Six Sigma Yellow Belt Body of Knowledge

Internationally Recognized, Open Source Six Sigma Standards

The below body of knowledge represent the minimum required standards set by the Management and Strategy Institute (MSI) for understanding of Six Sigma principles at the Yellow Belt level.  Elements do not necessarily need to be presented in the order shown below.  Trainers and organizations are encouraged to teach additional information above and beyond these standards at each level.
 
Body of Knowledge
  1. General Topics
    1. History and overview of Six Sigma
    2. y = f(x)
    3. Process Variances
    4. TQM and other competing quality process improvement methods
    5. Understanding and recognizing opportunities to use Six Sigma within an organization
    6. Managing and understanding Quality as seen by the customer
    7. Deciding when to start a Six Sigma project
    8. Organizational Roles and Responsibilities of project members
    9. DMADV (Design for Six Sigma) variation

  2. DMAIC – Define
    1. Defining a project
    2. The project charter
    3. Developing the business case
    4. Developing the project team
    5. Define Phase Review

  3. DMAIC – Measure
    1. Process Mapping
    2. Basic Six Sigma statistics
    3. Cause & Effect
    4. Basic data collection
    5. Variation
    6. FMEA & Gage R&R
    7. Measure phase review

  4. DMAIC – Analyze
    1. Verify root causes
    2. Analyzing opportunities
    3. Analyze phase review

  5. DMAIC – Improve
    1. Brainstorming
    2. Improvement opportunities
    3. Plan for implementation
    4. Improve phase review

  6. Control
    1. Control plan
    2. Final tollgate
Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Body of Knowledge
The following additional components are required for Lean Six Sigma at the Yellow Belt level.  This only applies if Lean methodology is being taught.
 
Lean Components
  1. Basics of Lean
  2. Muda, Mura Muri
  3. Kanban
  4. Just-in-time
  5. Kaizen
  6. 5S
  7. Push vs Pull
  8. TIMWOOD

Body of Knowledge Area Breakdown:

History of Six Sigma

Should be able to define Six Sigma and have a general understanding of the history of Six Sigma and its application.

y = f(x)
Basic understand the function of y=f(x)

Process Variances
Should have a basic understanding of identifying where variances are occurring in a function.

TQM & others
Have an understanding of the other process improvement methodologies and how they differ from Six Sigma.

Recognizing opportunities
Understand Six Sigma philosophies and how to recognize opportunity.

Managing Quality
Understand how to frame quality into what is important to the customer.

Deciding to start a Six Sigma project
Understand the “how and why” regarding a company launching a quality improvement initiative like Six Sigma.

Organizational Roles and Responsibilities
Understand how team are formed and the role of each belt level within the Six Sigma project.

The DMAIC Method
Understand and define DMAIC.  Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control.

Why is DMAIC used
Understand why the DMAIC process is utilized.

DMADV variation
Understand the basis of DMADV (Design for Six Sigma) when you do not have an existing system or process to improve upon.

Project Communication
Understand why continual communication is critical to the success of the project.

Supporting Delivery
Understand the critical role that a Yellow Belt, or “Subject Matter Expert” plays within the Six Sigma team.

Certifications aligned to this standard:

Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification from MSI:

Practice Tests: