a u d i oc r a s hc o u r s e tm
F o l l o wA l o n gM a n u a l
SIX SIGMA YELLOW BELT
www.AudioLearn.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................... 1 Course Conventions and Content .................................................................................... 3 The Key Takeaways .......................................................................................................... 7 Chapter Two: The CSSYB Exam ................................................................... 9 The Beginning of a Great Career ..................................................................................... 9 The CSSYB Exam ........................................................................................................... 12 Eligibility, Registration, and Scheduling ....................................................................... 14 Preparing for the Exam .................................................................................................. 16 Test Center Regulations ................................................................................................. 19 Results and Retake Policies ........................................................................................... 21 Chapter Two Quiz .......................................................................................................... 23 The Key Takeaways ........................................................................................................ 24 Chapter Three: Bloom’s Taxonomy ........................................................... 27 Chapter Three Quiz ........................................................................................................ 32 The Key Takeaways ........................................................................................................ 33 Chapter Four: Six Sigma’s Fundamentals, Part One .................................. 35 Six Sigma Foundations and Principles .......................................................................... 35 Principle Number One: Customer Focused Improvement. ...................................... 36 Principle Number Two: Continuous Process Improvement ..................................... 38 Principle Number Three: Variation. .......................................................................... 38 Principle Number Four: Removing Waste. ................................................................ 39 Principle Number Five: Equipping People ................................................................ 39
Principle Number Six: Controlling the Process ......................................................... 40 Lean Foundations and Principles .................................................................................. 40 Number One: Overproduction. .................................................................................. 41 Number Two: Correction. .......................................................................................... 41 Number Three: Inventory. ......................................................................................... 42 Number Four: Motion. ............................................................................................... 43 Number Five: Conveyance. ........................................................................................ 43 Number Six: Overprocessing. .................................................................................... 44 Number Seven: Waiting. ............................................................................................ 44 Six Sigma Roles and Responsibilities ............................................................................ 45 Chapter Four Quiz.......................................................................................................... 47 The Key Takeaways ........................................................................................................ 48 Chapter Five: Six Sigma Fundamentals, Part Two ..................................... 50 Types of Teams............................................................................................................... 50 Stages of Development ............................................................................................... 54 Decision Making Tools ............................................................................................... 56 Communication Methods ........................................................................................... 58 Quality Tools and Six Sigma Metrics ............................................................................. 59 Chapter Five Quiz........................................................................................................... 63 The Key Takeaways ........................................................................................................ 65 Chapter Six: The Define Phase, Part One ................................................... 68 Project Identification ..................................................................................................... 68 The Four Steps of Project Identification ....................................................................... 72 Chapter Six Quiz ............................................................................................................ 76
The Key Takeaways ........................................................................................................ 77 Chapter Seven: Define Phase, Part Two .....................................................80 Project Management Basics ...........................................................................................80 Applying Six Sigma to Project Management ................................................................. 84 Chapter Seven Quiz ........................................................................................................ 86 They Key Takeaways ...................................................................................................... 87 Chapter Eight: The Measure Phase ............................................................ 90 Basic Statistics................................................................................................................ 90 Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 93 Measurement System Analysis ...................................................................................... 95 Chapter Eight Quiz ......................................................................................................... 99 The Key Takeaways ...................................................................................................... 100 Chapter Nine: The Analyze Phase, Part One ............................................. 101 Process Analysis Tools ..................................................................................................101 Root Cause Analysis ..................................................................................................... 104 Data Analysis................................................................................................................ 106 Chapter Nine Quiz........................................................................................................ 108 The Key Takeaways ...................................................................................................... 109 Chapter Ten: The Analyze Phase Part Two ............................................... 110 Correlation and Regression ..........................................................................................110 Hypothesis Testing ....................................................................................................... 112 Chapter Ten Quiz .......................................................................................................... 116 The Key Takeaways ....................................................................................................... 117 Chapter Eleven: The Improve and Control Phases .................................... 118
