According to Ernani Pires, president of Stat-A-Matrix and a Master Black Belt himself, “One of the key factors in creating this program was customer feedback. We’ve been hearing that other Master Black Belt programs were merely a retread of traditional Black Belt material. We wanted to create a course that reviewed that material but also focused on the larger concerns and issues of those Black Belt personnel within an organization who are close to or within top management.”
To accomplish this, the new Master Black Belt program has added several areas of focus not typically included in Six Sigma training:
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Leading Change: The vision and strategy of an organization’s leadership can have a huge impact on the overall performance of process management and, relatedly, on the organization’s Six Sigma initiatives.
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Process Management: An understanding of the larger framework of process management will lead to a greater realization of how Six Sigma can be most effectively applied.
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Key Financial Indicators: Because the changes that Six Sigma initiatives bring to organizational processes have a financial impact, it is imperative to understand the connection between process management measurements and key financial statements such as profit & loss statements, balance sheets and cash flow.
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Project Management: Studying the classic approaches to project management leads to a better deployment of the Six Sigma methodology and what it can attain.
- Design for Six Sigma (DMADV): Design may be a factor in many improvement initiatives. Grasping its complexities will allow for smoother and more effective Six Sigma deployments.
