S, and Kaizen can fit beside environmental frameworks such as ISO 14001 and the EPA Waste Prevention Programme.
Learners come away able to spot waste, plan improvements, and see how small shifts add up. It suits Irish workplaces that prefer practical proof to fancy charts – a Cork workshop, a Galway print room, a Dublin warehouse. The aim is lasting efficiency, fair work, and a cleaner footprint.
Goal: Demonstrate understanding of Lean concepts and sustainability theory.
Lean, when you strip it back, is just common sense written clearly. You plan, you try, you check, and you fix – that’s the PDCA loop. It goes round in circles but moves forward each time.
Then there’s 5S. Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise, Sustain. It sounds neat on paper, but in practice, it starts with something small – clearing a shelf that hasn’t been touched in years or marking floor spots for bins. Once the clutter’s gone, you start seeing where time leaks too.
Kaizen follows close behind. It’s the habit of never leaving things just because “that’s how we do it.” Many Irish workplaces use a Kaizen board with dry-wipe notes half rubbed out. Someone scribbles, “stack trays closer to line,” another adds, “check seal machine.” It’s messy but alive.
Linking Lean to sustainability isn’t a stretch. Each motion saved, each scrap avoided, means fewer materials, less power, and cleaner output. It’s the quiet route to sustainability – not speeches, just small, better ways, repeated until they stick. To be fair, that suits Irish SMEs perfectly: modest improvements, steady wins.
Lean works best when it walks alongside Irish environmental rules. ISO 14001 gives shape to that – identify what harms the environment, set goals, and act on them. Feels familiar because PDCA hides inside it.
The EPA Waste Hierarchy says prevent first, reuse after, and recycle last. That’s pure Lean thinking in disguise. Fix the cause, not the symptom. In a small Donegal bakery, portion control cut dough waste before bins ever filled.
SEAI audits often reveal the same thing a Lean walk-through does – lights left on, compressors leaking, heaters roaring when no one’s there. Once a 5S tidy-up happens, those slips become obvious.
| Lean Tool | What it does | Sustainability Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 5S | Keeps areas ordered and safe | Less clutter, fewer spills |
| Kaizen | Drives steady tweaks | Energy saved bit by bit |
| PDCA | Tests, checks, adjusts | Holds eco-targets steady |
| VSM | Maps full process | Shows hidden carbon spots |
Nothing fancy there – just ordinary routines that trim waste and lift morale. Irish firms trust what they can see working on the floor, not what sits in a file.
Plenty of Irish SMEs have tried Lean and never looked back. A Galway print shop sorted its paper room using 5S. Less wandering about for stock, fewer reprints. The owner joked that the place looked half the size once they’d cleared the clutter.
In Cork, a small food-distribution depot joined an Enterprise Ireland Lean Start project. Staff sketched a Value Stream Map on a big bit of cardboard, arrows in marker pen. They spotted needless forklift loops and shifted shelves a metre or two. Diesel use dropped almost overnight.
Over in Dublin, a warehouse linked Lean with the EPA Waste Prevention Programme. They weighed bins each morning at 08:10 – no tech, just a notebook. Waste fell quickly once everyone saw the figures. One worker said, “Funny how numbers make you mind the bin.”
That’s how Lean sits in Irish life: half habit, half common decency. Tools like PDCA or 5S are just the shape behind it. The culture does the rest.
☑ Proper Lean terms – PDCA, 5S, Kaizen, VSM
☑ Clear nods to Enterprise Ireland, EPA, SEAI, ISO 14001
☑ Sustainability tied to each Lean point
☑ Irish SME examples that feel real
☑ Sense of steady improvement, not perfection
Lean theory shows that efficiency and sustainability aren’t rivals – they’re twins under different names. In practice, the Irish way is simple: tidy up, measure fair, keep at it. The frameworks – EPA, SEAI, ISO 14001 – just give it structure.
So it turned out that Lean isn’t about chasing speed; it’s about noticing what matters. When a workplace keeps things neat, uses power wisely, and lets people own the change, sustainability becomes the normal way to work, not a special project.
Goal: Show real or simulated implementation of Lean tools in a sustainable context.
The simulated workplace for this project was a local packaging and logistics hub on the outskirts of Limerick. About forty staff worked across shifts, moving parcels, sorting materials, and handling returns. Energy use was high, and waste bins filled quickly. The supervisor decided to run a small Lean exercise under Enterprise Ireland’s Lean Start guidance, tying it to the EPA Waste Prevention Programme and ISO 14001 practices already half-in-place.
