New LSSGB Certification

Begun in the mid-1980s, Lean and Six Sigma methodologies have been in place to educate on reducing cycle time and eliminating waste, and creating near perfect results consistently to achieve satisfaction. Arizona State University offers a portfolio of Lean and Six Sigma programs for Yellow, Green and Black Belts. Adhering to the idea of continuous improvement, Global Outreach and Extended Education of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering is thrilled to announce the debut of a new online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program.

The program revamp has been orchestrated in large parts thanks to Dr. Lisa Custer. Dr. Custer has vast experience and expertise in both Lean and Six Sigma. Collectively, she has over 30 years of working experience in all aspects of process management and continuous improvement. Her work spans Six Sigma, Lean, Design, Total Productive Maintenance and Total Quality Management in a variety of industries from semiconductor to fast-moving consumer goods (FCMG), insurance to banking. Her education includes a Ph.D., and MSE in Industrial Engineering from ASU, in addition to a Bachelors of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. She’s published in Lean and Six Sigma topics and has served in various principal- and director-level roles with companies in addition to being a consultant and course facilitator for Green and Black Belt-level programming.

As we prepare to unveil the long-awaited online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, let’s take a look at what participants can expect from Dr. Custer’s direction.

 

Can you discuss an overview of the new online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program?

Green Belt is a great certification for anyone who has been working for more than 3 years to add to their toolbelt. It’s a problem-solving methodology that focuses on understanding processes, waste in processes, and provides tools to eliminate that waste. Additionally, LSSGB has a strong emphasis on data collection, data analytics and presentation to assist with root cause analysis. The DMAIC methodology used in LSSGB breaks down into phases that can be applied to almost any business challenge.

Participants should expect to view around 20 hours of videos elaborating on the composition, tools and application of areas in LSSGB. These videos will be viewed over a 12-week instructional period consisting of 10 modules, along with readings, homework, and a culminating project where the participant will apply the Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control, or DMAIC, Methodology to their area of focus, using the tools they’ve picked up to address a problem in their area of business.

We will walk a participant through the steps to properly execute the project. The homework will pace individuals through the project, so it’s not overwhelming, in addition to submitting project progress reports, or tollgates to the course facilitator so they can view the progress and provide feedback to participants. We anticipate this program taking around 4 hours per week for participants.

 

Something new and exciting about the online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt is the premier of multiple tracks customized to specific industries. What are those and who are they catering to?

At this time, we’re preparing to launch 3 tracks. One is a healthcare track in which one of the instructors is an operation specialist from Mayo Hospital. It’s recommended for anyone in healthcare, be it operations, finance, or management. A second track is centered around manufacturing, which as you can guess is targeted to anyone working in manufacturing. The third track is focused in service and transactional industries. We recommend this track for anyone in industries such as insurance, finance and office administration.

All tracks will consist of the same time frame, 12 weeks of instruction followed by a 60-day project submission period.

 

What skills will participants have upon completing the certification?

Participants will have the confidence to take on business problems, using and presenting data, and understand processes which are reusable time and time again. By applying the DMAIC methodology learned from this program, participants should expect to fully understand a process they work with on a daily basis and feel comfortable and confident to make changes to it.

Not only does this certification look great on resumes, participants will understand the workings of their organization. This program equips participants with a problem-solving methodology that can be applied to a variety of business issues

 

Why did you feel it was time to revitalize this program?

I think Lean Six Sigma has evolved since it was created by Motorola in the 80s. I’ve been working with GOEE for several years now and collectively, we felt it was time to update the curriculum to suit the current and future business needs as we continue to progress in process improvement and the desire to innovate and process faster in order to keep up with the moving times.

Lean Six Sigma should be called OpEx [Operational Excellence] because that’s what it is today. The tools haven’t changed, but the industries that use the tools have expanded widely and wildly, and the accessibility of data is boundless. Whether or not it’s good data is a different question, but there’s so much more data to look at now than there ever has been.

If you’re an employee that’s hearing or saying “we’ve done this for 20+ years,” or “I need to better my customer service; I need to stop making mistakes in the process,” this certification is going to provide you the tools to make change and improvement. 

 

To register for one of the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt tracks, please visit:

● Health Care (LSSGB-HC) - https://na.eventscloud.com/lssgb-hc-fy21

● Manufacturing (LSSGB-MFG) - https://na.eventscloud.com/lssgb-mfg-fy21

●  Service / Transactional (LSSGB-ST) - https://na.eventscloud.com/lssgb-st-fy21

Use the discount code GOEENews for a 10% discount on your online LSSGB program registration. Code expires April 30, 2021.

 

To learn more about the online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification and associated tracks, please visit our website. For any questions, please contact us at (480) 727-4534 or exec-fseonline@asu.edu.

 

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Co-written by Lisa Custer, Custer McCarville Consulting, and Meghan Gibson, ASU.