Six Sigma Professor

by bluelizardworld

6 Sigma Training: What Do You Really Learn?

If you are thinking about starting 6 Sigma training, you probably have at least some idea of what to expect.  Something about statistics, right?  Maybe you have an idea that it has something to do with manufacturing process controls.

All of this is true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go far enough. 

True, in 6 Sigma training you will be inundated with useful statistical tools and techniques.  (You’ll probably do best if you’ve already shown you can learn college-level calculus and higher math.)  And it’s also true that the 6 Sigma approach to process improvement originated in the manufacturing plants of Motorola. 

But 6 Sigma has come a long way from the factory floor.  In fact, almost any business process can be and has been improved using the 6 Sigma approach.  From payment of invoices to onboarding new staff to improving communications between providers of professional services and their clients, 6 Sigma has the potential to improve the profitability and customer satisfaction of literally any business. 

And the statistical tools themselves are not the most important part of what you’ll learn.  They are the operations details of 6 Sigma — the tactics, if you will.  The statistical tools taught in 6 Sigma training answer the question of “How to do it?”

The most important thing you will learn in 6 Sigma training is the problem-solving strategy — the over-arching framework that answers the question of “What needs to be done?”

This key 6 Sigma strategy is known by its initials, DMAIC (for existing process improvement).  These stand for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.  This rigorous problem-solving method helps you focus on the process that needs improvement, not the people who may be trapped within that failing process.

By following the DMAIC approach, the 6 Sigma practitioner gains stakeholder buy-in from the earliest stages of the project.  This will help in the later stages of the project, where implementing changes to the flawed process will come into play.  Here, the project could fail if the stakeholders do not already believe in the need for change, and the nature of the change that is needed. 

In support of the DMAIC approach, of course, 6 Sigma training does provide knowledge and practice in an ever-more-sophisticated array of statistical and analytical tools and techniques.  Depending on whether you are studying to be a Green Belt or Black Belt, these tools may include:

Project planning and defining deliverables Process mapping Statistical process control Measurement systems Hypothesis testing Statistical analysis roadmap One-way ANOVA Multiple regression Full factorial experiments and simulations Fractional factorial experimental design How to handle non-normal data

But never forget that in 6 Sigma training, these are merely the tools in your workbench.  They are the arrows in your quiver.  They are the means to an end, but they are not the end in themselves. 

6 Sigma training will teach you the means, but also how to correctly identify the ends you’ll use them to achieve. 

Related posts:

1. Six Sigma Training Basics
2. Effective Online Six Sigma Training
3. The Importance of Six Sigma Training
4. Why Is Six Sigma Training So Important?
5. Green Belt Lean Six Sigma Training