The goal was simple enough: less waste, cleaner workflow, safer space. No new funding, just better habits. To be fair, people were unsure at first. Some thought it would be more paperwork. But once the first walk-through started, the problems were plain to see — blocked aisles, mixed waste bins, and labels falling off pallets.
Step 1 – Identifying the Problem
Observation showed three main issues: too many packaging offcuts, long delays at the weighing station, and constant trips for replacement tape. Staff timed one full process and found the average load time was 25 minutes, with offcut waste hitting 120 kg per month.
Step 2 – Applying Lean Tools
The team mapped the route using Value Stream Mapping (VSM). Coloured sticky notes covered a wall, showing where time was lost. Next came 5S: clearing old cardboard, marking floor spaces, fixing label stations. A small PDCA cycle started — plan (reduce offcuts), do (change cut size), check (weigh waste weekly), act (keep or adjust).
Step 3 – Involving People
A suggestion board went up by the kettle. Staff scribbled notes between tea breaks. Some ideas were tiny — like storing tape in plastic tubs to stop moisture ruining rolls. Others were bigger, such as changing box sizes. The board marker dried halfway most days, but the ideas kept coming.
Step 4 – Monitoring Change
Visual management boards showed daily targets. When offcut bins dropped below 20 kg, a small green sticker went up. The next morning, someone would quietly nod at it — a kind of small victory.
| Factor | Baseline | Target | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process time (min) | 25 | 20 | 18 |
| Scrap rate (%) | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| Offcut waste (kg/month) | 120 | 90 | 80 |
By the third week, clutter cleared, labels stayed on, and aisles looked wider. Even the safety officer said it “felt calmer somehow.”
The small pilot cut monthly waste by one-third. Lead time per load dropped by about 40 %. Electricity use dipped slightly, mainly from better switch-off routines. Staff suggested extending the 5S tidy to the storage loft next.
| KPI | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waste (kg/month) | 120 | 80 | – 33 % |
| Lead time (days) | 5 | 3 | – 40 % |
| Energy use (kWh/day) | 260 | 230 | – 11 % |
| Rework cases/month | 9 | 5 | – 44 % |
The charts pinned on the noticeboard told the story better than any report. You could almost see pride creeping back in. In practice, once people saw progress in numbers they trusted, they owned it.
A small Supplier Evaluation Table helped track packaging quality:
| Supplier | Baseline Defect Rate (%) | After Lean Review (%) | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Packaging Ltd | 6 | 3 | Improved cut accuracy |
| Boxco Ireland | 4 | 2 | Better recycling labels added |
| WrapFast | 5 | 5 | No change; review ongoing |
So it turned out that the Lean effort reached beyond the floor — suppliers began asking why their scores were posted. Quiet pressure worked.
The biggest shift wasn’t numbers but mindset. Once bins emptied slower, people started noticing other things: dripping taps, forklifts idling, lights on mid-day. Small talks led to bigger awareness.
Lean became less of a project and more of a habit. A few younger staff made posters showing the PDCA steps in plain words. Senior workers, once doubtful, started coaching new hires. To be fair, not every idea worked. One trial with recycled pallet wrap jammed the rollers. Still, the culture of trying stayed.
Sustainability here didn’t mean grand gestures; it meant fairness — using what’s needed, wasting less, respecting everyone’s role. That’s the Irish way of Lean: grounded, shared, and continuous.
All activities followed Enterprise Ireland Lean Start guidance, the EPA Waste Prevention Programme, and ISO 14001 standards. Energy data were handled per GDPR and company policy.
The assignment brought the theory of Lean to life. What began as tidy talk about PDCA and 5S became real through bins, boards, and human patience. Continuous Assessment gave the reasoning; the Skills Demonstration proved it works.
Irish SMEs rarely have spare money for consultants, but they do have people who care about their work. Lean gives them the frame for that care. When combined with national efforts from Enterprise Ireland, EPA, and SEAI, it turns local efficiency into genuine sustainability.
In reflection, the biggest lesson was how fragile change is until it becomes habit. Once a crew owns the improvement, it sticks. Small changes — shorter walks, neater shelves, cleaner bins — slowly rewrite the culture.
To be fair, it’s those tiny moments on the shop floor that grow into the bigger wins for sustainability.
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