Why CSSBB with SQI
Even though I have been trained in Lean and Six Sigma by my company, I have been seeking a different experience on Six Sigma from a different delivery method. A quick search online will show many private institutions offering courses on Six Sigma in Singapore. Accreditation is important for Six Sigma courses. Globally, the two main bodies accrediting Six Sigma is either the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt by the American Society of Quality (ASQ) or Lean Six Sigma Black Belt by the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC).
Typically for US companies (including my company), they recognize ASQ certifications more. And in Singapore, the main local chapter is the Singapore Quality Institute (SQI). Back in May 2015 when I tried to get more information Six Sigma courses with SQI, I find the website was not very well updated and the location of the institute was located at West Coast Recreation Center. I had a chance to meet up with the Marketing Manager and the Course Coordinator to understand more about the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) course.
One of the reason why I have decided on the CSSBB course with SQI is:
- The lecturers looked very experienced. Just by simple observation, I can tell they have decades of experience behind them.
- Local context examples which is more applicable in Singapore and Asia context (compared to US)
- Long-running course which is now into its 20th intake
- Strong vigor in learning and application - there's an exams element as well as project mentoring. Throughout the course, we will get to understand many fundamentals which textbooks or companies do not teach us.
- Part-time schedule. I do not have to be away from work to take a 4-weeks full-time course.
- It is the cheapest Six Sigma course. The course fee was around $4,700 in all for members. I am self-sponsoring for the course so this is also taken into consideration.
Class in context
I signed up for the CSSBB 20th intake class as I will be in Singapore between the period of August to November. There were 9 students in the class, and we came from different industry: ranging from finance, logistics, sales and manufacturing.
The classes were held 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7pm - 10pm over 36 lessons. It spanned over a 3 months period. We have to meet at least 70% course attendance. As a student, I will say the schedule is pretty intensive and all of us have to forgo any leisure, family or friends time over the 3 months period. Happy hour on Friday is also gone due to class.
Below is a class in progress with our course coordinator Mr Too. He put in a lot of efforts to explain the complex terms in easy to understand structure. The other course lecturers are Mr Teo, Ms Thia and Timothy.
Learning about Six Sigma
For those who are new to Six Sigma, I will summarize what is Six Sigma below. It is both an improvement strategy that companies can adopt as well as a structured problem solving method. The structured method is the Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control steps. And in each of the steps, there are many tools and methods that people can use to solve problems systematically. Central to Six Sigma are the many statistical tools that Six Sigma folks use to problem solve. Typically Six Sigma training also cover Lean tools and methods. The SQI CSSBB course also cover that.
The SQI CSSBB course touches and explain on the statistical concepts and applications very deeply. This is critical to understand the core tools of six sigma well.
Compared to the Six Sigma training I received in my company, I find the delivery method by the local lecturers are amazing. The lecturers frequently challenge our knowledge and ideas, and the lessons are peppered with many interesting examples and stories.
Secondly, as the students come from different industries, there are many things to share and talk about in class. I will say the 3 months intensive period is very well spent learning from the lecturers and fellow students.
We also have several hands on session such as FMEA, playing with Catapult (as seen below) and learning how to use Minitab for Statistical analysis.
Shifting to new premises
Towards early November 2015, SQI started the shift of its premises to Peace Center (picture below). We were one of the first group of students to attend classes at the new SQI center. The location is definitely much better compared to Clementi. The vicinity is more vibrant as it is right smack in the city center.
Preparing for exams
As we have a 3 weeks break in between the relocation, as well as a 2 weeks break after our final class, we were all geared up towards our final exams on the 19 Dec (Saturday). The exams has 2 parts to it: First part is 70 MCQ 1 hr 30mins and second part is 7 long questions 3 hours. It has got to be one of the more vigorous exams I have taken these few years since graduation. The exams will be marked by NUS lecturers and the results will be release to us by post 6 weeks later.
Mr Too constantly reminded us to have group study for our exams. Our batch started quite late, only 1.5 months before the exams as the weekly study really drained our energy. There are several advantages to group studies:
1) Sharing of exams questions and resources - when all 9 of us started coming together, we shared all the six sigma resources we have from ASQ sample exams, to textbooks and so on.
2) Discussion and clarification - the discussion and clarification helps to level our understanding. Someone will raise a topic and everyone will learn from the discussion.
3) Chance to have fast food - it is during the study sessions where we have fast food. Our group of 9 is split into 2 locations: Joo Koon Fairprice Hub and Nanyang Polytechnic. The areas to study at Fairprice Hub are the fast food outlets and Nanyang Poly are the study benches (with McDonalds near by).
4) Fun - it's just plain fun. Everyone chatting about different topics - on different industries, job opportunities, life and so on.
According to a classmate, the final exams is mirrored closely to the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook by Kubiak.
Celebrations
After the exams, we went down to Plaza Singapura for celebration lunch. Below is a photo of us celebrating.
We are not yet CSSBB certified. Next we will have to work on a Black Belt project and write a report for submission and presentation.
