Description: In any improvement initiative, organizations must determine whether their existing processes meet the targets and specifications demanded by the customer, or by the business. Measuring and analyzing the capability and performance of a process under review enables organizations to numerically represent and interpret its current state, and to report its sigma level. When done correctly, process capability analyses enable Black Belts to precisely assess current performance in light of future goals, and ultimately, to determine the need and targets of process improvement. Process capabilities can be determined for normal and non-normal data, variable (continuous) and attribute (discrete) data, and for long- and short-term alike.
This course explores key considerations and calculations used in determining process capability and performance. This includes choosing parameters, verifying the stability and normality of a given process, and gathering and interpreting capability and performance data using common indices. The course also explores the special treatment of non-normal data and attributes data in the context of a capability study and long-and short-term capability. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 01:59
Description: Organizations need to make inferences about a population from sample data, and understanding how to calculate the probability that an event will occur is crucial to making those inferences. In a Six Sigma context, it is often important to calculate the likelihood that a combination of events or that an ordered combination of events will occur. Understanding probabilities can provide Black Belts with the tools to make predictions about events or event combinations. To make accurate inferences about a population from the sample data collected in the Measure stage, Black Belts must also be familiar with the characteristics of various probability distributions, and their suitability for different types of data. Understanding the behavior of probability distributions allows the Black Belts to find the probability that values will be found within a given range, and thus to provide information on the variation in the organization's processes and products.
This course provides Black Belts with basic information on probabilities and probability distributions, from the frequently used normal, Poisson, and binomial distributions, to the more specialized hypergeometric, Weibull, bivariate, exponential, and lognormal, as well as the distributions that test hypothesis and set confidence intervals: Chi-square, Student's t, and F distributions. When chosen appropriately to represent the data, these distributions will provide information on process and product variation, and support subsequent inferences based on sample data. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 02:00
Description: Organizations must ensure that their products and services are extremely consistent to desired specifications, as variations can lead to rejected orders, reworks, and eventually, customer dissatisfaction and financial losses. Statistics can provide Black Belts with the tools to summarize and assess collected data in a meaningful way for identifying sources of variation and controlling them. Black Belts can use descriptive (enumerative) statistics to tabulate and graphically represent sample data through a number of informative charts and diagrams. Using analytical (inferential) statistics, supported by the central limit theorem, Black Belts can confidently make inferences, test the statistical validity of their inferences, and optimize and control processes.
This course provides Black Belts with basic statistical tools for describing, presenting, and analyzing data. It explores the process of preparing and presenting sample data using graphical methods and then making valid inferences about the population represented by the sample. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 02:01
Description: Six Sigma measurement systems are vital to improving an organization's processes. Measurement systems encompass the conditions, devices, and the human element of measurement, which together must produce correct measurements and comply with appropriate standards. Measurement error, or measurement variability, is a problem whose components must be thoroughly understood and kept in check to maintain the effectiveness of any measurement system. Measurement variability contributes to the overall variability in the process and it is important to understand its sources and minimize it. Black Belts can calculate correlation, bias, linearity, stability, reproducibility, and repeatability to analyze and further improve measurement systems.
This course examines how to analyze a measurement system to help it produce correct measurements and minimize its proportion of variability in the overall variability. It introduces key elements of metrology and international systems of measurement, explores the many sources of measurement error, and surveys a broad range of items that can be measured in various functional areas of the enterprise. The course also presents some of the considerations influencing the use of measurement systems in service industries. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 02:00
Description: An organization's success depends upon how it delivers on its processes. Before Black Belts can begin to improve an organization's processes, they must collect data to measure current processes using appropriate methods and tools. Successful data collection starts with careful planning and a knowledge of various data types, measurement methods, and sampling techniques. Black Belts also need to be aware of best practices for ensuring data accuracy and integrity. As Six Sigma team leaders, Black Belts help to oversee careful data collection efforts during the Measure phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC process.
This course prepares Black Belts for successful data collection by surveying the types of data, measurement methods, and scales; sampling techniques; and collection methods available. It offers guidance for ensuring data integrity, pointing to different collection methods for different informational needs, and recommending best practices for front-line data collectors. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 02:20
Description: To improve the processes behind an organization's products and services, a Six Sigma Black Belt must measure them. Among the many Six Sigma tools, several are designed specifically to identify and prioritize process input and output variables and their importance relative to customer or business requirements. Using cause-and-effect matrices, Black Belts can determine which process inputs to target first. Using process efficiency formulas, they can determine the ratio of value-added time to total lead time, then enhance this ratio by reducing that troublesome drag on lead time – work in process. With metrics established, Black Belts can recommend approaches to balance the flow of processes and determine the impact that 'hidden factories' could have on process flow metrics. Looking closer at the steps of a given process, Black Belts are then able to wield a number of analysis tools such as flowcharts, spaghetti diagrams, process maps, value stream maps, and gemba walk to reveal lurking time traps, constraints, and wasted steps – all with a view of improving process characteristics for optimum efficiency.
This course provides strategies to measure the current state of an organization's processes by analyzing the variables of its processes, using metrics to calculate process flow performance, and employing tools to analyze processes. This course is aligned with the ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam and is designed to assist learners as part of their exam preparation. It builds on foundational knowledge that is taught in SkillSoft's ASQ-aligned Green Belt curriculum.
Target Audience: Candidates seeking Six Sigma Black Belt certification, quality professionals, engineers, production managers, frontline supervisors, and all individuals charged with responsibility for improving quality and processes at the organizational or departmental level, including process owners and champions
Duration: 01:45