The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt is a professional who can explain Six Sigma philosophies and principles, including supporting systems and tools. A Black Belt should demonstrate team leadership, understand team dynamics and assign team member roles and responsibilities. Black Belts have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the DMAIC model in accordance with Six Sigma principles. They have basic knowledge of Lean enterprise concepts, are able to identify non-value-added elements and activities and are able to use specific tools.

Here are the minimum expectations, requirements, experience and exam specifics for a Six Sigma Black Belt

Six Sigma Black Belt requires minimum 3 years experienced in any Domain that is HR / Finance / Operations / Marketing

Will be able to explain six sigma philosophies and principles, including related systems and tools (lean, quality, process/continuous improvement, etc.), and will be able to describe their impact on various business processes throughout the organization.

Will understand the various leadership and six sigma roles and responsibilities. Will recognize organization roadblocks and be able to use change management techniques to manage organizational change.

Will be able to define benchmarking and will understand various financial and other business performance measures. Will be able to identify customer requirements and describe the impact that six sigma projects can have on various types of customers.

Will have a fundamental understanding of the components and techniques used in managing teams, including time management, planning and decision-making tools, team formation, and performance evaluation and reward. Will know how to use appropriate techniques to overcome various group dynamics challenges.

Will understand the elements of a project charter (problem statement, scope, goals, etc.) and be able to use various tools to track the project progress.

Will be able to use customer feedback to determine customer requirements.

Will have a basic understanding of data collection techniques, process elements, and process analysis tools.

Will have a basic understanding of measurement systems.

Will have a basic understanding of probability concepts and distributions.

Will be able to perform statistical and process capability calculations.

Will be able to analyze the results of correlation and regression. analyses. Will be able to interpret multi-vari study results and interpret attributes data to find sources of variation.

Will be able to define multivariate tools.

Will be able to perform hypothesis testing and analyze their results.

Will understand the elements and purpose of FMEA and be able to use root cause analysis tools.

Will be able to identify and interpret the 7 classic wastes.

Will be able to use gap analysis tools.

Will be able to plan design of experiments (DOE) and be able to analyze their results.

Will be able to use various tools to eliminate waste and reduce cycle-time.

Will be able to define kaizen, kaizen blitz, and theory of constraints.

Will have a fundamental understanding of how to implement an improved process and how to analyze and interpret risk studies.

Will be able to implement statistical process control (SPC).

Will understand total productive maintenance (TPM) and visual factory concepts.

Will be able to develop control plans and use various tools to maintain and sustain improvements.

Will understand common DFSS and DFX methodologies, robust design and processes, and techniques for strategic and tactical design

Each certification candidate is required to pass a written examination that consists of multiple choice questions that measure comprehension of the Body of Knowledge.The Six Sigma Black Belt Certification is a four-hour, 150 multiple- choice question examination. It is offered in English. All examinations are open-book. Each participant must bring his or her own reference materials. Use of reference materials and calculators is explained in the seating letter provided to applicants.

The Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook

Six Sigma for the New Millennium: A CSSBB Guidebook, Second Edition

Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods, Second Edition

Applied Data Analysis for Process Improvement: A Practical Guide to Six Sigma Black Belt Statistics

Six Sigma Pocket Guide Collection

Project Portfolio Selection for Six Sigma

Process Improvement Using Six Sigma: A DMAIC Guide

Concepts for R&R Studies, Second Edition