Even though I have been trained in Lean and Six Sigma by my company, I have been seeking a different experience on Six Sigma from a different delivery method. A quick search online will show many private institutions offering courses on Six Sigma in Singapore. Accreditation is important for Six Sigma courses. Globally, the two main bodies accrediting Six Sigma is either the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt by the American Society of Quality (ASQ) or Lean Six Sigma Black Belt by the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC).
Typically for US companies (including my company), they recognize ASQ certifications more. And in Singapore, the main local chapter is the Singapore Quality Institute (SQI). Back in May 2015 when I tried to get more information Six Sigma courses with SQI, I find the website was not very well updated and the location of the institute was located at West Coast Recreation Center. I had a chance to meet up with the Marketing Manager and the Course Coordinator to understand more about the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) course.
One of the reason why I have decided on the CSSBB course with SQI is:
- The lecturers looked very experienced. Just by simple observation, I can tell they have decades of experience behind them.
- Local context examples which is more applicable in Singapore and Asia context (compared to US)
- Long-running course which is now into its 20th intake
- Strong vigor in learning and application - there's an exams element as well as project mentoring. Throughout the course, we will get to understand many fundamentals which textbooks or companies do not teach us.
- Part-time schedule. I do not have to be away from work to take a 4-weeks full-time course.
- It is the cheapest Six Sigma course. The course fee was around $4,700 in all for members. I am self-sponsoring for the course so this is also taken into consideration.
Class in context
I signed up for the CSSBB 20th intake class as I will be in Singapore between the period of August to November. There were 9 students in the class, and we came from different industry: ranging from finance, logistics, sales and manufacturing.
The classes were held 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7pm - 10pm over 36 lessons. It spanned over a 3 months period. We have to meet at least 70% course attendance. As a student, I will say the schedule is pretty intensive and all of us have to forgo any leisure, family or friends time over the 3 months period. Happy hour on Friday is also gone due to class.
Below is a class in progress with our course coordinator Mr Too. He put in a lot of efforts to explain the complex terms in easy to understand structure. The other course lecturers are Mr Teo, Ms Thia and Timothy.
Learning about Six Sigma
For those who are new to Six Sigma, I will summarize what is Six Sigma below. It is both an improvement strategy that companies can adopt as well as a structured problem solving method. The structured method is the Define - Measure - Analyze - Improve - Control steps. And in each of the steps, there are many tools and methods that people can use to solve problems systematically. Central to Six Sigma are the many statistical tools that Six Sigma folks use to problem solve. Typically Six Sigma training also cover Lean tools and methods. The SQI CSSBB course also cover that.
The SQI CSSBB course touches and explain on the statistical concepts and applications very deeply. This is critical to understand the core tools of six sigma well.
Compared to the Six Sigma training I received in my company, I find the delivery method by the local lecturers are amazing. The lecturers frequently challenge our knowledge and ideas, and the lessons are peppered with many interesting examples and stories.
Secondly, as the students come from different industries, there are many things to share and talk about in class. I will say the 3 months intensive period is very well spent learning from the lecturers and fellow students.
We also have several hands on session such as FMEA, playing with Catapult (as seen below) and learning how to use Minitab for Statistical analysis.
Shifting to new premises
Towards early November 2015, SQI started the shift of its premises to Peace Center (picture below). We were one of the first group of students to attend classes at the new SQI center. The location is definitely much better compared to Clementi. The vicinity is more vibrant as it is right smack in the city center.
Preparing for exams
As we have a 3 weeks break in between the relocation, as well as a 2 weeks break after our final class, we were all geared up towards our final exams on the 19 Dec (Saturday). The exams has 2 parts to it: First part is 70 MCQ 1 hr 30mins and second part is 7 long questions 3 hours. It has got to be one of the more vigorous exams I have taken these few years since graduation. The exams will be marked by NUS lecturers and the results will be release to us by post 6 weeks later.
Mr Too constantly reminded us to have group study for our exams. Our batch started quite late, only 1.5 months before the exams as the weekly study really drained our energy. There are several advantages to group studies:
1) Sharing of exams questions and resources - when all 9 of us started coming together, we shared all the six sigma resources we have from ASQ sample exams, to textbooks and so on.
2) Discussion and clarification - the discussion and clarification helps to level our understanding. Someone will raise a topic and everyone will learn from the discussion.
3) Chance to have fast food - it is during the study sessions where we have fast food. Our group of 9 is split into 2 locations: Joo Koon Fairprice Hub and Nanyang Polytechnic. The areas to study at Fairprice Hub are the fast food outlets and Nanyang Poly are the study benches (with McDonalds near by).
4) Fun - it's just plain fun. Everyone chatting about different topics - on different industries, job opportunities, life and so on.
According to a classmate, the final exams is mirrored closely to the Certified Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook by Kubiak.
Celebrations
After the exams, we went down to Plaza Singapura for celebration lunch. Below is a photo of us celebrating.
We are not yet CSSBB certified. Next we will have to work on a Black Belt project and write a report for submission and presentation.
