J-Term Course Teaches 6 Sigma Concepts

11/18/2014 3:19 PM

By Brandon Wallace ‘17

The Foster College of Business offers students with a management major or minor an interesting opportunity over winter break.

In the January-term course Management and Leadership 459, students will be taught by a Caterpillar Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma. The students, sitting alongside other CAT professionals, learn about Lean Six Sigma, a system that relies on collaborative team effort to improve quality and productivity within a business.

In the class, students will get early exposure to key business concepts, such as project chartering, risk assessment, waste elimination, establishment of key process indicators, multi-generation plans, root cause determination, built-in quality, solution evaluation, and implementation planning. Lean Six Sigma is an up-and-coming system being implemented in many organizations, and potential employees with Lean Six Sigma experience will be appealing.

Learning about these concepts won’t be the only benefit of the class; students will also have the opportunity to network. In 2013, 24 CAT employees took the class, including suppliers, dealers and community members. The opportunity to work with and get to know these professionals is is a valuable part of the experience.

After completing the course, all students in the class will receive a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate. The Green Belt level is the second level of the four-level process, and signifies that the individual understands all concepts of Lean Six Sigma and has the ability to perform and implement the tools in a business setting. The next step is a Black Belt, which signifies that the individual has the ability to teach and lead a Lean Six Sigma initiative.

The course will count for three credit hours and can be used as an elective in a management major or minor. However, the course would be beneficial to any business or engineering student as the concepts of Lean Six Sigma can apply to all of the organizations in those industries.

The course will meet from January 12 to January 16 everyday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Westlake Hall.