Online Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Course

12-Week Course

12 Continuing Education Units

120 Military Clock Hours

10 Military Clock Hours / Week

About the Course

Complete the highest level of Six Sigma training from a university with over a decade of experience educating professionals in the foundations and applications of Six Sigma.

The Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt course is designed to help students master the interpersonal and professional skills needed to mentor Black Belt leaders and lead enterprise-wide initiatives. Students will also be taught advanced experiment design methods and strategies for efficiently deploying Lean Six Sigma within an organization, and will review the relationship between the industry, customer and supplier.

This course also includes a required, simulated project that integrates critical topics into every phase of Six Sigma and helps prepare you to immediately apply these advanced concepts in your organization.

Students who successfully complete the Master Black Belt course and class project are eligible to take the Master Black Belt certification exam, offered 100% online through Villanova. Earning the Master Black Belt certification indicates you have mastered the concepts of Lean and Six Sigma and have the skills to lead company-wide projects.

Prerequisites for this course:

Lean Six Sigma Black Belt

Earn a Digital Badge

Villanova students will earn a digital badge when they successfully complete an individual course or full certificate program. These badges help to emphasize their skills and commitment to professional development and enables them to easily share and display the badge on a resume and/or social media.

Curriculum

12 Week Course

Week 1

Strategic Quality Planning and Deployment

Strategic Quality Plans (SQP) – Hoshin Planning, Benchmarking, Voice of the Customer (VOC), Stakeholder Analysis
Organizational Assessment (maturity/organizational readiness models, other models – MBNQA (Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award), ISO (International Organization for Standardization), Shingo Prize, Deming Prize, other quality awards
Relationship between LSS and strategic quality plans
Role of the MBB in strategic quality plan development and deployment

Week 2

Enterprise-Wide Deployment and Management

Project identification, prioritization and qualification
Project definition tools
- QFD (Quality Function Deployment)
- Process maps including VSM (Value Stream Mapping)
- FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis)
- VOC (Voice of the Customer)
- VOP (Voice of the Process)
Implementation, governance and coordination of enterprise-wide LSS activities
Needs assessment and resource planning
Stakeholder engagement/creating commitment
Multi-phase planning, systems thinking and execution
Consistency and quality of team projects

Week 3

Tactics for Successful Lean Six Sigma Projects

Lean Six Sigma methodologies and process analysis tools
Teams, creativity, innovation and managing projects
Team intervention techniques to prevent project team failures
Systems thinking/impact analysis
Managing successful implementations including overcoming resistance/barriers

Week 4

Managing Process, Product Design and Inputs

Robust processes/reliability modeling and relationship of reliability to quality
Review of Taguchi’s loss function and how it relates to reliability
Design for serviceability, design for manufacturability and review
Define:
- DFSS (Design for Six Sigma)
- DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyze, Design, Verify)
- FRACAS (Failure Reporting, Analysis and Corrective Action System)
Rolled throughput yield, MTTF (Mean Time to Failure)/MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures)/MTTR (Mean Time to Repair), exponential reliability function, bathtub curve, etc.
Developing effective supplier partnerships

Week 5

Analytical Tools: Ensuring Useful Data; Financial Data Analysis

Data collection principles (sampling, training, operational definitions, etc.)
Factors affecting sample sizes and measurement assurance/MSA (measurement system analysis) Principles
Evaluation tools for effectiveness of Attributes (Discrete) data (Kappa Coefficient, Intra-class Correlation [ICC], etc.)
Evaluation tools for effectiveness of Variables (Continuous) data (Discrimination, Gage R&R (repeatability and reproducibility) Studies, Bias and Linearity, etc.)
COPQ (cost of poor quality), Cost-Benefit Analysis, ROI (return on investment) and present and future value of money
Opportunity costs, cost savings vs. cost avoidance and activity measures vs. result measures
Life cycle cost planning and Taguchi loss function vs. cost

Week 6

Analytical Tools: Inferential Statistics

Hypothesis tests, confidence intervals, alpha and beta risks, interpreting and calculating p values
Significant differences vs. practical differences
Sample sizes for confidence intervals and power levels
One-Way ANOVA (analysis of variance) with Multiple Comparisons of Means (Tukey, Bonferroni, etc.)
Probability distributions: review Normal, Binomial, F, Hypergeometric, and Chi-Square; expand on use of Bivariate, Exponential, Lognormal, Weibull, and when to use which; assumptions, etc.
Introduce nonparametric statistics (Kruskal-Wallis, Levene’s Test, Mann-Whitney, Mood’s Median, One Sample Sign Test, One Sample Wilcoxon, Pairwise Averages, Pairwise Differences, Pairwise Slopes, Friedman’s F Test)

