Six Sigma

Lean Six Sigma Black belt training

Home About us Contact Index

The root of both Lean and Six Sigma reach back to the time when the greatest pressure for quality and speed were on manufacturing. Lean rose as a method for optimizing automotive manufacturing; Six Sigma evolved as a quality initiative to eliminate defects by reducing variation in processes in the semiconductor industry. It is not surprising that the earliest adopters of Lean Six Sigma arose in the service support functions of manufacturing organizations like GE Capital, Caterpillar Finance, and Lockheed Martin.

Lean Six Sigma for services is a business improvement methodology that maximizes shareholder value by achieving the fastest rate of improvement in customer satisfaction, cost, quality, process speed, and invested capital.

The fusion of Lean and Six Sigma improvement methods is required because: - Lean cannot bring a process under statistical control - Six Sigma alone cannot dramatically improve process speed or reduce invested capital - Both enable the reduction of the cost of complexity

Ironically, Six Sigma and Lean have often been regarded as rival initiatives. Lean enthusiasts note that Six Sigma pays little attention to anything related to speed and flow, while Six Sigma supporters point out that Lean fails to address key concepts like customer needs and variation. Both sides are right. Yet these arguments are more often used to advocate choosing one over the other, rather than to support the more logical conclusion that we blend Lean and Six Sigma.

What sets Lean Six Sigma apart from its individual components is the recognition that you cannot do "just quality" or "just speed," you need the balanced process that can help an organization to focus on improving service quality, as defined by the customer within a set time limit.

Steven Bonacorsi is a Senior Master Black Belt instructor and coach. Steven Bonacorsi has trained hundreds of Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, and Project Sponsors and Excutive Leaders in Lean Six Sigma DMAIC and Design for Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodologies.

Bonacorsi Consulting, LLC.
Steven Bonacorsi, President
Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt
14 Clinton Street
Salem NH 03079
sbonacorsi@comcast.net
603-401-7047
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/624/6b5

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_Bonacorsi
http://EzineArticles.com/?Lean-Six-Sigma&id=772259

Six Sigma Black belt training

One of the key innovations of Six Sigma is the professionalizing of quality management functions. Prior to Six Sigma, Quality Management in practice was largely relegated to the production floor and to statisticians in a separate quality department. Six Sigma borrows martial arts ranking terminology to define a hierarchy (and career path) that cuts across all business functions and a promotion path straight into the executive suite.

Six Sigma identifies several key roles for its successful implementation.

Executive Leadership includes CEO and other key top management team members. They are responsible for setting up a vision for Six Sigma implementation. They also empower the other role holders with the freedom and resources to explore new ideas for breakthrough improvements.
Champions are responsible for the Six Sigma implementation across the organization in an integrated manner. The Executive Leadership draws them from the upper management. Champions also act as mentors to Black Belts. At GE this level of certification is now called "Quality Leader".
Master Black Belts, identified by champions, act as in-house expert coaches for the organization on Six Sigma. They devote 100% of their time to Six Sigma. They assist champions and guide Black Belts and Green Belts. Apart from the usual rigor of statistics, their time is spent on ensuring integrated deployment of Six Sigma across various functions and departments.
Experts This level of skill is used primarily within Aerospace and Defense Business Sectors. Experts work across company boundaries, improving services, processes, and products for their suppliers, their entire campuses, and for their customers. Raytheon Incorporated was one of the first companies to introduce Experts to their organizations. At Raytheon, Experts work not only across multiple sites, but across business divisions, incorporating lessons learned throughout the company.[citation needed]
Black Belts operate under Master Black Belts to apply Six Sigma methodology to specific projects. They devote 100% of their time to Six Sigma. They primarily focus on Six Sigma project execution, whereas Champions and Master Black Belts focus on identifying projects/functions for Six Sigma.
Green Belts are the employees who take up Six Sigma implementation along with their other job responsibilities. They operate under the guidance of Black Belts and support them in achieving the overall results.
Yellow Belts are employees who have been trained in Six Sigma techniques as part of a corporate-wide initiative, but have not completed a Six Sigma project and are not expected to actively engage in quality improvement activities.
In many recent programs, Green Belts and Black Belts are empowered to initiate, expand, and lead projects in their area of responsibility. The roles as defined above, therefore, conform to the older Mikel Harry/Richard Schroeder model, which is not universally accepted.

Home > Work > Six Sigma