World class performance - 10%
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Continuous improvement |
- The learning element ‘continuous improvement’ reviews the history, values, and principles of the most common process improvement methodologies. Also, the culture within a continuous improvement organization as well as roles and responsibilities are reviewed.
- The candidate can…
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understand the origins of quality management, TPM, kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma and Agile.
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propagate the Lean Six Sigma philosophy and principles.
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deploy a continuous improvement culture within the organization, which represents the collective values, beliefs, and principles.
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assess and deploy the organization's maturity level of the organization, which is a combination of developing people and process.
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promote the various continuous improvement roles and responsibilities.
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Customer value (VOC & CTQ) |
- The learning element ‘customer value’ reviews customer identification (internal/external), customer requirements and the Critical to Quality (CTQ)-measure.
- The candidate can…
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prioritize and translate the Voice of the Customer (VOC) requirements into internal specification requirements.
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differentiate customer experience into dissatisfied, expected, satisfied and desired quality levels (e.g. KANO model).
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translate the Voice of the Customer (VOC) into external Critical to Qualities (CTQs) and internal Critical to Qualities (CTQs).
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construct a Critical to Quality (CTQ) flowdown that represents the key measurable characteristics of a product or process whose performance standards or specification limits must be met.
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Policy development and deployment - 10%
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Policy development |
- The learning element ‘policy development’ explains the importance of a so-called True North and how to develop an operational excellence strategy.
- The candidate can…
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describe how Operational Excellence can be applied to processes in different types of enterprises.
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define a transition roadmap for a continuous improvement policy development and deployment program.
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define and implement a process of business performance management, which includes developing metrics as well as collecting, analyzing, and reporting data about the performance of the organization.
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evaluate financial measures e.g. cost of poor quality (COPQ), total cost of quality, working capital (WC) and inventory turn ratio (ITR)
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Policy deployment |
- The learning element ‘policy deployment’ is focusing on the execution process of the improvement strategy. Within this element financial and performance metrics will be reviewed.
- The candidate can…
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describe the impact breakthrough projects can have on process owners, internal and external customers, and other stakeholders.
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facilitate initiatives and apply techniques to manage change and overcome resistance (e.g. Kübler Ross, stakeholder analysis, Kotter approach).
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propagate long term and meaningful objectives such as sustainability, dignity.
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create an inspiring and healthy work environment throughout the organization.
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demonstrate team progress in relation to goals, objectives and other metrics that support team success.
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reward and recognize the team for its accomplishments.
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describe and apply techniques that motivate team members and support and sustain their participation and commitment.
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support the organization in the strategic planning process, applying Hoshin Kanri.
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understand how Hoshin Kanri forms the link between policy development and policy deployment.
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Competence development |
- The learning element ‘competence development’ reviews how to develop those who need to ensure that the strategy is implemented successfully.
- The candidate can…
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guide people through the four stages of competence development including lessons learned from former projects.
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apply coaching and intervision to those involved in continuous improvement (e.g. Toyota Kata).
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use appropriate communication methods (both within the team and from the team to various stakeholders) to report progress.
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conduct milestone reviews and support the overall success of the project.
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Project management - 8.5%
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Managing a project |
- The learning element ‘managing a project’ reviews how to set up, plan and execute a project.
- The candidate can…
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define project selection criteria.
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identify continuous improvement opportunities.
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apply project selection techniques to select the projects that contribute to the strategy of the organization.
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develop the project charter in relation to customer requirements and business goals.
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develop and evaluate the problem statement, project boundaries (scope), objectives, benefits, and measurable targets for the project.
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support Green Belts in developing their project charter.
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apply techniques to select team members (e.g. MBTI, Belbin).
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facilitate the team through the classic stages of development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
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select and construct time management techniques.
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set up team meetings, tollgates and publish agendas and ensure that the proper people and resources are available.
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ensure that the project will meet its requirements for time, quality, and costs.
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manage the project and apply the proper tools and techniques.
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Process improvement roadmaps |
- The learning element ‘process improvement roadmaps’ reviews a number of roadmaps, including PDCA and DMAIC.
- The candidate can…
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apply project management methods that can be used in the workplace for kaizen initiatives (e.g. PDCA, A3-report).
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apply the DMAIC roadmap for Lean and Six Sigma projects.
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select the proper tools to use during the project.
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facilitate the problem-solving process (e.g. 8D approach).
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facilitate self-organizing teams.
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define clear boundaries for self-organizing teams.
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propagate Scrum in product development and continuous improvement initiatives.