Week 7

Analytical Tools: Measuring and Modeling Relationships Between Variables

Efficient experiments/screening vs. optimizing designs, repetition vs. replication, robustness, determining statistical significance, etc.
Interpreting results/optimizing: ANOVA, Main Effects, Interaction, and Cube Plots; assess curvature: center points, 3-level designs
Fractional factorial designs: Design Resolution, Fractional Designs, Aliasing/Confounding
Advanced factorial design topics: randomized designs vs. blocked designs/hard-to-change factors, mixtures, missing data, etc.
Latin Square, Graeco-Latin Square, Hyper-Graeco-Latin Square, Simplex-Lattice, EVOP (evolutionary operation), etc.
Multiple linear regression analysis with model validation (RSQ vs. RSQ adj, residual analysis, ANOVA, etc.)
Discuss general linear models (GLM) and assumptions
Outline nested and mixed models, and multivariate analysis

Week 8

Analytical Tools: Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Process Capability - Part 1

Basic and advanced control charts, central limit theorem and variation measures
Capability analysis for optimal quality characteristics, attributes and non-normal data
Proper use of the Motorola 1.5 sigma shift
Process capability

Week 9

Analytical Tools: Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Process Capability - Part 2

Executive leadership roles in LSS – gaining management and grass-root commitment including motivation principles
Organizational culture issues – maturity and objectives alignment
Developing effective organizational structures
Breakdown managing and sustaining change to both process and culture
Link between LSS and management performance objectives

Week 10

Interpersonal Skills for a Master Black Belt

Intervention, communication and influence styles
Managing conflict/mediation skill, negotiation skills, establishing trust, active listening and dealing with difficult people
Team facilitation skills and providing feedback and support on projects

Week 11

Six Sigma Success Factors

Six Sigma success measures – measuring, monitoring, and improving the system – and assessment of the LSS system (maturity models and organizational readiness)
Providing feedback and support to project leaders and organizational LSS leaders
Leadership for the effective deployment of Six Sigma resources (action plans for optimal functioning of MBBs, BBs, GBs, Champions, etc.)
Transitioning ownership of LSS objectives to process owners
Capturing and learning from “lessons learned”/knowledge transference
Promoting Six Sigma/celebrating successes and pitfalls to avoid

Week 12

Professional Development

Coaching and mentoring GBs, BBs, sponsors, etc.
Resource and professional development – developing GBs and BBs including skill, knowledge, ability and attitude development
Providing feedback to executives
Training needs assessment and developing training plans
Self-assessment and MBB career progression

Learning Objectives

Skills Learned

Project Development Team Management Leadership Process Improvement Innovation Data Management Analytics Organizational Effectiveness Six Sigma

What You’ll Study

Developing and Deploying Quality Plans
Enterprise-Wide Deployment Project Tools
Project Implementation and Execution Tactics
Tools for Data and Financial Measuring
Tools for Inferential Statistics Including Modeling and Process Control
Interpersonal and Professional Skill Development to Support Efforts

Related Certificate Programs

Lean Six Sigma Certificate

24+ Weeks

3 Courses

$6,059+

Become a change champion at your company by learning how to identify and solve critical business process problems.

Certification Available

Who Should Register?

The Master Black Belt course is designed for Black Belt leaders who aspire to lead strategic Lean Six Sigma deployments and make long-lasting improvements in organizational effectiveness. To be eligible for the Master Black Belt course and separate certification exam, candidates must complete Villanova’s Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course as a prerequisite. If a candidate holds a Black Belt credential from another organization, this may be considered as a prerequisite with university approval.

Tuition & Payment

Total Course Cost

$3,495

Course offerings and associated prices are subject to change without prior notice. Pricing for multi-course certificate programs varies depending on course selection. View the Professional Education Catalog for more information on the courses and programs.

Payment Options

There are multiple ways to pay for your certificate program. Just let your enrollment representative know the choice that works best for you.