Six Sigma is a very specific quality improvement process, with highly governed standards. The roles of the individuals within the process infrastructure is not always so defined – and it’s hard for companies to clearly determine what exactly to expect from the Six Sigma Green Belts, Black Belts, etc.

Six Sigma Black Belts work full-time on Six Sigma within an organisation, running the process and any projects that need full-time focus. The Green Belt often has other responsibilities outside of the Six Sigma framework, but runs individual Six Sigma projects – reporting to the Black Belt.

The Role of the Six Sigma Green Belt

A Green Belt has trained knowledge of Six Sigma methodology, but their role is to run individual projects on behalf of the Black Belt. They are the ones to implement the process, collect data and problem-solve. The Green Belt may lead smaller groups within the project team and provide some lower level management.

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training is the first step to learning Six Sigma theory and techniques. We offer a full Black Belt Training Package that covers both the Green Belt training and the Black Belt conversion course.

Specific criteria and responsibilities demanded by companies of their Six Sigma-trained employees can vary, as we mentioned last week in our post about what a Six Sigma Black Belt needs to know. The overall knowledge, skills and attributes demanded of a Six-Sigma Green Belt will always involve the following: Read the rest of "What Does A Six Sigma Green Belt Need To Know?"

The recent standards for Six Sigma Methodology published by ISO could prove to be the making of Six Sigma, making it a more united discipline and more accessible to companies worldwide.

Although Six Sigma has been around since 1986, when it was developed by Motorola to improve their manufacturing processes, it has never yet been given an international standard to work towards. In spite of this, it has gained respect from many organisations for its ability to address chronic business issues, making for a better and more efficient long-term business plans.

Nonetheless, now that ISO, the international standard for organisation – which publishes a range of standards for organisations to work towards, from health and safety to quality of product – has created a standard for all Six Sigma practitioners to work towards, there are going to be some excellent changes in the attitude to the practise, both on the part of the practitioners and on the part of the customers. The existence of a standard will make it simpler for every practitioner to know what is expected of them, and to make the necessary changes to improve their practise if need be.

This standard comes in two parts – ‘Part 1: DMAIC Methodology’ and ‘Part 2: Tools and Techniques’. Read the rest of "Six Sigma Methodology Published by ISO"

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control), is at the core of Six Sigma training.

We’ll try and put the DMAIC methodology as succinctly as we can here  –  as applying it to some  projects can be very complex.

If you are taking Six Sigma Training soon than make sure you read this article: Why does some Six Sigma Training Fail?

The example is sitting an exam – something most of us have done at some point in our lives.

Here’s how DMAIC could apply to sitting an exam:

Define

Whenever we sit exams, we need to know what we want to get from them. So, we need to ask ourselves what grades/levels we need to get. For example, we may need to define to ourselves: “I need to pass this exam, so that I can have an extra qualification to add to my CV and improve my standing in the workplace. To pass, I need 60%”.

A brief definition of this goal can be laid out as “I need 60% in this exam”.

Measure

The second step is to measure our performance, as shown by previous results in practice papers. Evidently if we have taken more than one practise paper we probably have slightly different results. In this case we need to take a baseline of our current results by averaging the practise papers to see where we generally stand.

Once we have taken the baseline measurement of our performance, we can summarise where we stand. For example, we might be able to say “I am currently achieving an average of 47%, and need to achieve 60% or higher”.

Read the rest of "An Everyday example of DMAIC"