Programs

White Belt

Program Description

The Six Sigma White Belt role is an entry-level position within the organizational hierarchy of XBelts. White Belts are operational managers that have been enriched with a conceptual understanding of Six Sigma that penetrates deeper than what could be obtained by way of a global executive overview. Thus, it can be said that White Belts are typically mid-level line and staff managers whose normal job duties intersect or overlap the objectives associated with a Six Sigma initiative. In this context, such leaders must not only internalize the core concepts and ideas that underpin Six Sigma, they must also conceptually understand the essential terminology, tools, and practices associated with the Six Sigma X-Belt infrastructure, as well as the operational missions of that infrastructure.

This educational program has been specifically designed to deliver and reinforce the essential concepts of Six Sigma, but with a strong managerial emphasis. Participant's will explore lean practices and graphically-based quality improvement tools, such as histograms, line graphs, scatter plots, and Pareto charts just to mention a few. Each participant is educated on how to use the powerful Six Sigma process for realizing business performance breakthrough – Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control, or simply DMAIC.

This White Belt training program is specifically configured to bridge the knowledge gap that often exists between an executive-level Six Sigma overview and the applied skill set of an X-Belt practitioner. This means that the successful participant will be better enabled to project the power of Six Sigma. This translates to the consciousness of business imperatives, but with greater effectiveness and efficiency. Total instructional time for this program is approximately 24 hours.


      Downloadable Program Syllabus

Breakthrough Vision

Content Overview - Understand the nature, purpose, and drivers of Six Sigma

Driving Need - Identify the needs that underlie a Six Sigma initiative

Customer Focus - Explain why focusing on the customer is essential to business success

Core Beliefs - Contrast the core beliefs of Six Sigma to conventional practices

Deterministic Reasoning - Describe a basic cause-and-effect relationship in terms of Y=f(X)

Leverage Principle - Relate the principle of leverage to an improvement project

Performance Breakthrough - Describe the underlying logic of the DMAIC improvement process

Business Principles

Quality Definition - Articulate the idea of quality in terms of value entitlement

Value Proposition - Define the primary components of value and their key elements

Process Management

Performance Yield - Explain why final yield is often higher than first-time yield

Hidden Processes - Describe the non-value added component of a process

Measurement Power - Describe the role of measurement in an improvement initiative

Performance Benchmarks - Explain how a benchmarking chart can be used to assess quality performance

Defect Opportunity - Understand the nature of a defect opportunity and its role in metrics reporting

Installation Guidelines

Champion Role - Define the operational role of a Six Sigma Champion and highlight key attributes

Black Belt Role - Define the operational role of a Six Sigma Black Belt and highlight key attributes

Green Belt Role - Define the operational role of a Six Sigma Green Belt and highlight key attributes

White Belt Role - Define the operational role of a Six Sigma White Belt and highlight key attributes

Application Projects - Describe the purpose of Six Sigma Application Projects and how such projects are executed

Value Focus

Recognize Needs - Recognize the power of need fulfillment and how it links to value creation

Define Opportunities - Understand how to define opportunities that lead to the creation of value

Measure Conditions - Identify and evaluate the conditions that underlies improvement opportunity

Analyze Forces - Explain how the underlying forces are identified and leveraged to create beneficial change

Improve Settings - Establish optimal settings for each of the key forces that underpins beneficial change

Control Variations - Discuss how unwanted variations can mask the pathway to breakthrough

Standardize Factors - Understand the role and importance of standardized success factors

Integrate Lessons - Explain how key lessons learned can be merged into a set of best practices

Application Example - Understand how the breakthrough process can be applied to everyday life

Lean Practices

Lean Thinking - Comprehend the underlying logic of lean thinking

Visual Factory - Explain the role of a visual factory during improvement efforts

PokaYoke System - Understand how PokaYoke systems can lead to quality improvement

6S System - Explain how the 6S system can contribute to process efficiency

7W Approach - Describe how the 7W approach can be used to solve problems

6M Approach - Explain how the 6M approach is used to identify sources of causation

Quality Tools

Variable Classifications - Define the various types of variables commonly encountered during quality improvement

Measurement Scales - Describe each of the four primary scales of measure and their relative power

Problem Definition - Characterize the nature of a sound problem statement

Focused Brainstorming - Explain how focused brainstorming is used to facilitate improvement efforts

Process Mapping - Understand how to define the flow of a process and map its operations

SIPOC Diagram - Describe the nature and purpose of an SIPOC diagram

Force-Field Analysis - Utilize force field analysis to solve problems

C&E Analysis - Explain how C&E matrices can be used to solve quality problems

Performance Sampling - Explain how to design and implement a sampling plan

Check Sheets - Understand how check sheets can be used for purposes of data collection

Analytical Charts - Identify the general range of analytical charts that can be used to assess performance

Pareto Charts - Explain how Pareto charts can be used to isolate improvement leverage

Run Charts - Utilize run charts to assess and characterize time-based process data

Multi-Vari Charts - Define the major families of variation and how they can be graphed

Correlation Charts - Utilize a correlation chart to illustrate the association between two variables

Frequency Tables - Explain how to construct and interpret a frequency table

Performance Histograms - Construct and interpret a histogram and describe several purposes

Basic Probability - Understand basic probability theory and how it relates to process improvement

Control Charts - Explain the purpose of statistical process control charts and the logic of their operation

Concept Integration - Understand how to sequence a given selection of quality tools to better solve problems