Six Sigma was first introduced by Motorola in 1986 with a mission of improving the quality of processing by identifying and removing the causes of errors in the manufacturing industry. It uses a set of quality management methods and creates a special team of people within the company who are experts in Six Sigma methodology. These experts are ranked depending on their certification levels as either “white belt,” “yellow belt,” “green belt,” “black belt,” or “master black belt.” Those experts work on “projects,” which have a goal to produce significant improvements in a process. The two Six Sigma projects are DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control) in order to improve a current process or DMADV (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) in order to create a new process. As more projects are put into place together, organizations experience a nearly defect-free performance. Notable companies that claimed to have used Six Sigma include Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Dell & General Electric.

In recent years, Lean Manufacturing, a system of eliminating waste within a manufacturing system, has been combined with Six Sigma and labeled Lean Six Sigma in an effort to eliminate the eight types of waste: defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized talent, transportation, inventory, motion, extra-processing. These are abbreviated as “DOWNTIME.” Companies including 3M, ACME and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. have reported successful results from using Lean Six Sigma. Similar to Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma uses the five phases of the DMAIC project as well as a belt certification system as listed in the charge below:

Source: Wikipedia

The inarguable positive impact Lean Six Sigma has had on the bottom lines of companies around the world has led to the usage of its methodologies being used by various industries.
Being a certified Lean Six Sigma expert will not only benefit your personal professional growth but that of your organization as well.

Certified Professionals Earn More

Just like earning your college degree, Lean Six Sigma certifications are not cheap or easy to attain and managers in the field know this. Having the drive to earn your certification will make you stand out from the crowd and showcase your dedication to improving the processes of the company in which you work. As you gain more understanding of the Lean Six Sigma process through your certification, you put yourself in the position of becoming a successful team member of a project management team. As you work to improve quality and consistency while eliminating waste, you will be seen as a crucial member of your group. Your success in areas such as time management, strategic planning and employee motivation will make you a more valuable employee and that can lead to better opportunities for promotions and increased salary.

Position Yourself as Leader of the Pack

It takes willingness to do every job and play every role to become a great leader. As you work your way up the ladder from your green belt to your black belt, you will learn to evaluate and clarify processes that will improve your company’s efficiency through Six Sigma and eliminate waste using Lean. You’ll go from having awareness of Lean Six Sigma methodologies to playing an active role on projects and finally being the leader of your team project with your black belt. As a full-time project leader, you’ll work to cut waste while safeguarding a quality product. 

Bring Success to Your Business 

Being certified means you have learned the proper application of Lean Six Sigma methodologies. With those in place your organization will turn a better product, which results in customer satisfaction. As you work to maintain a good, consistent product, it is most likely that your customers will remain loyal. The happier your customers are the better the chances they will tell other potential clientele, meaning more profit for your company and a better bottom line.
Another benefit Lean Six Sigma can bring to your organization is a happier workforce. Its methodologies bring employees together working toward a common goal. A happier workplace will inherently create a better product. As your better products get noticed by other companies it will lead to stronger partnerships. The chain reaction begins with you and your Lean Six Sigma certification.

We want to help you get Lean Six Sigma certified! Take our self-paced, online Lean Six Sigma Certification Prep Course and prepare for your yellow belt, green belt or black belt certification exam!

Learn More!

A great manager requires three things, according to Randall Doll, Lead Faculty of Leadership and Management. The first is having the ability to provide a crystal clear set of goals, priorities and duties for those they are responsible for. Secondly, one must attempt to create a healthy, conducive work environment for all team members to be successful within. Finally, a great manager spends time every day building relationships with those they are responsible for. He refers to this as “relationship capital.”

“When a manager is not achieving pre-determined levels of performance it is many times related to a lack of connection with those they oversee,” he says. “Employees know when a manager cares, and when they sense that, they will follow them to the ends of the earth.”

Doll would know. He’s spent his career in leadership and management roles. Even while completing his bachelor’s degree from Wichita State University, he was busy working full time as a fitness center manager.   

“I didn’t have time to attend graduation,” he says. “It was several months before I was able to go in and get my diploma.”

For the past 30 years, Doll has been involved in private industry as either an owner or manager of businesses in retail, manufacturing, land management and commercial properties. By the age of 30 he held management positions in Fortune 500 companies, including PepsiCo Corporation/Pizza Hut, located in New York and Wichita. It was during that time that Doll realized the value of earning his master’s degree.

