Six Sigma Green Belt Exam Prep

Hours: 130 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Mentor Supported

Course Overview:

Six Sigma is a rigorous, focused, and highly effective implementation of proven quality principles and techniques, which aims for virtually error-free business performance. Students in this course will develop an understanding of how to perform and interpret Six Sigma tools and how to use standard principles of Lean.

Students will learn project management and will define the metrics needed for validating data and evaluating project success. Key topics of this course include Six Sigma goals, project management, project selection, and project execution.

Students will:

• Comprehend the fundamentals of what is included in a Six Sigma organization
• Learn, apply, and capitalize on opportunities that a business may experience
• Understand the importance of strategic planning and the concept of Constraint Theory
• Explain various types of data that can be used to make informed management decisions
• Determine the best options to maximize risk
• Educate oneself on the phases that make up the Six Sigma process
• Interpret and apply various measurements and techniques in making educated and strategic business decisions
• Review Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which can lead to successful business outcomes

This course prepares students to take the IASSC Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt national certification exams.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Building the Responsive Six Sigma Organization

Six Sigma is a rigorous, focused, and highly effective implementation of proven quality principles and techniques. Incorporating elements from the work of many quality pioneers, Six Sigma aims for virtually error-free business performance. In this lesson, we will introduce the Six System Organization.

Lesson 2: Recognizing and Capitalizing on Opportunity

The second lesson of the course describes the organizational mechanisms required to recognize the key stakeholder needs, which provide opportunities for organizational growth and, in some cases, survival. This chapter describes a number of approaches for gathering customer input on their value definition. It then explores other means of identifying opportunities, including quantifying costs of poor quality, benchmarking best practices, and innovation.

Lesson 3: Data-Driven Management

In this lesson, we will develop an understanding of how data-driven management provides a means of achieving organizational objectives by quantifying the needs or wants of stakeholder groups relative to current baselines and acting upon the data to reduce those critical gaps in performance.

Lesson 4: Maximizing Resources

This lesson addresses Six Sigma project selection and the management support activities related to project success. Topics will include goals, project management, project selection, and project execution. One thing that students should pay particular attention to with this lesson is the concept of the Balanced Scorecard as this is a critical component of Six Sigma.

Lesson 5: Project Management Using DMAIC and DMADV

In this lesson, we will discuss and develop an understanding of the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control model and the Define-Measure-Analyze-Design-Verify model by examining the aspects of each as well as comparing and contrasting the two.

Lesson 6: The Define Phase

In this lesson, we will discuss the key objectives within the Define phase. These include developing the Project Charter, scope, objectives, and schedule to start. Next, processes (at a top-level) and their stakeholders immediately follows. Selecting team members and obtaining authorization from the project sponsor(s) comes thereafter. Conclusively, this lesson will talk about how to effectively assemble and train the team that will be working on the project.

Lesson 7: The Measure Phase

In this lesson, we will discuss the objectives of the Measure stage. The process definition begins this lesson in which the goal of this task is to ensure the specific process under investigation is clearly defined. From there, the metric definition - one which is a reliable means of measuring the process relative to the project deliverables, continues the lesson forward. Thirdly, one must establish the process baseline once these definitions have been defined. This must be done in order to quantify the current operating results as a means of verifying previously defined business needs and to properly substantiate improvement results. Finally, the Measure Phase concludes with evaluating the measurement systems in place. This is important to validate the reliability of data and to draw meaningful conclusions from before moving further into a project.

Lesson 8: Process Behavior Charts

In this lesson, we will discuss various topics related to behavior charts, including distribution, control charts for variable data and attributes data, control chart selection and organization, short-run statistical process control, SPC techniques, and process capability indices.

Lesson 9: Measurement Systems Evaluation

A good measurement system possesses certain properties. First, it should produce a number that is “close” to the actual property being measured.  Second, if the measurement system is applied repeatedly to the same object, the measurements produced should be close to one another.  Third, the measurement system should be able to produce accurate and consistent results over the entire range of concern.  Fourth, the measurement system should produce the same results when used by any properly trained individual.  Finally, when applied to the same items the measurement system should produce the same results in the future as it did in the past.

Lesson 10: Analyze Phase

In this lesson, we will develop an understanding of the key objectives of the Analyze phase. For existing processes, analyze the value stream to identify ways to eliminate the gap between the current performance and the desired performance. Analyzing the sources of variation that contribute to the gap (for DMAIC) or that will contribute to the design performance (for DMADV) is the next topic up for review here. Determining the drivers, the little x’s that correlate to the customer requirements (CFQ, CFS, CFC) and significantly influence the processor design, is the third topic up for review here. Finally, using benchmarking techniques described in Chapter 3 to evaluate best in class or similar products or services concludes the analysis phase and this lesson.

Lesson 11: The Improve/Design Phase

The primary objective of the Improve or Design stage of DMAIC/DMADV is to implement the new system. The first consideration is to prioritize the various opportunities if more than one proposal exists. Once a preferred approach has been determined, the new process or product design is defined and optimal settings established. This new design can then be evaluated for risks and potential failure modes.

Lesson 12: Control/Verify Phase

In this lesson, we will discuss the main objectives of the Control/Verify stage of the Six Sigma process. This includes statistically validating that the new process or design and concluding whether or not it meets the objectives and benefits sought through the project up to that point in time. Developing and implement a control plan to institutionalize the new process or design is the net result of a project being validated. Documentation of lessons learned and project findings, as discussed in the “Tracking Six Sigma Project Results” section of Lesson 4 concludes this phase of the cycle.

All necessary course materials are included.

Certification(s):

This course prepares students to take the IASSC Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or the ASQ Six Sigma Green Belt national certification exams.

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

• Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

• Windows 7 or higher.
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions
  

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.