Where to get a Black belt certification

In your opinion which intuition, university or organization is the best one to get a Black belt certification from?

Personally, I'd say none of them, forget about getting a black belt. My advice would be to take the time, money, and effort you would have put into getting a black belt and apply it to mastering and applying the basics of quality as taught by folks like Shewhart, Ishikawa, Wheeler, Deming, etc. If you really want a certificate of some type, look into an ASQ cert like QCE, CMQOE, etc. which covers a broader range of material. I have yet to personally see a company gain a net benefit from their investment into six sigma, and there are lots of similar reports out there. YMMV.

A black belt cert is worth the time and financial resources, I would urge you to evaluate 3-4 good institutions, or certification firms. A bit to Mike's point, this subject is the subject of much discussion, more than anything I have found that a good course does in fact address other area such as Shanin, etc., but to the point a good well structured course forces you or trains you to analyze a problem and use a set of structured (the enginnering method) tools and methods to solve problems. The problem many many well meaning firms encounter is a half-hearted adoption of Six Sigma, or really any business tool. If the business tool is not fully embraced and sufficient resources applied, then the results usually reflect this. Hope this helps...

I am one of those that are in favor of Six Sigma. My company has had an active Six Sigma program going for over 15 years and has achieved major benefits in productivity, lead time reduction and quality. The success was so great in manufacturing that the purely transactional functions are now the major source of demand. The best Six Sigma program will be the one that you develop and custom fit to the needs of your company. However, if your company has not started the journey yet, there are a few decent programs out there:

• (broken link removed) (formerly BMGI)
• Moresteam
• Six Sigma Academy
• Air Academy Associates

I do not recommend any of the programs offered through universities nor the ASQ certification.

Roger that to Miner's point....most or many of "us", think of six sigma in purely manufacturing terms or context...but the program I was certified under devoted considerable time to "Transactional" challanges or opportunities

I got my Black Belt through ASQ. I can offer it was a critical piece for my current employer's hiring decision and at what professional level. I use it but rarely, though the DMAIC and project management principles apply widely. Some employers are really into it, while others not so much.

It would be difficult to advice which agency is best as I have only used the one.

Contrary to what some training companies will tell you, transactional six sigma is very different from manufacturing six sigma. At the green belt level, there is much commonality, but at the black belt level, there are major differences in the needs. For example, you will rarely need DOEs in transactional. Transactional data is rarely normally distributed. Most transactional processes are nonexistent and must be designed.

Miner said:

Contrary to what some training companies will tell you, transactional six sigma is very different from manufacturing six sigma.

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Yes, very. I am much more comfortable with transactional but get looks as though it isn't real.

Thank you all for your input and recommendations.
One question, why do you consider better the listed programs over the universities or ASQ?

juan_mexia said:

Thank you all for your input and recommendations.
One question, why do you consider better the listed programs over the universities or ASQ?

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First and foremost, the number of contact hours in the university programs is extremely low compared to the ones I listed. Villanova University's Lean Six Sigma certificate program doesn't even offer credit for the course. The courses that I have investigated are inconsistent in content, often deviate from the industry accepted content, and are usually at an Knowledge or Comprehension level of detail, not an Application level. ASQ is basically: Here's the name of a few books, purchase and read them, pay us the money, tell us you did a project , and take a test. These 3rd-party organizations teach a consistent approach at the Application level of detail for the necessary number of contact hours. The best program will always be an internally taught program where you can tailor the examples and exercises to company specific problems.