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describe the DMADV-roadmap for Design for Six Sigma projects.
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Creating a solid foundation - 1.5%
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Professional work environment |
- The learning element ‘professional work environment’ is about good housekeeping and how to set up a proper and safe work environment in a structured manner.
- The candidate can…
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develop an organized work environment by applying 5S (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain).
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understand that an organized environment will improve safety and moral.
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Standardized work |
- The learning element ‘standardized work’ is about implementing and improving standards and protocols.
- The candidate can…
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standardize tasks and processes to establish the foundation for continuous improvement.
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develop or modify documents, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and one-point-lessons to ensure that the improvements are sustained over time.
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implement Training Within Industry (TWI) principles in the organization.
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Quality management |
- The learning element ‘quality management’ is about developing procedures to identify and detect defects. Also preventing mistakes and avoiding problems is part of this element.
- The candidate can…
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propagate the quality management system and procedures.
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facilitate the evaluation of processes, including auditing (internal / external) and identification of opportunities for improvement.
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Creating a continuous improvement culture - 3.5%
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Visual management |
- The learning element ‘visual management’ reviews how to set up a workplace that is organized and self-explaining.
- The candidate can…
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develop the elements of Visual Workplace.
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describe how they can help to control the improved process.
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Performance management |
- The learning element ‘performance management’ reviews how to set targets, and how to organize the work to be done. The learning element also reviews how to facilitate improvement teams at the shopfloor that work on kaizen improvement initiatives and Problem Solving.
- The candidate can…
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implement and facilitate stand-up meetings to drive continuous improvement initiatives.
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understand basic principles of Scrum.
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describe and propagate the kaizen principles.
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empower improvement teams and facilitate kaizen events.
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develop root cause analysis, recognize the issues involved in identifying a root cause.
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analyze problems by applying problem solving process and tools.
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Basic quality tools |
- The learning element ‘basic quality tools’ reviews techniques to visualize data and guidelines how to facilitate and participate in brainstorm sessions.
- The candidate can…
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apply brainstorm techniques: Affinity diagram, 5-Why's and Ishikawa.
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apply and analyze the outcome of basic quality tools to visualize data: Scatter plot, Pareto chart, Bar chart, Pie chart, Time Series Plot, Histogram and Box plot.
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Creating stable and efficient processes - 30%
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Process mapping |
- The learning element ‘process mapping’ reviews a number of tools to map and analyze the flow of a process.
- The candidate can…
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distinguish between key process input variables and key process output variables based on a high-level process map e.g. SIPOC.
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apply process mapping to visualize the flow of activities and decisions within a process.
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Performance metrics |
- The learning element ‘performance metrics’ reviews performance metrics for both logistics as for quality.
- The candidate can…
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calculate and analyze performance metrics related to time (e.g. takt time, cycle time, lead time, queue time, WIP and OEE).
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apply Little's Law.
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distinguish and calculate performance metrics related to quality (e.g. ppm, DPMO, DPU and RTY).
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describe the difference between a defect and a defective.
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calculate rolled throughput yield for a number of defects.
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Basic statistics |
- The learning element ‘basic statistics’ reviews different types of data, measurement scales and data collection tools. Also, a set of measures (statistics) that characterizes a given set of data are reviewed.
- The candidate can…
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propagate the importance of reliable and accurate data.
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describe and distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data (continuous and discrete data).
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define and analyze nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio measurement scales.
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apply Likert scale to convert an ordinal scale into a discrete interval scale.
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define and analyze tools for collecting data e.g. data sheets, check sheets, concentration diagrams and questionnaires.
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calculate population parameters and sample statistics: measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, ratios, and proportions.
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Value stream analysis |
- The learning element ‘value stream analysis’ reviews how to create a Value Stream Map of the current situation.
- The candidate can…
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distinguish value adding from non-value adding and necessary activities.
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apply Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to construct a Current State Map of the process to identify waste and non-value adding activities.
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understand the way process mining can support the analysis of flow within the organization.
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recall what product attributes are needed for process mining.
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Reducing Muda (Waste) |
- The learning element ‘reducing Muda’ reviews how to identify and eliminate Waste in the organization and its processes.
- The candidate can…
identify and analyze process Waste (Muda): Overproduction, Waiting, Transport, Overprocessing, Inventory, Movement, Defects and Unused expertise. |
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Reducing Muri (Overburden) |
- The learning element ‘reducing Muri’ reviews how to identify overburden in the organization. This element also reviews how to implement flow and work balancing to reduce overburden.
