Six Sigma Green Belt

By Author: John Asher
Total Articles: 18
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The Six Sigma Green Belt acts in supporting a Six Sigma Black Belt or under his or her guidance, analyzes and solves quality problems, assesses efficient solutions and leads or is part of quality improvement initiatives.

"Six Sigma is first, a statistical measurement, second, a business strategy, and third, a philosophy," says Mikel Harry, Ph.D.

A Green Belt is typically a person with significant work experience aiming to manifest his or her ability of using advanced quality tools and processes. Six Sigma Green Belt projects are typically based on DMAIC or DMADV methodology in problem solving. (Define/Measure/Analyze/Improve/Control existing products or processes and Define/Measure/Analyze/Design/Verify new products or processes).

This ensures a robust, well-structured and well planned strategy to tackle issues inhabiting numerous types of operations. From manufacturing to logistics, from restaurant industry to cleaning industry, its area of employment is as vast as the global business diversity. The back-bone of the projects is recognizing the key drivers for the business (profit, market share, customer ...
... satisfaction, efficiency, product differentiation etc.) and how key metrics and scorecards are defined and impact the entire organization.

No Six Sigma project can exist without these drivers meant to certify where the problem is, what the scale of the problem is, how far from the goal the business is performing and when the process is stable. In the end, it is all a matter of statistically demonstrating the progress from state A (issue exists) to state B (resolution confirmed).

At a 'microscopic' level, it addresses defects and the Six Sigma level by definition is a process that contains as little as 3.4 defects per million opportunities. Six Sigma methodologies incorporates a system that has revolutionized the car manufacturing industry decades ago, when human creativity and market needs leaped the processes from Mass Production to, now called, Lean Production.

The Lean Operating System is patterned after the Toyota Production System (TPS) and it is more than just a set of tools, it is a comprehensive way of thinking and running the entire business. Focusing on the customer instead of the product, operating in a single piece flow rather than in batch & queue, its overall aim is to eliminate waste and add value, something that the customer would be willing to pay for.

Picture the Lean Operating System as a house where as foundation there are predictable and stable processes, as pillars you have JIT and JIDOKA concepts and the roof is composed of elements of Highest Quality, Highest Safety and Lowest Cost. All it's left is to fill the house with flexible, open minded and motivated employees continuously seeking a better way.

All Six Sigma belts, whether it is six sigma green belt, Black Belt or even Master Black Belt are acknowledged and recognized through certification processes. There are numerous specialized companies that offer training and certifications and also there are many large companies that have assimilated this methodology in their internal Quality Structure and Staff.

This enables an easy deployment of tools and controls, defining new processes or products in harmony with the Six Sigma exigencies and, in the end, making the difference on the market. Six sigma and lean manufacturing have long been recognized by leading corporates as two disciplines ensuring the best business practices.

The author of this article is associated with BPR Associates, a reputed distance learning group involved in giving best practice online education training to professionals in the service and manufacturing industry. BPR’s online education courses like Lean Six Sigma Training and Lean Manufacturing Training, teach the best practices in fundamental corporate disciplines. Their distance learning courses like the six sigma black belt are one of the most cost effective ways of training employees today.