“I realized the Fortune 500 world was getting more competitive,” he says. “Increasing my skill set, education and experience base became critically important.”

As Doll worked toward earning his M.A. in Business & Management from Webster University, located in St. Louis, Missouri, which he completed in 1995, he developed an interest in teaching. His instructors not being academics but practitioners left a lasting impression on him.

“They would work full time in their chosen profession and then teach part time, delivering their real world experience alongside standard textbook instruction,” he said.

Deciding to follow in the footsteps of his mentors, since 2005 Doll has stayed busy teaching courses in the business and leadership curriculums at Professional Studies while owning Doll Real Estate, LLC and serving as President & CEO of Capital Partners Group LLC; the latter of which is a training & development firm that works with small to mid-size businesses. He also recently finished serving as a board member for the Kansas Department of Wildlife Parks & Tourism, a cabinet level agency appointed by the Governor. He currently serves on the national board of directors for American Ag Credit, which is the seventh largest agricultural lender in the nation, located in Santa Rosa, California. He even embarked on what he says was his biggest career risk when he successfully ran for the Butler County Commission, for which he served two terms from 1999 to 2007.  All of his experiences, he says, give him the knowledge and "street cred" for teaching.

“I like teaching the graduate level courses in business as they allow me to bring in more of my business and political experiences to the classroom,” he says. “I think students appreciate and benefit from these real world applications.”

Doll plans to continue sharing his devotion for effective leadership and management in teaching courses such as BQM301, LEAD510 and BSAD490 where he believes he can train others to be successful leaders for the future. When he’s not working he enjoys spending time with his wife and daughters at their ranch outside Wichita where they garden, hike, raise free range chickens and oversee their farm and ranch operations.

WICHITA, Kansas – The new Center for Corporate Learning, launched by Southwestern College, will offer its first course in September.

The course will consist of seven facilitated sessions where human resource professionals can prepare for their Professional in Human Resource (PHR®) or Senior Professional in Human Resource (SPHR®) certification exams. Both certifications, through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI®), demonstrate that HR professionals have mastered best practices. All PHR®/SPHR® certified professionals are therefore better prepared for program implementation and tactical/logistical orientation at their organizations.  

The Center for Corporate Learning (CCL) was established to embrace partnerships between Southwestern College and business and industry. Along with the PHR®/SPHR® examination prep course, CCL also offers quality training programs designed specifically for individual organizations.

The PHR®/SPHR® preparatory course will focus on the Bodies of Knowledge, the foundation of the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI™) exam. They include business and management strategy, workforce planning and employment, human resource development, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations and risk management. The preparatory course benefits small business owners, managers with HR responsibilities and those wishing to increase their HR knowledge base.

The seven-week course, which will be taught by local, experienced professionals, runs from September 12^th through October 24^th. The classes are conveniently held on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Southwestern College Professional Studies campus at 2040 S. Rock Rd. in Wichita. The cost is just $950 per person and includes printed and online materials. Those interested in registering can visit https://secure.jotformpro.com/SouthwesternCollege/cclregistration.

WICHITA, Kansas – Southwestern College Professional Studies in Wichita, Kansas and American Business and Technology University have announced the signing of an articulation agreement that will make for the easy transition of credits for ABTU students wishing to further their education at Southwestern College.

Students who have either earned their A.O.S, A.A., A.S. or A.A.S. degrees at ABTU, or are within six credit hours of completion, will be eligible to apply to Southwestern College’s bachelor’s degree programs. Graduates with B.A.S. degrees from ABTU are eligible to enter any of Southwestern College’s master’s degree programs.

Southwestern College allows for the transfer of up to 64 credit hours to prevent learners from losing credits or repeating courses already completed. The articulation agreement will also provide a gateway for active and inactive military members to easily transition into earning their bachelor’s degree.

“We are excited to provide a bridge for their students to continue their education and we look forward to working with them for many years to come,” said John Hudson, director of Educational Partnerships at Southwestern College.

Located in east Wichita near McConnell Air Force Base, Southwestern College Professional Studies provides flexibility with six-week, online courses that allow students to balance time between work and their families while they further their education. Southwestern College offers 16 undergraduate and nine graduate degree programs.