Six Sigma Black Belts: The Leaders That Enable The Company To Sail Through

The Six Sigma concept was first developed by Motorola. The first Black Belt program to train the company experts in the concept kicked off in 1990. The Six Sigma Research Institute started functioning a year later. By the end of 1992 the first Black Belts started working in companies in the US and Asia. Renowned companies such as IBM, Digital Equipment, Kodak became eager to implement the new methodology and enhance their production quality, by participating in a mutually beneficial training program and have their Black Belts. Since then, the number of Black Belts has increased significantly.

The Six Sigma methodology is becoming increasingly popular as a tool that effectively enhances the quality of company products and services. The method is vastly popular as it is aimed at reducing production process defects and involves the cooperative efforts of the entire company staff and, most importantly, the company management staff.

In Six Sigma methodology the company management staff are referred to as Black Belts. The term is suggestive of martial arts, and it really originated from that sphere. The company Black Belts are confident, organized and knowledgeable, as a result of their training in the philosophy of Six Sigma. That philosophy is based on statistical methods and its ultimate goal is to attain customer satisfaction, by continuously improving the company activities and reducing the incidence of defects or errors to the minimum.

Black Belts are supervised by Master Black Belts whose tasks are continuous consulting, monitoring and training of Black Belts and other lower level employees who are referred to as Green Belts in Six Sigma parlance. Black Belts and Master Black Belts carry out the Six Sigma methodology into practice with dedication, discipline and punctuality. The bottom line is the nearly flawless production or services which satisfy even the most stringent requirements of customers. The Black Belt and Master Black Belt terms have stuck and are synonymous with highly effective management. A plethora of Green Belt, Black Belt and Master Black Belt training opportunities are available all year round, and the whopping number of training courses testifies to the high interest on part of a multitude of companies. Because the Six Sigma approach is based on team work, Black Belt curricula are aimed at training experts and management staff in managing and organizing the staff, taking into consideration team dynamics and employing business awareness.

Because terms such as Black Belt or Green Belt are typically associated with aggression, with the person on the ready to assault, they are considered somewhat embarrassing. Some companies are trying to get rid of such associations and are beginning to introduce other terms more pertinent to the nature of the company management staff activities. Terms like Expert or Guide instead of Black Belt and Master Expert or Master Guide instead of Master Black Belt are more consistent with the activities of such staff. Some wordsmiths have introduced terms such as "Unmatchable Excellence" to denote the activity of experts; the term is both inspiring and obliging.


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Casey Trillbar is the editor of SixSigmaTrainingGuide.com, which is a website aimed at supplying articles, information and resources to people considering undergoing Six Sigma Certification. http://www.sixsigmatrainingguide.com