Quality Management Courses

Lean Six Sigma Practitioners

What is our NEW "Hybrid" (Web-Enhanced) Delivery format?

UA Fort Smith provides a broad range of hybrid learning options that combine live classroom lectures with interactive web-based studies to deliver a thorough Six Sigma education. Using blended programs, companies of all types and sizes are able to make the best use of classroom time, reduce training costs and improve student retention of Six Sigma concepts.

All of U.A. Fort Smith’s programs deliver high impact training by increasing the hands-on application of skills and tools. Six Sigma concepts are introduced online, and then reinforced through classroom lectures and workshops.

U.A. Fort Smith’s blended learning solutions offer the best of both worlds; eLearning allows students to study at their own pace while classroom work provides the benefit of applying techniques in a shared, group environment. Contact Kevin Clay on campus at 479-788-7765, at cell phone 479-739-4940 or by email Kevin Clay.

What is Lean Six Sigma?

With the increasingly competitive landscape, rapid and significant productivity improvement is becoming a requirement for company survival. Six Sigma tools and techniques, in conjunction with methodologies common to Lean practice, have fostered a powerful performance system to enable this productivity growth. Lean Six Sigma provides the basis for the strong complementary relationship between process, quality, and performance leading to sustainable competitive advantages. Lean Six Sigma practitioners are the ultimate source for rapidly improving enterprise performance in cost-effective and timely ways.

Lean Six Sigma Champions (Web-Enhanced and Traditional)

Lean Six Sigma Champions are critical members of your Lean implementation team, whose role is to drive and support the success of your Lean initiative, ensuring that your projects synch with your business objectives, selecting the right implementation teams, monitoring and reporting project progress and breaking down barriers to success.

At the end of Lean Six Sigma Champion training course delegates will understand:

• The principles, tools and applications of Lean Six Sigma
• Overview of Green and Black Belt roles/capabilities
• Development of deployment strategies
• How to identify black belt candidates
• How to select and prioritize projects
• How to define appropriate measurement criteria

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (Web-Enhanced and Traditional)

The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course develops understanding and enables employment of one of today's proven approaches to maximizing productivity through control over process design and execution. Lean Six Sigma drives towards results-based organizational effectiveness through both product and process improvement and increased profitability for its practitioner companies. Lean Six Sigma and its frontline Black Belts can be the source of revolutionary and rapid process improvements leading to dramatic increases in both productivity and profitability.

At the end of Lean Six Sigma Black Belt training course delegates will be able to:

1. Work with and understand customer requirements
2. Enhance the capability of processes to exceed customer expectations
3. Identify projects and select project team members
4. Work with sponsors to develop a Six Sigma deployment strategy
5. Act as an internal consultant
6. Lead Six Sigma projects
7. Train/mentor/coach Green Belts and project teams
8. Act as a catalyst for process improvement
9. Provide teams with ongoing support and leadership
10. Report and effectively communicate to a project sponsor
11. Understand when and how to use Six Sigma tools
12. Provide feedback to management

Program Topics Include:

• Six Sigma Introduction
• Calculating Process Based Costs
• Validating The Measurement System
• Maximizing ROI
• Sustaining ROI
• Extending ROI
• What is Statistics?
• Organization of Data
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Dispersion
• Introduction to Inferential Statistics
• Introduction to Lean Principles
• Descriptive Statistics: Self Assessment
• Black Belt Prep Course Module 1
• Black Belt Prep Course Module 2
• Inferential Statistics: Self Assessment
• Comparing Means
• Pareto Analysis
• Control Charts
• Process Capability Assessments
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
• Introduction to Process Capability
• Probability Distributions: Discrete Random Variables
• Confidence Interval for the Mean
• Making Inferences about Proportions
• Hypothesis Tests for the Mean
• Simple Linear Regression
• Lean Tools I
• Lean Tools II
• Lean Tools III
• Black Belt Prep Course Module 3
• Black Belt Prep Course Module 4
• Black Belt Prep Course Module 5
• Introduction to Minitab
• Introduction to Process Mapping
• Cause and Effect Diagrams
• An Introduction to Probability
• Continuous Probability Distributions: Normal Curve
• ANOVA
• Making Inferences about Variances
• Scatter Diagrams

The courses in the schedule below are web-enhanced courses.

