John Vandenbemden, named the 2022 Quality Professional of the Year by Quality Magazine, is an auditor, consultant and quality expert. He’s also a Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Over four decades of work, Vandenbemden has become a well-known expert in quality management and process improvement.
For those interested in the benefits of Lean and Six Sigma training, Vandenbemden offers a shining example of what knowledge in these methodologies can do. He’s helped improve businesses in many different sectors of the economy, including the automotive, aerospace, service, energy management, medical device and healthcare industries.
In a profile published in Quality Magazine, Vandenbemden offered this advice to those who want to advance their careers: “The main thing is never close your mind. You can’t say you know everything…Open yourself to new opportunities. I tried things that didn’t work, nobody’s infallible. The goal is to learn from it, and not repeating it if you can.”
Frank Chapman, director of Stratosphere Quality, who took a Six Sigma class taught by Vandenbemden 20 years ago, told Quality Magazine his teacher is “by far the most highly intelligent person I’ve ever met. He’s probably forgotten more than most of us have ever learned.”
He added, “In the quality profession, he is definitely the guru. He is a bastion of information and wealth of experience.”
A Career in Quality
Vandenbemden graduated from Indiana State University with a BS in Mathematics and Statistics. He began work as a high school math teacher, but decided after getting married that he needed to make more money. He took a job at Inland Steel, where he worked for almost two decades. He eventually became a quality engineer.
He held that same position at the Gallatin Steel company from 1995 to 2000 before moving on to Indalex and then DaimlerChrysler. He eventually formed his own company, Q-Met-Tech, that provides consulting, training and auditing for quality, environmental and health and safety management systems. The company also provides consulting and training in Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Principles.
Along the way, he also earned his Six Sigma Master Black Belt, the highest level in the Six Sigma belt system. A Master Black Belt has the knowledge and skills to oversee process improvement projects at a company, managing the Black Belts who run each project. Earning this designation generally requires passing an exam, working at least five years in process improvement and successfully completing 10 projects.
In his many decades of working in quality improvement, Vandenbemden also developed the soft skills so important for business success. Clients interviewed by Quality Magazine said Vandenbemden always stays positive, looks for solutions and is a consultant that people actually look forward to seeing whenever he is brought in.
Advice from the Quality Guru
In an interview from 2018, Vandenbemden spoke about those getting started in Lean and Six Sigma. His advice: don’t jump straight into doing a project without first taking the time to understand the tools and techniques of the methodology.
He suggested that people and companies new to Six Sigma start with a smaller project before moving on to something more complex. He also said a key to success is to take the time to understand how the various Six Sigma and Lean tools work, giving people time to decide what tools work best in different situations.
He also said that in Six Sigma, DMAIC is a very defined process with a history of success. The key, he said, is buy-in from leadership as well as those involved in the project. “I think the very first thing is, they’ve got to have a commitment to want to make change,” Vandenbemden said. “If the organization and the individuals involved are not committed to actually wanting to make change, then, you know, having the best methodology isn’t going to work.”
As the profile in Quality Magazine shows, Vandenbemden personifies the optimism inherent in process improvement. He said, “Really the joy in auditing is working with people to help them make their organizations better.”