Improvement Techniques ............................................................................................. 118 Control Tools and Documentation ............................................................................... 121 Chapter Eleven Quiz .................................................................................................... 126 The Key Takeaways .......................................................................................................127 Chapter Twelve: Congratulations, You Passed! What’s Next? .................. 129 Final Exam .............................................................................................. 132 The Final Exam ............................................................................................................ 133 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 134
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Welcome to this audio course on preparing for the Certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt exam, also known as CSSYB! I will guide you through the course material. As you may or may not know, Six Sigma is a methodology used to improve any type of workflow or process; it promotes aims of achieving a high level of quality control. Implementing this methodology successfully has a direct and positive impact on an organization's bottom line. Since you’re listening to this audio course, you may already be preparing to take the certification exam. Maybe you’re just looking to explore your options with a career in Six Sigma. Whatever your reasons for listening, I would like to congratulate you on considering such a potentially rewarding career path. The CSSYB exam is administered by ASQ: The American Society for Quality. Certifications by ASQ are highly respected across many industries. Having this credential indicates that you possess the necessary skills to help your organization improve its bottom line. Certification shows that you thoroughly understand the fundamentals of the five stages of the Six Sigma methodology DMAIC. That stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. So, what actually is quality, in terms of Six Sigma? The Six Sigma methodology is all about process improvement. Motorola engineer Bill Smith introduced the methodology in the nineteen eighties. It’s a statistics based strategy to reduce the variation in a process, allowing for consistently positive outcomes. We can consider this idea of variation in terms of defects. The ultimate goal of Six Sigma is this: developing a process that’s ninety nine point nine nine nine six six percent free of defects. In other words, you're shooting for perfection. Fewer defects mean better quality. Better quality means a more successful business. Ultimately, the organization's customers benefit. Six Sigma encourages businesses to zone in on the factors that are most important to customers. 1
The methodology turns the concept of quality into something quantitative – something statistically measurable. Six Sigma is accurate and thorough, saving companies millions of dollars by enabling them to minimize production defects. In fact, General Electric has saved more than one billion dollars thanks to Six Sigma. Customers benefit, profits increase, and everyone wins. The Six Sigma Yellow Belt is an entry level certification. If you’ve decided to take the exam, perhaps you’re completely new to Six Sigma. The good news is, CSSYB certification has no education or work experience requirements. This audio course will give you the foundational knowledge you’ll need to understand the world of Six Sigma. The CSSYB certification indicates to potential employers that you are dedicated to quality and process improvement. Your certification can open doors to positions in Supply Chain Management, Business Process Optimization, and Continuous Improvement Management, among others. The average annual salary you can earn with Yellow Belt certification is sixty six thousand, seven hundred and thirty four dollars. Of course, this number can vary depending on the particular job and industry. Six Sigma projects are usually carried out in larger organizations. Many prestigious employers seek Yellow Belts, including -HSBC, -IBM-, and Accenture. So, getting certified is definitely worthwhile to help you start climbing the career ladder of quality improvement. Yellow Belt job titles include Quality Analyst, Inspector, and various roles in Management, to name a few. After you have some experience as a Yellow Belt, you may decide to work towards further certifications. The next step up in the Six Sigma world is the Green Belt certification. Green Belts often lead projects and have job titles like Process Development Engineer, Project Manager, or Senior Continuous Improvement Specialist. The average annual salary for a Green Belt is seventy four thousand, eight hundred and seventy two dollars. After you have some experience as a Green Belt, you can become a Black Belt. Black Belts earn, on average, ninety nine thousand four hundred and seventy three dollars a year. Some job titles include Operations Director and Senior Business Process Analyst. 2
If you want to keep going even further, you can become a Master Black Belt. The average -MBB- annual salary is one hundred and twenty six thousand, five hundred and twenty one dollars. Job titles for Master Black Belts include Lean Process Improvement Director and Continuous Improvement Site Leader. Teaching and mentoring is often part of an -MBB-'s role. As you can tell, there is a huge range of opportunities in the field of Quality Improvement. Even as a Yellow Belt, your services will be indispensable. So, once again, I’d like to congratulate you on your commendable decision to pursue a career in this field. Our audio course will help you to prepare for the CSSYB exam itself. When you complete the course, you will understand the entire certification process and exactly what the exam involves. Next, I’d like to give you an overview of this course. I will tell you about the content and what you can expect as we go through the material together. Thank you, again, for your interest.
COURSE CONVENTIONS AND CONTENT Welcome to the section on the course conventions and content! When I say course conventions, I’m referring to the methods I’ll use to present the course material to you. There are twelve chapters in this course. Sometimes, I will divide material from larger chapters into smaller sections. At the start of each chapter, I will give a brief introduction about what the chapter will include. Then, I will move on to the actual content. Near the end of every chapter, there will be a short quiz for you to test your understanding and knowledge. The quizzes typically consist of ten questions. You will find the quiz material in the Follow Along PDF manual; I’ll explain more about that in a moment. I encourage you to take the quizzes and consult the answer keys to see how well you are retaining the material. Alternatively, I will discuss the correct answers with you. So, you can pause the audio, take the quiz, and then listen for the correct answers after you resume the audio.