- The candidate can…
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describe the importance of flow for reducing Muri.
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develop flow in the organization.
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describe the importance of Work balancing for reducing Muri.
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develop Work balancing.
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describe how competence management supports the reduction of Muri.
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set up and apply a competence management system.
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Reducing Mura (Unevenness) |
- The learning element ‘reducing Mura’ reviews how to identify unevenness in the organization and its processes. This element also reviews a number of techniques to reduce unevenness.
- The candidate can…
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describe the importance of pull for reducing Mura.
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develop and implement pull in the organization by applying Kanban systems.
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implement a balanced process flow by both volume leveling, type leveling and one piece flow.
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differentiate between the different order fulfilment strategies.
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reduce change over times by implementing Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED).
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Value stream improvement |
- The learning element ‘value stream improvement’ reviews how the techniques and tools that reduce Muda, Muri and Mura can be applied in constructing a Future State Value Stream Map.
- The candidate can…
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define the gap between the current state and the target condition.
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develop a Future state map using Value Stream Mapping (VSM).
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apply techniques to reduce Muda, Mura and Muri.
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Process and quality control |
- The learning element ‘process and quality control’ looks at how results that have been achieved in process improvement projects can be sustained. This element reviews the following techniques and principles: Process FMEA (pFMEA), Control plan, Jidoka and Poka Yoke.
- The candidate can…
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deploy the importance of the First Time Right principle.
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implement a culture of stopping to fix problems to get quality right the first time.
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empower the work force to stop the line when there is a quality problem (Jidoka).
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apply Poka Yoke to prevent quality problems.
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prepare all elements of a Process FMEA (pFMEA), calculate the risk priority number (RPN) and action priority (AP).
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review the effect of FMEA results on processes, products, and services.
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prepare a control plan to document and hold gains.
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define controls and monitoring systems.
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transfer of responsibility from the project team to the process owner.
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Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) |
- The learning element ‘total productive maintenance’ reviews the coherence between reliable systems and equipment and continuous improvement.
- The candidate can…
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describe the eight pillars of TPM and describe how it can be used for process improvement.
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apply elements of TPM to control the improved process.
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calculate the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) performance metric.
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calculate utilization.
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Creating capable processes - 31.5%
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Statistical techniques |
- The learning element ‘statistical techniques’ reviews a number of metrics that are often used in Six Sigma projects. The element also reviews a number of sampling methods for assuring data accuracy and integrity.
- The candidate can…
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evaluate special cause and common cause variation.
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develop and apply appropriate sampling methods that ensure representative data e.g. random sampling, stratified sampling and systematic sampling.
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calculate power and sample size for common hypothesis tests.
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Distributions |
- The learning element ‘distributions’ reviews a number of continuous and discrete distributions. The element also reviews the central limit theorem and a number of probability concepts.
- The candidate can…
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interpret Probability Density Functions and Cumulative Distribution Functions.
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apply continuous distributions: Normal, Weibull, Student’s t, Chi square, Fdistribution, Lognormal and Exponential distribution.
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apply normality test (Anderson-Darling) describe shape parameters (Skewness and Kurtosis).
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apply discrete distributions: Poisson, Binomial.
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apply the central limit theorem.
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identify non-normal data and use Box-Cox or Johnson transformation.
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Measurement systems |
- The learning element ‘measurement systems’ reviews how to evaluate measurement systems.
- The candidate can…
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define and implement measurement methods for both continuous and discrete data.
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analyze measurement systems for continuous data.
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interpret repeatability and reproducibility (R&R), stability, bias, linearity, precision to tolerance and number of distinct categories.
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analyze measurement systems for qualitative properties.
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establish attribute agreement within appraiser, between appraisers and appraisers versus standard.
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Hypothesis testing and confidence intervals |
- The learning element ‘hypothesis testing and confidence intervals’ reviews test methods that are used to test a hypothesis. This learning element also discusses confidence intervals that indicate the reliability of test conclusions.
- The candidate can…
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define and analyze the significance level, power, type I and type II errors in statistical tests.
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calculate confidence, prediction, and tolerance intervals.
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distinguish between statistical and practical significance.
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Tests for means, variances, and proportions |
- The learning element ‘tests for means, variances and proportions’ reviews the most common hypothesis tests to investigate the difference between population means (μ); difference in variances (σ); difference in proportion (p) and difference in counts (λ). Also, the ANOVA analysis is reviewed.
- The candidate can…
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apply and analyze hypothesis tests for means.
