Several years ago, Emory Professional Learning Programs began offering Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
"The Green Belt is the foundation of the Six Sigma process, but for those who want to take their careers to the next level, the Black Belt is needed," said Jennifer John, program manager for Six Sigma programs with Emory Professional Learning Programs.
Aimed at those who have earned Green Belt certification or who want to become involved in senior-level project management, Emory will begin offering a Six Sigma Black Belt certificate starting on May 18.
Six Sigma has roots as far back as the 19th century and is defined as a customer-focused, highly disciplined, problem-solving process that strives to develop and deliver near-perfect products and services consistently, John said.
In 1981, Motorola, U.S.A. developed the Six Sigma business management strategy, which is equated with 99.9997 percent reliability in performance, using a decision-making process that includes five steps: define, measure, analyze, improve and control.
While originally applied to manufacturing processes, many companies and industries use Six Sigma principles to improve quality and efficiency, and to reduce errors by putting best practices into place.
"For manufacturing, it might be a line operation, but for a financial services firm, Six Sigma could mean looking at the number of pieces of paper it takes to create a financial plan for a client in order to streamline the process," John said.
For a hospital, it might mean putting electronic records checks in place to reduce drug administration errors for patients.
"Six Sigma cuts across all industries and these skills are in high demand in the market," John said. "A quick search online in late April yielded 179 job openings that listed Six Sigma skills in the job description. I found titles like senior support analyst, supply chain engineer, process improvement manager and senior project manager. The jobs are out there."
According to an iSixSigma magazine article that ran in 2008, mean salaries for Black Belt graduates range from $73,929 in the transportation industry to $104,500 in the computer hardware field.
Green Belt certification introduces participants to the Six Sigma principles and helps them understand problem solving, data collection, data interpretation, variation, process capability and cost analysis.
"Green Belt graduates are already involved with project management. The Black Belt certification further gives individuals the expertise to use statistical tools and interpret analytical results," John said.
The seven-day course prepares senior managers to identify opportunities and lead initiatives for their companies.
"The biggest component of our Black Belt certification program is an outside project that participants will complete. With instructor guidance, they will lead a large-scale project in their own companies, so that those companies will see an immediate return on investment in terms of cost-saving and greater efficiency," John said.
Emory has structured its Black Belt program to fit the schedules of corporate executives. The hybrid course meets for seven full days (May 18-21, June 23-25), and also has learning modules online, at a cost of $5,995.
"We batched the classes together instead of offering them once a week, to make it easier for out-of-state managers to come to Atlanta for the training. About 25 percent of our Six Sigma participants come from out of state," John said.
Emory will offer the Black Belt certificate program again in the fall (Sept. 14-17, Oct. 25-29) and the four-day Green Belt certificate course (July 22-23, Aug. 19-20) for $3,995. There’s a 10 percent discount for those who take both courses.
For information, go to www.EmorySixSigma.org or call 404-712-8823.
In Atlanta, Georgia Tech and Southern Polytechnic State University also have Six Sigma programs.
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