Registration deadline and course start date reflect web-enhanced course study up to four weeks before traditional classroom training begins.

Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (Web-Enhanced and Traditional)

This series of courses prepares those who wish to become Six Sigma Green Belts and Project Team Leaders. It is organized following the DMAIC methodology, provides an introduction to Lean, and includes courses in Descriptive Statistics. This series can be used as a prerequisite for Black Belt certification.

At the end of Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt training course delegates will understand and be able to:

1. Apply the principles of the Six Sigma DMAIC performance improvement model.
2. Establish the “Voice of the Customer” in defining the required performance standard.
3. Use a number of measurement approaches and tools to establish current performance.
4. Use appropriately a number of basic analysis tools and techniques to establish the root cause of a problem.
5. Understand key lean concepts and tools, when and how to apply them to drive improvements
6. Recognize the difference in approach and techniques for incremental and redesign improvement strategies and know how to decide on the correct approach.
7. Establish ongoing process controls and process governance structures

Program Topics Include:

• Six Sigma Introduction
• Understanding Data
• Calculating Process Based Costs
• Validating The Measurement System
• Maximizing ROI
• Sustaining ROI
• Extending ROI
• What is Statistics?
• Organization of Data
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Dispersion
• Introduction to Lean Principles
• Descriptive Statistics: Self Assessment
• Pareto Analysis
• Control Charts
• Process Capability Assessments
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
• Introduction to Process Capability
• Introduction to Process Mapping
• Cause and Effect Diagrams
• Scatter Diagrams

The courses in the schedule below are web-enhanced courses.

Registration deadline and course start date reflect web-enhanced course study up to four weeks before traditional classroom training begins.

Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt (Web-Enhanced and Traditional)

This Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt course teaches any employee the Lean Six Sigma philosophy and how to apply it in his or her role on a day-to-day basis. The participant will learn about What Six Sigma and Lean are separately and how they work together. The participant will continue their exploration of each phase of Six Sigma's DMAIC methodology, including, project charters, process mapping, cause-and-effect tools, simple data analysis and process improvement and control methods. Because of their knowledge of Lean Six Sigma, participants who complete the course will be able to identify process improvement opportunities for escalation to Green or Black Belts and can be a valuable resource within Six Sigma project teams when improving that process.

At the end of Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt training course delegates will understand and be able to:

1. The meaning and uses of the Six Sigma philosophy
2. Each phase of the DMAIC methodology
3. How to map a process and understand its inputs and outputs
4. The basics of the Lean methodology
5. How to apply the Six Sigma mindset in his or her workplace on a daily basis

Program Topics Include:

• Six Sigma Introduction
• Calculating Process Based Costs
• Validating The Measurement System
• Maximizing ROI
• Sustaining ROI
• Extending ROI
• What is Statistics?
• Introduction to Lean Principles
• Pareto Analysis
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
• Introduction to Process Capability
• Introduction to Process Mapping
• Cause and Effect Diagrams
• Scatter Diagrams

Lean Six Sigma White Belt (Web-Enhanced and Traditional)

This series is for those who want an overview of Six Sigma, Lean, and Statistics. It is a must for managers who want an appreciation of the commitment necessary to implement statistically based process improvement and the return on investment to be gained. Additionally, for those who are thinking about taking the Six Sigma journey, this is an ideal series.

Program Topics Include:

• Six Sigma Introduction
• What is Statistics?
• Introduction to Lean Principles

Lean Six Sigma Brochure and Training Calendar

The following links will allow you to download an informational brochure or the Lean Six Sigma training calendar and course configuration.

