Black Belt Training - My current BB journey

Casana

Blueberry Nut
#21
LOL! thanks for being curious...

Yes, I left the company about 6 weeks after I posted that comment. A few months later half of the company got sold, and from what I hear nobody was ever able to use their black belt training effectively. Personally I forgot it all, or so it feels at least. Feels like a lifetime ago...

The job I took afterwards is still in the quality field, with much nicer and more stable company and industry. Funny thing is that at this new company we're now starting to get into the six sigma bandwagon, and I'll probably be taking Green Belt training :mg: in a few months. At least here they are managing it more effectively, by dedicating adequate resources to the whole process and having clearer goals.

-Ana
 
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D

Denis

#22
It's almost a case of "use it, or lose it".

I too had the BB training - but a change of company and a culture of firefighting had dulled my six sigma skills.

I know it's often said - but for 6 sigma to work there needs to be top level committment, a heirachy of continuous improvement structure and a willingness to change. This change applies to all layers of the organisation.

I've found senior managers don't mind change - as long as it's not them.

Still I'm committed to 6 sigma - I just need to find the right company.
 
K

km214

#23
I am presently taking Morestream's six sigma black belt training and am more than 60% complete..(on-line training gives one 365 days to complete the course...I have been enrolled since March and the only time I spend on it is my down time at work. I am also attending College to complete my degree (nights at home -Univ of PHX on-line)

After taking a good deal of stats my first stint in college and being in the quality field for more than 5 years and in labs before, I found that six sigma is a very comprehesivepackage of (yes basic) quality tools from a basic fishbone diagram to FMEA, histograms, paretos, etc to show the effectiveness of the process improvements.

I find six sigma is a "buzz" word in the quality arena and with sucesses like those at GE and Motorola, many companies are putting their efforts into this quality program. I would never see this as a waste of time as it is a valuable skill when seeking employment within the quality field. Those of us who possess SS BB are becoming a hot commodity.

The way SS is structured it makes process improvement easy for the average joe to comprehend...although those of us in Quality have utilized these tools for years, it gives us a "pretty" way to present all the tools we know.

Just my 2 cents:agree1:
 
P

peterj

#24
Im taking 6 Sigma Black Belt training through XLP and so far I like it. We just finished week 2. Some things about the projects are a little ambiguous, but it really depends on what you have to work with. Im sure that so many firms provide the training because theres good money in it, but if you and your company are 100% committed, then it's time well spent.

I would say that for most people, the green belt training is sufficient. It allows for a general understanding of the concepts and to evaluate whether or not you should go all out. In my opinion, this course is good for upper management to learn what they are/are not getting into.

One thing I'm 100% sure of is, if the upper management in your company "don't get" 6 Sigma, or arent fully comitted for the long haul, then they are wasting their money by sending you. For you however, it would be an opportunity to learn some pretty neat tools/concepts that you can take elsewhere.
 

CalRich

Involved In Discussions
#25
peterj said:
One thing I'm 100% sure of is, if the upper management in your company "don't get" 6 Sigma, or arent fully comitted for the long haul, then they are wasting their money by sending you. For you however, it would be an opportunity to learn some pretty neat tools/concepts that you can take elsewhere.
I agree with you 100%. We had 16 people take a 15 day course to become SSBB, including me. All of these people have got their hands full with the normal everyday things. I've got a nice certificate on the wall, but I've not been able to do anything with it much since then. Our certification capstone projects saved the company money, and we presented to all the big chiefs of the company. But I don't see the commitment. (Thus, no journey... more like a walk in the park.)
 

Bev D

Heretical Statistician
Staff member
Super Moderator
#26
CalRich said:
I agree with you 100%. We had 16 people take a 15 day course to become SSBB, including me. All of these people have got their hands full with the normal everyday things. I've got a nice certificate on the wall, but I've not been able to do anything with it much since then. Our certification capstone projects saved the company money, and we presented to all the big chiefs of the company. But I don't see the commitment. (Thus, no journey... more like a walk in the park.)
That's too bad - but it see it frequently in many organizations...:(

Your company is really missing out. It's just like those companies who 'do' ISO just so they can get the certificate on the wall and say they did it.