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To help you summarize and retain what you learn, I will end every chapter with a list of takeaways. This list will include the most important information to remember from each chapter. You can expect around ten important points from each one. Earlier, I mentioned a Follow Along PDF Manual. With every AudioLearn course, you get access to a Follow Along PDF Manual. These manuals contain the chapter quizzes and answers, summaries of important information, and links to supplemental information. They also contain your final exam. This course contains a final exam that you can use as a practice exam for the real thing. It consists of one hundred questions and tests you on everything I'll cover in this course. You can print out the PDF manual or simply read it in its digital format. I recommend using your PDF manual to write additional comments and notes as you see fit, so printing it is best. However, if you are only able to listen while commuting to work, for example, you can ignore the manual temporarily. Consult it when you are in a more appropriate setting. You can still get valuable information just by listening to what I have to say. Many learners find repetition to be an extremely effective and helpful technique during their exam preparation. We use this technique in our courses. Soon you will discover that I will repeat many terms and concepts throughout the course. When you hear ideas that have been repeated, even multiple times, take note of them. We consider them to be very important concepts. This repetition ensures that you thoroughly understand those concepts. I am about to cover a great deal of information. I wholeheartedly recommend your listening to every chapter in this course at least twice, or even more. The entire body of material is a lot to take in. It’s likely that you’ll need to listen a few times to fully grasp everything. Now I’m going to outline the material I'll cover throughout this course. I hope this motivates you to want to listen, and to get right into the content. In the next chapter, I will give you an overview of the CSSYB exam. I will explain details such as the types of questions you can expect and other practical things you need to know. I will also cover eligibility requirements for the exam and how to register for and 4
schedule the test. I will talk about the test center regulations and result and retake policies. There is also a section on tips for effective exam preparation. Chapter three is all about Bloom’s Taxonomy. It’s essential that you understand this concept. It indicates the level of complexity of each exam question, helping you to know what is required of you. The next two chapters covers Six Sigma fundamentals. In chapter four, I discuss: •
Six Sigma foundations and principles,
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Lean foundations,
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And Six Sigma roles and responsibilities.
Chapter five builds on this foundation by teaching you about quality tools, Six Sigma metrics, and teams. Let me pause for a second to remind you about DMAIC define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. You're about to hear those phases now. In chapter six, we begin exploring the Six Sigma methodology. The define phase is divided into two chapters. Chapter six covers project identification, while chapter seven concerns project management basics. Chapter eight is all about the measure phase. We’ll cover basic statistics, data collection, and measurement systems. Chapters nine and ten are about the analyze phase. In chapter nine, I explain process analysis tools, root cause analysis, and data analysis. In chapter ten, you’ll learn about correlation and regression and hypothesis testing. Chapter eleven addresses both the improve and control phases. I explain improvement techniques, control tools, and documentation. And finally, chapter twelve contains your final exam. I also explain the next steps for securing your certification, and what happens if you do not pass the test. As you can tell, we have a lot of work to do. Take your time and work at a pace that feels comfortable to you. Listen as often as you can. Make sure you thoroughly understand all the concepts in a particular chapter before moving on to the next one. 5
I recommend that you retake quizzes, especially if you get any questions wrong. This will help you to completely master the course material and better grasp the concepts I present. Remember, the whole purpose of your taking this course is to put yourself in the best position to ace your exam. The more you know the material, the more prepared and confident you will be.
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THE KEY TAKEAWAYS And now, we have reached the end of this introductory chapter! Since this was just an introduction, this chapter does not contain a quiz. But there are some key points to remember. So, let’s go through those takeaways I mentioned. Here are your key takeaways: •
One: The CSSYB exam is administered by ASQ: The American Society for Quality. Certifications by ASQ are highly respected in many industries. Having this certification indicates that you have the necessary skills to help your organization improve its bottom line.
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Two: Six Sigma saves companies millions of dollars by helping them minimize the defects in their processes. Quality is improved, customers are satisfied, and profits increase.
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Three: The Six Sigma Yellow Belt is an entry level certification. It has no education or work experience requirements. The certification shows that you thoroughly understand the fundamentals of the Six Sigma methodology. The methodology consists of five phases: DMAIC. This stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control.
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Four: The average salary you can earn with the Yellow Belt certification is sixty six thousand, seven hundred and thirty four -US dollars. Many prestigious employers seek Yellow Belts, including -HSBC, -IBM-, and Accenture.
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Five: If you decide to progress further in Quality Improvement, you can become a Six Sigma Green Belt. With some experience as a Green Belt, you can become a Black Belt, and eventually, a Master Black Belt.
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Six: Chapter two tells you everything you need to know about the logistics of the exam, including registration and scheduling. Chapter three explains Bloom’s Taxonomy. After that, we work our way through the phases of the DMAIC methodology.
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Seven: The Follow Along PDF Manual contains summaries of important course material as well as links to supplemental information. It contains the quizzes and your final exam. Use the quizzes to test how much knowledge you’ve retained.
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Eight: The final exam contains one hundred questions and is a great way to prepare for the real thing. You can even mimic the actual exam conditions to give you the most realistic practice.
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Nine: When you hear ideas that have been repeated, even multiple times, take note of them. They are important.
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Ten: Listen to every chapter in this course at least twice, or even more. This puts you in the best position to remember everything you need to pass the exam.
OK, that’s all for this introductory chapter. In the next chapter, I will explain everything you need to know about the exam. If you are ready to get started, be sure to have your Follow Along PDF Manual close at hand. Get comfortable, gather all the necessary supplies, and let’s begin!
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To download the audio version of this course, please visit our website WWW.AudioLearn.com
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