Lean Six Sigma Brochure (PDF)

Lean Six Sigma Open Enrollment Schedule (PDF)

Additional Quality Management Systems Courses

Root Cause Analysis (Web-Enhanced)

The KEPNERandFOURIE Root Cause Analysis process provides a proven methodology that improves an individual’s ability to think through a problem to resolution.This course builds your problem solving skills. You will learn and apply the Root Cause Analysis to real world problems experienced while implementing projects and operational improvement initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma or TQM.

Statistics (Web-Enhanced)

The Statistics series includes courses in Descriptive Statistics, Inferential Statistics, Probability, and Regression Analysis, as well as an Introduction to Minitab course. This series is ideal as a complement to Six Sigma training or as a standalone package that can be especially helpful for those needing a statistics refresher.

Program Topics Include:

• What is Statistics?
• Organization of Data
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Dispersion
• Introduction to Inferential Statistics
• Descriptive Statistics: Self Assessment
• Inferential Statistics: Self Assessment
• Comparing Means
• Probability Distributions: Discrete Random Variables
• Confidence Interval for the Mean
• Making Inferences about Proportions
• Hypothesis Tests for the Mean
• Simple Linear Regression
• Introduction to Minitab
• An Introduction to Probability
• Continuous Probability Distributions: Normal Curve
• ANOVA
• Making Inferences about Variances

Descriptive Statistics (Web-Enhanced)

This series of four Statistics courses plus a self-assessment covers the fundamentals of Descriptive Statistics. It is an overview for those who didn't understand Statistics in college or who have not had the opportunity to take a Statistics course. The series is also recommended for those who are working on a Six Sigma project and are collecting and analyzing data.

Program Topics Include:

• What is Statistics?
• Organization of Data
• Measures of Central Tendency
• Measures of Dispersion
• Descriptive Statistics: Self Assessment

Introduction to Lean Principles (Web-Enhanced)

This course is designed to provide awareness of Lean principles to employees at any level in the organization. Students will learn to identify the benefits of Lean deployment and the roles in a Lean Implementation Team, and how Lean can be integrated into an organization.

Program Topics Include:

• Introduction to Lean Principles

Lean Basics (Web-Enhanced)

This series of courses explores the benefits and objectives of Lean and describes the methods and levels of Lean deployment. Students will be able to identify the phases of the Lean Deployment Roadmap. Roles and responsibilities of the Lean Implementation Team members are described and students will learn how Lean can be integrated into an organization.

Statistical Process Control Basics (Web-Enhanced Course)

This series of courses is for operators and supervisors of manufacturing processes who need a basic, yet broad, understanding of Statistical Process Control (SPC). Students will understand how to work on an SPC team to rid the process of special causes of variation and to avoid unnecessary adjustments to the process. The series explains methods for selecting which parameters to control and which type of control chart to use.

Program Topics Include:

• SPC and Variation
• Introduction to Control Charts
• Setting Up and Using a Control Chart
• Pictures of Numbers
• Types of Control Charts
• Selecting Parameters

Statistical Process Control Advanced (Web-Enhanced Course)

This series of courses is for those who need more advanced SPC training. Students will understand how to assess process capability using both variables and attribute data. The series also includes an overview of Design of Experiments (DOE), which provides an understanding of how to structure designed experiments and apply this understanding in planning and conducting DOEs.

Program Topics Include:

• Introduction to Process Capability
• Introduction to DOE
• Using Normal Curves
• Process Capability Assessments
• Application of DOE

Statistical Process Control Comprehensive (Web-Enhanced Course)

This series comprises all the courses in the SPC Basics and SPC Advanced menus. SPC Basics teaches variation and control charts to help students stabilize their processes. SPC Advanced develops the process capability topic, then covers the principles of DOE so students can reduce common cause variability in their processes.

Program Topics Include:

• SPC and Variation
• Introduction to Control Charts
• Setting Up and Using a Control Chart
• Pictures of Numbers
• Types of Control Charts
• Introduction to Process Capability
• Selecting Parameters
• Introduction to DOE
• Using Normal Curves
• Process Capability Assessments
• Application of DOE

What Makes UA Fort Smith Different from the Rest?