Understanding Six Sigma Black Belt Information

The Black Belt is at the top of the Six Sigma Professionals when it comes to the knowledge base they’ve learned and have been certified in.  Black Belts practice daily leadership skills, leading teams and creating ways for employees in a company to work together to implement plans and strategies.  

It is important that someone at the Six Sigma Black Belt certification level have expertise in designing, developing and running team projects, as well as using the DMADV method of designing new products and services.  Black Belts and Master Black Belts train the lower level belts, showing them exactly what processes they need to know and making sure they are giving their trainees all the information they need to be successful.  The lower belts that they train and work with are green, yellow and (sometimes) white, although there is much debate to whether or not the white belt is an actual acknowledged certification within the six sigma community.  

Black belts take complete responsibility for the smooth execution of the plans and projects they have been assigned.  They will work with various teams and train others to be leaders of teams, as well.  It is wise for someone in this position of leadership to be extremely qualified, with experience and expertise in human behavior and psychology as well as having a good grasp of change management.  Teams that have good leaders will produce the best results. They will understand the team members in a way that allows them to decide how to best use their skills and talents in the workplace.  The skill of good delegation of responsibility is essential to the leadership role.

As leaders, Black Belts will need excellent skills with communication.  They will know how to teach the Six Sigma methodology well and create teams that finish projects on time, producing excellent results every time.  The green belts are the second level and will work as assistants to the black belts when they are not leading their own teams.  Green Belts are in charge of most of the actual number crunching and 6 sigma statistics within an organization.  Some projects will require the expertise of a black belt, while others will not be quite as intense and can be trusted to someone with the experience and understanding that a green belt will have.   Green belts will analyze and collect data for the higher belts, executives and champions.

Black belts will also be assisted on projects by yellow belts.  These team members carry out tasks their supervisors assign to them, reviewing data, spotting errors and making suggestions for possible areas of improvement.   Usually it is auxiliary staff who is trained in the Yellow Belt level of 6 Sigma.  If an organization chooses to train employees in the White Belt level, they will assist on a local level, arranging meetings and utilizing local resources.  They will help out a 6 Sigma professional team, despite their controversy within the Six Sigma Community.

It is possible for companies to find useful information from many websites on the Internet to help them understand the Six Sigma methods and the belt tier system.

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What Lean Waste Means Within an Organization

It is important for managers and supervisors within an organization to understand what waste is and how it can be eliminated.  All employees within an organization will create waste but there are ways to make sure that it is eliminated.

Many people think of waste as being something that a person is able to throw away, such as a piece of trash.  Waste is also able to be categorized into being unproductive, inconsistent and unreasonable.  For example, when employees become unproductive during the work day, they are wasting the companies’ valuable time.  Employees are a valuable resource that could be directed into other jobs or tasks until their productivity is able to be increased.

Another type of waste within a business is overproduction.  When a company creates more items than can be sold in a reasonable amount of time; this is considered overproduction.  It can be classified as waste because there may be too many products to sell and therefore the company has wasted money on creating items that will be useless and not profitable.  In other words, they have used up valuable resources in order to make something that will not bring in profit.  

To avoid overproduction, it is important for managers and supervisors to research how much product is in demand and produce based off of the data that was collected.  Unnecessary transportation is another form of lean waste within a company.  This refers to products that were destroyed during transportation time because of having too many transports.  Waiting is another form of waste within a company.  When workers are found standing around waiting for their next assignment, they are inadvertently using up a company’s money and time.  

Knowledgeable managers and supervisors should always have work on hand for their employees to ensure that no time is wasted.  Malfunctioning machines and computers would also fall into this category.  Machines should always be inspected for damages to ensure that they do not stop in the middle of production or a project.  When products have been stored or handled the wrong way, there may be extra processing time in order to go back and fix the issue.

When proper procedures are followed when it comes to storing and handling completed products, this will cut down on going back and having to fix already completed items.  Requiring too many inspections on a product is also considered waste.  There should be a detailed guide when it comes to inspections and when it is followed step by step, only required inspections will be carried out.

The process of eliminating waste from a company’s processes is called Lean Six Sigma.  This is accomplished through a series of methodologies and tools carried out by trained and certified professionals who work together in a teamwork setting.

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