Job Outlook for Lean Six Sigma Professionals

As organizations of all sizes emphasize productivity gains as strategic advantages, more and more are adopting methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma to govern their operations. The Green Belt identifies an employee or prospect as an accomplished, dedicated professional. Moreover, the Black Belt identifies a candidate or prospect has the deepest level of expertise in lean methodology for process improvement. According to PayScale.com, professionals with Lean Six Sigma credentials earn $84,000 per year on average.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects job growth across the Management Analyst category to grow by 14% over the coming decade. This is almost triple the growth rate expected for all jobs.

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Lean Six Sigma Green and Black Belt FAQs

WHAT IS LEAN SIX SIGMA?

"Six Sigma" describes a series of process improvement techniques designed to reduce errors and improve quality in an organization's products and services. "Lean" is a management discipline that seeks to reduce waste and minimize associated costs. "Lean Six Sigma" represents the blending of the two philosophies into an operating system that maximizes quality while minimizing costs.

WHAT DOES A "GREEN BELT" IN LEAN SIX SIGMA INDICATE?

A Lean Six Sigma Green Belt improves productivity by focusing on the tools, methodologies and principles of Lean Six Sigma. Lean Six Sigma Green Belts are expected to design, implement and manage productivity improvement projects and campaigns.

WHAT JOB TITLES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEAN SIX SIGMA GREEN BELT?

Lean Six Sigma Green Belts may serve in one or more of the following capacities: Process Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, Continuous Improvement Specialist and many more. Lean Six Sigma Green Belts often become Six Sigma consultants, as well.

WHAT DO LEAN SIX SIGMA GREEN BELTS DO?

The Green Belt in Lean Six Sigma is considered a hands-on credential. Green Belts commonly review processes, develop and deploy improvements using the Lean Six Sigma methodology and then manage the improved processes.

WHAT DOES A "BLACK BELT" IN LEAN SIX SIGMA INDICATE?

Black Belts are a change agent in the organization. A Black Belt will be the project owner of an organizational quality improvement process. As project owner, they allocate team member responsibilities and resources, effectively overseeing a team of Green and Yellow Belts.

WHAT DO LEAN SIX SIGMA BLACK BELTS DO?

A Six Sigma Black Belt professional is an expert in these Six Sigma principles:

• DMAIC
• Design of experiments
• Analysis of variance
• Hypothesis testing
• Probability distribution

Black Belts use support tools such as Voice of the Customer (VOC), Lean, failure mode and effects analysis, and statistics. As a Six Sigma Black Belt, you will be responsible for initiating projects and directing the efforts of company quality improvement teams.

WHAT JOB TITLES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEAN SIX SIGMA BLACK BELT?

Lean Six Sigma Black Belts may serve in one or more of the following capacities: Lean Six Sigma Leader, Project Management & Agile Manager, Quality Assurance Manager, Director of Lean/Six Sigma, or simply Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

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Curriculum

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

• INTRODUCTION TO GREEN BELT TRAINING
  Overview of Lean Six Sigma, the 8 Wastes and DMAIC
• DEFINE PHASE – HOW TO DEFINE THE PROBLEM
  Creating the project charter, understanding the current state and develop project communication
• MEASURE PHASE – HOW TO MEASURE THE CURRENT PROCESS
  Select measures, planning and collecting baseline data
• ANALYZE PHASE – HOW TO IDENTIFY THE CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM
  Conducting data and process analysis; brainstorming, developing and validating root causes
• IMPROVE PHASE – HOW TO IMPLEMENT AND VERIFY THE SOLUTION
  Crafting, filtering and determining solutions; conducting risk management
• CONTROL PHASE – HOW TO MAINTAIN THE SOLUTION
  Creating monitoring and response plans, project documentation

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

• INTRODUCTION TO BLACK BELT TRAINING
  Overview of Black Belt training, project selection, and building leadership skills
• DEFINE PHASE
  Conducting process walks, strengthening leadership skills, and defining your Black Belt project
• MEASURE PHASE
  Laying statistical groundwork, testing your measurement system, and sampling the data
• ANALYZE PHASE
  Laying hypothesis testing groundwork; testing correlation, discrete data, continuous normal and non-normal data
• IMPROVE PHASE
  Designing experiments and strengthening leadership skills
• CONTROL PHASE
  Select control charts and creating visual management

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Instructors

Tracy O'Rourke
Tracy O'Rourke is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years of experience as a facilitator, trainer and presenter. Her clients include the US Department of Veterans Affairs, the State of Washington, Cisco, DC Shoes, GE, and Motorola. She holds a BA in English Literature from San Francisco State University and an MBA with an emphasis in Leadership and Managing Organizational Change from Graziadio School of Business at Pepperdine University.

Elisabeth Swan
Elisabeth Swan is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt with over 20 years of experience consultant, designer, and executive coach. Her expertise lies in training, process-based organization design, problem-solving, and change management. Her clients include Amazon, Charles Schwab, Burt's Bees, Microsoft, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. She holds a BA in English Literature from Barnard College.