In my own organization the great majority of my black belts and lean belts keep 'doing it' long after they get certified. It has become a valuable way of life for us now - I can't keep up with the requests for training at this point!

I'm sorry it didn't stick for you.
 
R

ralphsulser

#27
Bev, I think it is great you are training black belts at your company. However, when I looked at your profile it states your company size is 125 people. How many BBs do you have and what types of projects have they been successfull at improving? I'm curious what other small companies are doing because we may be going down that road in a few months. We have 300 employees, about half of which are involved in automotive.
 

Bev D

Heretical Statistician
Staff member
Super Moderator
#28
oh - sorry. I haven't updated my profile in awhile I guess. I'm currently at a company with 3000 employees worldwide. 1500 in my home site where most manufacturing and design are done.

We actually use my own training materiasl developed over the years with specific examples from this company to make the use of the tools ,ore 'interestign' to the students.

We train 4 weeks for BB and 2 weeks for Lean Belt (includes 'light' six sigma - less statistics and more focus on solving business problesm and error based problems)

Our belts are not full time - they spend 30-50% of their time on their 2 projects.
To become certified they must successfully complete 2 projects - adn I have very high standards for goals set: we want to see 50-95% improvement. although as a project progresses, we may adjust this downward if we discover multiple failure modes or causal systems...I also require that the belt demonstrate knowledge of the tools adn methods and that they are applying them in their 'everyday' life before I certify.

I (and now my MBB in training) provide personal mentoring to each belt on both of their projects - OJT is the only way to make the classroom stuff real and to make it stick.

We also don't worry about cost savings (a CRITICAL element by the way. Galvin at Motorola NEVER asked for cost reductions in the initial quality impeovemtn prgram that evolved into six sigma - he only required phenomonal improvement rates in quality. Once you start putting cost first - you're lost; if you go after quality and cycle time (Lean) the money will come.) I have been blessed with CEOs that understand this and when I haven't - I've left.

I have successfully done this in small companies of your size (between 100-200 employees)

my approach: since I bring my own training materials (and I trained with the best and have deleted the ones who were worthless from my memory) I will have to extrapolate: either hire someone with extensive experience doing it and treaching it. they will be your Master BB who can train the others. and by extensive I mean 50+ projects and they can teach and mentor. IF you can't find someone like that hire a GOOD consultant and then take the person who seems to have an affinity for it and send them out for even more training.
I would recommend: Shainin or John Allen. or Keki Bhote. they won't do it all for you - but they'll start you down the right path.
 
D

David Bear - 2010

#29
I'm curious. Can you obtain the ASQ SSBB certification without a SS champion in your company? I work for a very large/quality oriented company, but they don't do SS.

I have switched from Manufacturing Engineering to a Quality position. I am interested in obtaining certifications because (1) I need a good review of Quality tools and (2) they won't hurt my resume if I would ever need to use them. You never know about that last part in today's economy.:thanx:
 

Wes Bucey

Quite Involved in Discussions
#30
I'm curious. Can you obtain the ASQ SSBB certification without a SS champion in your company? I work for a very large/quality oriented company, but they don't do SS.

I have switched from Manufacturing Engineering to a Quality position. I am interested in obtaining certifications because (1) I need a good review of Quality tools and (2) they won't hurt my resume if I would ever need to use them. You never know about that last part in today's economy.:thanx:
The quick and dirty answer is "Yes!" However, you should ONLY trust an answer from the ASQ staffers dealing with certification. Download and read ALL the materials associated with certification of your choice, especially the details about the prerequisites in the application for a project.

ASQ links were given in this post (http://elsmar.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=161265#post161265)
 
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