As a Black Belt, you need to be very familiar with the proper use of key Lean tools in order to apply the right tool to the right job.
As a businessperson in the twenty-first century, you're probably very familiar with the concept of continuous improvement – the consistent and ongoing effort to improve processes, products, or services. And as a certified Six Sigma Black Belt, you will be responsible for showing your company the way to increasing quality and decreasing costs.
In this topic, you will study the foundation and a brief history of various approaches that eventually led to the evolution of Lean and Six Sigma.
The Industrial Revolution and the advent of machines changed the early concept of quality, which was considered hit or miss and largely determined by the skills of individual craftsmen. Since the 1800s, continual innovations in the means of production – tools and machines – resulted in an explosive growth in the production of goods that has continued to this day.
Accompanying this innovation in the means of production is an evolution in the tools, methods, techniques, and approaches used for quality control and continuous process improvement.
Many events, approaches, methods, and tools are important in the history of continuous process improvement. Five important events include the following: