Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
Certified Six Sigma Black Belt
Author: Carl Wright
A new job has emerged in recent years, the title of which more resembles a karate instructor than a business professional. It is called the Six Sigma Black Belt.
After years of use by major corporations, six sigma is being utilized by small and mid-size corporations. This has led to the proliferation of six sigma training of many types and depths.
There is training for six sigma green belts, yellow belts, black belts, and master black belts. Throw in the word lean and you have four more titles, such as Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
The karate lingo signifies the depth of training and skill. The green belt has some understanding of statistical tools and does a lot of the measurement and data collection for six sigma projects. The black belt is a mentor and coach to the green belt, utilizing their time for higher level and more complex analysis and working on the soft side such as influencing and driving change in the workplace.
The Master Black Belt coaches and trains other black belts. The Master Black Belt often helps guide the organization to develop the correct human resources and provides training for Six Sigma Black Belts.
The most common belt is the Six Sigma Black Belt, which has become known as the credentials necessary to lead six sigma projects.
Six sigma has been utilized as a business improvement tool for over two decades. However, it was primarily utilized at very few major corporations company wide, such as Motorola and GE.
As with most new business methods and approaches, six sigma has had growing pains. Some companies report huge successes, while others have abandoned the initiative entirely.
There are many reasons both for the successes and failures. The reason for either almost always boils down to management. If management has little commitment and only a vague understanding of six sigma, then chances are it will fail.
Another major problem is that six sigma training varies widely by training organization. Six sigma black belt training is conducted by hundreds of training companies, individual corporations, universities and colleges, and a few organizations such as ASQ and IQF.
The American Society for Quality (ASQ) has developed a “body of knowledge” and certification test for black belts. Corporations training their own black belts make up their own curriculum. Training organizations often determine what they believe is the best use of a shorter training time. Colleges and Universities also vary considerably in their training.
Many Six Sigma Black Belt courses are conducted over four weeks. While this may be sufficient time for an industrial engineer to grasp the tools, many students struggle to learn the material and ultimately have trouble applying six sigma.
Online six sigma training courses also vary. The advantages to an online course it there is no time constraint. The material is often more detailed and presented in depth. The student can continue to review the material until it is learned. The disadvantage is the same as all online courses, which is the personal commitment to self motivation.
It is best to determine the material that will be covered in the course. Any type of course format can work. Make sure it is consistent with the needs of the company and that it is presented in enough detail to learn six sigma well enough to apply in the field.
Beyond obtaining certification, it is important to have a variety of reference material. There are many good books written about six sigma. Most Six Sigma Black Belts have both technical and implementation books. There are simply too many six sigma and lean manufacturing tools to remember the proper application of each from memory.
Once certification is obtained, it is critical to keep in mind the reason corporations are utilizing six sigma. They are doing it for “impact”. They want business improvement, either through financial savings with cost reductions, additional output, better quality, more capacity, quicker throughput, or other metric.
Six Sigma Black Belt certification can be rewarding, gratifying, and worth the effort. Investing the time to thoroughly grasp the subject will ensure it.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/leadership-articles/certified-six-sigma-black-belt-219217.html
About the Author
Carl Wright is an industrial engineer, ASQ Six Sigma Black Belt, and Master Black Belt. A primer on six sigma black belt certification is located in our six sigma training overview.
That partially depends on how creditable you want your “certificate” to be!
There are many consulting companies out there that are willing to put you through training classes or coaching sessions and then say that you are certified. There are other groups that will check your current qualifications and see if you have the required background and then certify you based on past experiences.
The fastest way to get one of the “top” certifications is by studying and then taking the American Society for Quality (ASQ) – Certified Six Sigma Black Belt exam – http://www.asq.org/certification/six-sigma/prepare.html The ASQ has a number of local section who offer refresher course in this and other topics if you want more help. You can contact the ASQ National group at 1-800-248-1946 to find out where the nearest Section / Chapter is to where you live. You do NOT need to become a member of ASQ to take the exam!
The ASQ also has a Green Belt that would be an easier exam to take depending on if you really need a Black Belt or just a recognized certification in Six Sigma.
Either way, I would also suggest finding some reference materials (ASQ has full handbooks on both Black Belt and Green Belt) that you can use to start studying now. There are many books and websites available – one good basic book that I have is: Six Sigma for the Shop Floor published by ASQ. It is relatively inexpensive as Six Sigma books go and it covers all of the basics and talks about how to use the tools (versus just what the tools are). You should try putting together a couple of Six Sigma projects on your own at your company so you can use them toward your certification.
There is a lot more to all this, but hopefully this will get you started.
I am 53 years old and retired.
I acquired a six sigma black belt certification when I worked for GE. At that time, once you get your black belt, you are almost automatically given a management position and a large increase. Let’s me empahize again that I am 53 years old and have been retired for 3 years so there are lots of value to that belt.
However, I would have to say that small companies (having worked there between my 48th and 50th B-day) are just not the right place for a black belt despite of whatever upper management said. Small companies have more things to worry about usually than making improvement to their process plus the resources are usually just not there. There is usually also a lack of knowledge on what six sigma really is so it is really difficult to implement change.
As you might have noticed, working at a small company was the key factor that convince me to actually retire….there really was just no reason to torture myself when the money is not needed anymore at that point.
Lets cover the site you have found first: I would suggest that you check out the blogs on ISixSigma to see what others have said about this group.
Another good source of Six Sigma information is the American Society for Quality ASQ. And two free magazines that will list various sources of training include the Quality Digest and the Quality Magazine.
Now the second issue – online training. You have heard that you get what you pay for. Well, that is not exactly true in Six Sigma training (either online or face-to-face). Many of the programs out there will lead you through some very basic information and at the end may give you a test or other form of an exam and say that you are “certified”. However, few of those programs are recognized as worth much on the open job market and especially in looking for your first job. Many employers simply will not recognize most of the so-called “certifications” out there. So please be vary careful before you buy anything!
OK then – what might be the alternative!
What I usually suggest is that you do a self study of the material and then take the ASQ certification exam (either green belt or black belt) as these exams are internationally recognized and will mean something to any perspective employer whom you might interview with.
Start by calling the ASQ at 800-248-1946 and ask if there is a Section/Chapter near where you live or where your school is located. Get the local contact information and go to some of their meetings. Many Sections have refresher courses for the exams that could also assist you and cost a lot less than the quoted price you are looking at.
You can also use the Internet (especially the http://www.usa.gov
search function) to find any number of examples that will help teach you about the process.
Now, in your case, you also have an excellent opportunity given that you have a co-op assignment this summer. Ask you employer if you can work on (at least a green belt) six sigma project while you are working there. Go for two or three if you can. This will give you actual practical experience for both the ASQ exam as well as something to talk about with a future employer.
Time – if you really get into this and use the co-op to run a project or two, a couple of months should do you to have at least the basics. Depending on what classes you have already taken in your BSME program, it could be shorter.
Cost is up to you – ASQ will charge a fee for the exam and if you take a refresher class from an ASQ Section that will cost a little as well, however, you are still looking at something below $800 max depending on what books you might buy. Try eBay or Amazon for some good discounts.
One book you might start with is one that I use in training – Six Sigma for the Shop Floor (there are also versions for the office and a new one for the healthcare industry by the same author) all published by the ASQ Quality Press – http://www.asq.org/quality-press/display-item/index.html?item=H1114&xvl=76BK_H1114. Any one of these would be a very good introduction to Six Sigma and give you some grounding in what is going on with all of the “tools” that are used in Six Sigma.
So for my money – skip the online training in favor of some good out self-study. You should be able to learn a lot more and if you create a network through the local ASQ, you may even find some lead for future jobs with people out there who actually use this stuff.
Good Luck.
What is the value of a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification?
I am currently working on becoming Six Sigma Black belt certified. I have over 10 years experience in marketing and sales at an executive level in a small company. I started my career with a Multi-national where I was heavily involved in Six Sigma. Can anybody tell me what value corporate America put on a Six Sigma Black Belt Certification?
Thank you Supasuc. I am actually hoping that the Black belt will help me to elevate my career out of the small business setting and back into a the Multinational environment where I started my career. Once I get my certification I will target larger companies in my career search.
What’s the fastest way to get Six Sigma Black Belt certified?
Six Sigma Black Belt: Cheapest place to get certified and how long did it take you?
Looking at doing this over the internet. I have been looking at sixsigmaonline.org where it is 1095 right now including the text book. If you have done this how long did it take you and how are the benefits of this course? I graduate in Dec. of 2009 with a BSME and I am off school this summer for a co-op and I am thinking of completing this course over a 4month time period.
are the six sigma black belt courses hard?
i want to get certified in six sigma black belt and i was wondering are the course and the certification test hard I have a 4 year background in quality control.