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Program Description:

Six Sigma has been in use for decades and its impact can be far-reaching with significant financial gains as evidenced by companies such as General Electric and Xerox. While the origins and initial use of these methodologies and tools are in manufacturing and date back to the post WWII industrial boom, they have gained a strong foothold across all industry sectors in recent years as well as increased usage across all functional areas within those companies adopting a continuous improvement culture.

Six Sigma is a strategic approach to implementing quality, process and business improvement through the use of statistical and other analytic tools. The ASU Six Sigma Black Certificate program is an in-depth examination of these tools as applied to the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control (DMAIC) methodology; a customer-focused, fact and data-driven methodology that guides continuous improvement and operations excellence.

The ASU Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate program is 100% ONLINE. It is a combination of coursework, consisting of lectures, quizzes, and topic exams, and an applied project, and is intended for experienced Six Sigma practitioners. Participants will complete the program in a cohort format with a defined start and completion date for the training portion, during which time they will begin a Black Belt project. Each cohort has a highly experienced and credentialed Facilitator to coach participants through their project. The final project report is due 60 days after completion of the training.

Program Topics:

The Six Sigma Black Belt program covers the topics below:

• Basic design of experiments and analysis of the data
• Advanced quality control, using control charts and special applications such as multiple stream processes
• Regression analysis and model building, focusing on empirical models for relating an observed response to one or more predictor or regressor variables
• Six Sigma process improvement strategy
• Project selection and management, team facilitation/leadership, and an introduction to design for six sigma and lean principles

Learning Outcomes:

A Six Sigma Black Belt is a full-time, highly trained continuous improvement professional often responsible for leading problem-solving projects, conducting Six Sigma and other continuous improvement trainings, and coaching project teams.

In completing this course participants will gain:

• A deep understanding of the Six Sigma concept and the “process improvement triad”
• The ability to apply the DMAIC approach to improvement projects
• The ability to apply DFSS and lean product development concepts to product/process design projects
• The ability to apply appropriate analytical, statistical, and lean methods throughout DMAIC and DFSS projects
• An in-depth understanding of the differences in the application of Six Sigma techniques to manufacturing and service industries, as well as business and support processes
• Fundamental knowledge on how to plan, design and conduct experiments efficiently and effectively, and analyze the resulting data to obtain objective conclusions
• An understanding of the concepts, operation, and role of quality control techniques
• An understanding of parametric and nonparametric regression models
• In-depth experience with applying statistical software tools
• A completed Six Sigma Black Belt project

Earning a Certificate:

To earn the Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate participants are required to complete the online quizzes and receive a cumulative score of at least 70%, and execute an applied Six Sigma project. A project report template is provided as well as personalized coaching by an experienced course facilitator. The course is structured according to the Six Sigma “DMAIC” methodology and project status updates, or Tollgates, are scheduled throughout to assist in proper execution of the project. The final project report is due 60 days after the end of instruction.

With the completion of this course, participants receive a certification as a Six Sigma Black Belt from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and qualify for Continuing Education Units (CEU) and Professional Development Units (PDU) from Arizona State University.

Note: It is recommended that the project be based on your workplace, however if unemployed or unable to identify a workplace-based project alternatives exist such as completing a project on a non-profit organization or other association you are/would like to be affiliated with. Additionally, many have found success in offering a target company, such as one you hope to be employed by in the future, the opportunity to have a Six Sigma project completed. Please feel free to contact us for further ideas and support if needed.

Who Should Enroll

The program is aimed at directors, managers, supervisors and others who have responsibility for leading strategic projects in their organization.

Pre-requisites

The program requires participants to have following background:

• One previous course in statistics within the last five years or a concurrent working knowledge of statistical methods
• Proficient in computing and interpreting the sample mean and standard deviation; previous exposure to the normal distribution; familiarity with concepts of testing hypotheses such as the t-test
• Constructing and interpreting a confidence interval, model-fitting using the method of least squares, and some familiarity with matrix algebra
• Six Sigma Green Belt certification or training