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apply and analyze hypothesis tests for variances.
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apply ANOVA and analyze the results and the main effect and interaction plots.
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apply and analyze hypothesis tests for proportions.
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apply and analyze Chi-square goodness-of-fit test and Contingency tables.
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apply and analyze non-parametric tests: Mann-Whitney, Kruskal Wallis and Mood's median test.
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Correlation and regression |
- The learning element ‘correlation and regression’ describes the predictive models using regression techniques to determine the relation between factors on a response.
- The candidate can…
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calculate and analyze the correlation coefficient and determine its statistical significance (p-value).
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recognize the difference between correlation and causation.
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apply linear and polynomial regression analysis.
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analyze the regression model for estimation and prediction.
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interpret the residual analysis to validate the model.
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apply attributes data using (binary) logistic regression to investigate sources of variation.
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apply multivariate studies such as principal components and factor analysis.
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Process capability and performance |
- The learning element ‘process capability and performance’ explains process capability and performance in relation to specification limits.
- The candidate can…
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apply and analyze process capability studies.
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develop sampling plans to verify stability.
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calculate and analyze Cp and Cpk to assess process capability.
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describe and use appropriate assumptions and conventions when only short-term data or attributes data are available and when long-term data are available.
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analyze the relationship between long-term and short-term capability.
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calculate and analyze Pp and Ppk to assess process performance.
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interpret the relationship between capability and performance indices.
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calculate the process capability and process sigma level for attribute data.
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Design of Experiments (DOE) |
- The learning element ‘Design of Experiments’ reviews efficient ways of experimenting. Design of Experiments examines the influence of factors and interactions on a process.
- The candidate can…
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design experiments by determining the objective, selecting factors, responses and measurement methods.
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apply DOE elements: responses, factors, levels, transfer function, run order, randomization, balanced designs, residual error, main effects, interaction effects, replicates, repetitions, curvature and center points.
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design and analyze full factorial experiments.
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understand and apply contrast, covariate, blocking.
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design and analyze fractional factorial experiments and describe how confounding affects their use.
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understand and apply alias tables and folding.
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design and analyze Response Surface Models (RSM) such as Box Behnken and Central Composite Designs.
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analyze the response surface using path of steepest ascent and apply Evolutionary Operations (EVOP).
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Statistical Process Control (SPC) |
- The learning element ‘Statistical Process Control’ explains the controls methods used to identify out-of-control situations and deviations over time. Different types of SPC charts are reviewed.
- The candidate can…
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describe the objectives of SPC.
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select and construct the following types of control charts: Xbar-R, Xbar-S, individuals and moving range (I MR), median, p, np, c, u, short-run SPC and moving average.
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interpret control charts and distinguish between common and special cause variation using rules for determining statistical control.
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Creating future-proof processes - 5%
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Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) |
- The learning element ‘Product Lifecycle Management’ reviews the entire lifecycle of products from inception, engineering, and manufacturing to service and disposal.
- The candidate can…
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understand the lifecycle for products from creation, engineering, manufacturing to service and disposal.
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participate in new product and process development.
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Design for Six Sigma |
- The learning element ‘design for Six Sigma’ reviews a number of methodologies and techniques that can be applied within Design for Six Sigma, such as Quality Function Deployment, Reliability engineering and Tolerance analysis.
- The candidate can…
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understand the impact of design for excellence and modularization on cost, manufacturability, producibility and maintainability.
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understand that QFD can be applied to translate customer requirements into product performance measures.
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describe key functions of a design, the primary potential failure modes relative to each function and the potential causes of each failure mode.
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describe critical parameter management (CPM) and the DMADV roadmap.
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understand that reliability specifications and design tests can be used to demonstrate reliability specifications.
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understand basic principles of failure rate function of lifetime tests.
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understand the basic principles of tolerance analysis using worst case, RSS, Monte Carlo and empirical methods.
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The fourth industrial revolution |
- The learning element ‘the fourth industrial revolution’ reviews the role of continuous improvement methodologies that currently used and the fourth industrial revolution.
- The candidate can…
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understand the future of operational management.
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describe elements of Industry 4.0.
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Use this quick start guide to collect all the information about EXIN LSSBB Certification exam. This study guide provides a list of objectives and resources that will help you prepare for items on the EXIN LSSA Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSSBB) exam. The Sample Questions will help you identify the type and difficulty level of the questions and the Practice Exams will make you familiar with the format and environment of an exam. You should refer this guide carefully before attempting your actual EXIN LSSA Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification exam.