Six Sigma certification

"Six Sigma." Sounds like something out of a superhero movie. For manufacturers, Six Sigma is kind of a superhero. Just not an exciting enough one for Hollywood.

Before we get into the cert, first: what’s Six Sigma?

It’s a quality control method created in the late 1980s by Motorola. The Six Sigma methodology spread far and wide, to other companies, universities, and organizations...and for good reason. Why did Six Sigma spread like glitter? It’s really good at both decreasing manufacturing defects and doing it with speed. Because...everybody’s got the need for speed. It works on cycle-time improvements, aiming for no more than 3.4 defects for every million units. Wowza.

So why isn’t it 3.4 Sigma? Six Sigma is named after the six-standard-deviation measure away from the mean. For context, two standard deviations away from the mean on a normal distribution (think: bell curve) contains about 95% of the data. So six standard deviations away is getting into the super rarities. It’s a high bar for low defects. Six Sigma has been re-adapted from defects to other areas like customer retention and business management.

You can actually get certified in Six Sigma. Yep. You can say “I’m a black belt...in Six Sigma” and maybe people will think you’re a karate chop master...in defects. No joke, the certifications come in “belt” levels. Six Sigma certification can qualify you for certain jobs. For many companies, execs need to get Six Sigma certifications of some level. There str also “Champions”: those in upper management who mentor Six Sigma Black Belts. Yep, “Executives” and “Champions” are above black belts in this realm.

Black Belts in Six Sigma are the true puppeteers, who are in the position of applying Six Sigma directly. Green Belt is the beginner level Six Sigma certification; Green Belts work under the Black Belts on Six Sigma implementation.

Implementation station, at the ready.