Anyone know what a Six Sigma Green Belt Certification is?

[GhostTX]

Six Sigma, done right, applied to manufacturing and engineering really works. The idea is to design a part or process, to function in 99.7% of the time. Basically, you evaluate a process or part, identify the settings that work "right" through statistical analysis, then design/produce it in a way that the tolerances are six standard deviations (±3σ) from the mean; hence Six Sigma. So any part produce in that envelope will work with any other part with great efficiency.

Problem is, "they" think it can be applied to anything and gets lost in the clutter. IMO, it's become more of management buzzword.

[JasonRR]

Well said.

I got my Black Belt certification 2yrs ago, but haven't applied the techniques to my job since finishing the projects for my belt. If the whole company doesn't subscribe to the process, it's an uphill battle.

[stinginstang]

It's got nothing to do with eliminating jobs.

d.

it happens at almost every company that employs it.

[JasonRR]

Well said.

I got my Black Belt certification 2yrs ago, but haven't applied the techniques to my job since finishing the projects for my belt. If the whole company doesn't subscribe to the process, it's an uphill battle.

They may find ways to better control a process and eliminate a head count, sure, but Six Sigma is about using different data analysis tools to make better business decisions. And yeah, sometimes that means people might get fired.

[stinginstang]

They may find ways to better control a process and eliminate a head count, sure, but Six Sigma is about using different data analysis tools to make better business decisions. And yeah, sometimes that means people might get fired.

doesn't it mean that you cut 20% every year?

[GhostTX]

doesn't it mean that you cut 20% every year?

Not necessarily. Maybe it allows you to produce more with less scrap. Or just generate less scrap in general.

I get what you're saying though, if you become more efficient, is it enough to layoff a person? Or, is it enough to allow another person to do another job to make somewhere else more efficient?

All depends on the targets.

[slow84lx]

I've been a Lean Green Belt for the last 3 years. All of our managers went through the training. The whole company bought into it and the Good to Great strategies. I can tell you from my personal experience that it does work and can make a huge difference in how well different departments in the company function together as a team. I'll take this over how the company used to function any day of the week and the rest of the company agrees with that. There are a few people that don't buy in but most of those have moved on one way or another. The people who remain have a positive can do attitude and get stuff done efficiently.

I will agree with some of the comments made of all of the analyzation and meetings. They can go overboard especially when everyone is new to the concepts and gung ho but common sense always wins out in the end.

[94form2000z]

I worked for GE for a number of years. I had all of the Green Belt training and passed the test but to get the actual certification you ha to participate in a green belt project. A month after I passed the test we started using Lean Six Sigma and all Green Belt projects were suspended. So I am trained and tested, but do not officially have the certification.

Same here. Never found or got to participate in a project within the allotted time frame.

So I think they call us yellow belts.. lol

[46Tbird]

I worked for a company that went through all the Six Sigma shit. It was ridiculous. They sent managers off for these month-long courses, then they came back and pissed everyone off with that garbage, and they were all fired within a year. Great success.


My company just implemented a Guiding Principles policy. It's free. And, so far so good. Management is holding everyone to them so it's becoming a real part of the culture.

 Maintain a professional attitude
o Demonstrate truth and honesty at all times.
o Use Conflict Resolution Process below immediately upon your affections about someone else at ******** being anything other than joyful. If the heart attitude is not right, then conflict exists.
o Treat others as part of the team.
o Keep open mind to the opinions of others.
o Keep discussions focused on business; do not take it as a personal attack when someone offers constructive feedback.
o Follow the process or seek to change it.

 Deliver value and build a strong, productive work team
”It amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”– Harry S. Truman
o Own any problems initially reported to you until they are resolved.
o Focus on root causes and fixes, not secondary or tertiary symptoms.
o Display a passion for customer service and partnership.
o Execute tactically, think strategically.
o Help build a strong team: Seek to elevate and promote others, don’t tear them down or engage in blame-shifting or personal attacks.
o Understand that we succeed *only* when the entire team succeeds!
o Get on the bus! Embrace the values and objectives of ********!
o Apply these guidelines and help others to do the same, regardless of role.

 Meet time commitments
o Attend meetings you accepted or contact the chair in advance.
o Arrive on time for meetings.
o Provide deliverables as and when committed.

 Communicate!
o Communicate status frequently. Don’t wait to be asked for it.
o Good news and bad news are equally important. Communicate both to the appropriate people as soon as it makes sense to do so.
o Respond to voicemail, email, meeting requests the same day if possible.

 Resolve Conflicts and Problems the Same Day
o Do not engage in destructive gossip or triangulation (involving a 3rd party unnecessarily).
o Conflict Resolution Process:
• Initiate same day contact.
• Attempt to resolve the conflict with the person in private.
• If no resolution occurs, meet again with them but bring one or two of your peers to serve as witnesses/mediators.
• Confirm the facts in that meeting and work toward a resolution.
• If no resolution occurs, bring the issue up to management.
• As a team, agree upon the truth and the appropriate options to deal with the disagreement.
• Once team has agreed on a solution, drop it even if you don’t agree.
• Harbor no bitterness about the decision that was made.
• Use ******** management as the court of final appeals only if necessary.

[Skidmark]

It's a management cert. You can go all the way upto black belt I believe. Our company used to have it, now we use ITIL.

Mine moved to ITIL also. I think the only thing that comes in handy is the RACI chart. "Sorry I'm just informed on this!"

Need any Incident or Configuration folks?

[Mach1Run]

No it is retarded. They analyze a product or process, implement numbers and statistics to it, force unrealistic goals and concepts on the process and you come out with a cluster fuck.

But it looks great on a resume within our company.

yea that about sums it up. seems like everytime time a 6S program gets implemented my job gets a bit more difficult but the higher ups get to slap each other on the back and give each other atta boys.

[fastwhite99gt]

They do this crap at the depot I work at and it has totally screwed things up. If you have multiple vendors to get parts from, it's not as bad, but when there is only one manufacturer for a part, you can't just drop them and order somewhere else. They want us to only keep enough parts for like 2 days, but if Kuwait calls for parts that we have ordered, they get priority. Without more of a backlog of parts, we are dead in the water and getting bitched at for no production. We are also not doing the same repairs to each vehicle, we are fixing battle damage, not building new ones. It's hard to know what parts will be needed when they are all different.