SIX SIGMA CERTIFICATIONS
The Engineering Management Program offers a complete and comprehensive program enabling individuals to earn varying levels of Six Sigma Certification.
The courses associated with each level of Certification have been designed and are taught by faculty with real-world experience in the Quality Sciences. Our faculty have been certifying individuals who have completed this training for the last 10 years.
All of the courses within this program are available via distance learning technology, making certification at the Green, Black, or Master Black Belt levels possible where ever you are in the world. Because the courses are offered asynchronously, you have the flexibility to schedule your learning around your professional and personal commitments.
Private firms often charge $20,000 to $30,000 for Black Belt Training and Certification. As part of the University of Colorado, the Engineering Management Program offers the courses at a standard academic rate, which means you can obtain Black Belt Certification for 30–50% of the usual cost.
Green Belt Certification
Green Belt Certification is obtained by successfully completing the four course sequence necessary to earn a Quality Systems for Product and Process Engineering Certificate. The four courses in this Certificate are:
- EMEN 5040: Quality, Strategy, and Value Creation
- EMEN 5042: Methods for Quality Improvement
- EMEN 5043: Advanced Topics in Quality Systems/Engineering
- EMEN 5900: Research Methods
These courses may be completed as an on-campus student, or taken completely via distance learning technology; so you do not have to be in Colorado or incur travel costs in order to complete the program.
The four courses have been designed to provide one of the most complete and comprehensive training programs available anywhere. Individuals certified as Green Belts as a result of completing this Certificate will have knowledge and skills equal or superior to many working Black Belts in business and industry today.
These four courses may be applied to a Masters Degree (M.E.) in Engineering Management. If you are interested in applying these courses toward a ME in Engineering Management, please contact the Program Administrator prior to completion of the first course.
Black Belt Certification
Black Belt Certification is obtained by successfully completing the four course sequence necessary to earn a Quality Systems for Product and Process Engineering Certificate, and then completing two additional courses (6 courses in total):
- EMEN 5610: Advanced Statistical Methods for Engineering Research
- EMEN 5620: Data Mining and Screening Experiments for Engineering Research
By successfully completing these two additional courses, you will have earned a second Certificate in Engineering Management – Managing Applied Research in Technology – and will be certified as a Black Belt.
These courses may be completed as an on-campus student, or taken completely via distance learning technology; so you do not have to be in Colorado or incur travel costs in order to complete the program.
These courses have been designed to provide one of the most complete and comprehensive training programs available anywhere. Individuals certified as Black Belts as a result of completing these two Certificates will have knowledge and skills equal or superior to many working Master Black Belts in business and industry today.
These courses may be applied to a Masters Degree (M.E.) in Engineering Management. If you are interested in applying these courses toward a ME in Engineering Management, please contact the Program Administrator prior to completion of the first course.
Master Black Belt Certification
Master Black Belt Certification is obtained by successfully completing the four course sequence necessary to earn a Quality Systems for Product and Process Engineering Certificate, then completing the two additional courses necessary to earn a second Certificate in Engineering Management: Managing Applied Research in Technology, and then completing two additional courses (8 courses in total):
- EMEN 5041: Advanced Topics in Value Creation
- EMEN 5050: Leadership
Successful completion of these last two courses results not only in Certification as a Master Black Belt, but earns you a Certificate in Performance Excellence in Technology Management from the Engineering Management Program.
These courses may be completed as an on-campus student, or taken completely via distance learning technology; so you do not have to be in Colorado or incur travel costs in order to complete the program.
These courses have been designed to provide one of the most complete and comprehensive training programs available anywhere. Compare the content of our courses to training offered elsewhere. We believe that you will find that our coursework will provide you with skills and abilities that are equal to some, and far superior to most Master Black Belts in business and industry today.
These courses may be applied to a Masters Degree (M.E.) in Engineering Management. If you are interested in applying these courses toward a ME in Engineering Management, please contact the Program Administrator prior to completion of the first course. By the time you have completed this final step in Six Sigma Belt Certification, you will have completed all but three courses and the capstone project necessary to earn a M.E. in Engineering Management!
| Green Belt Certification |
Additional Courses for Black Belt Certification |
Additional Courses for Master Black Belt Certification |
| EMEN 5040 |
EMEN 5610 |
EMEN 5041 |
| EMEN 5042 |
EMEN 5620 |
EMEN 5050 |
| EMEN 5043 |
|
|
| EMEN 5900 |
|
|
Champion Training
Six Sigma Champion Training is offered in one of two formats:
- A two day seminar offered to the public; or
- A two day seminar, custom designed for and offered at a firm's location; on demand.
Six Sigma Consulting
By obtaining your Six Sigma Certifications from the Engineering Management program at the University of Colorado—Boulder, you can count on additional and future support for you and your firm when and as needed.
If, as a result of your training, you initiate projects that lead to advanced or complex statistical issues, you will be able to obtain assistance from the Center for Statistical Solutions in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, which is affiliated with the Engineering Management Program.
If you run into problems or challenges where assistance is needed in broader business performance issues, the Institute for Business Performance Excellence, a consulting group affiliated with both the Leeds School of Business and the Engineering Management program will also be available to assist you.
Costs
The costs associated with obtaining Six Sigma Certification at any level is more competitive than virtually all other firms or agencies. The cost per course as a distance learning student is $2,004. The cost for each level is determined by the number of courses needed to complete that level (see below) plus the $50 application fee and associated textbooks and computer software.
The tuition costs for each level is:
- Green Belt: $8,016
- Black Belt: $12,024
- Master Black Belt: $16,032
Lower cost options may be available through the Center for Statistical Solutions, a sister organization within the College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Champion Training is priced on a per seminar or engagement basis.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I qualify for Black Belt certification if I have taken EMP courses prior (before Fall 2005) to the introduction of these certificates?
- All of the Black Belt certifications are granted through our industry partner, the ROI Alliance. ROI Alliance agreed to grant these certifications because the curriculum for the courses we offer, as modified in the fall of 2005, covers the required material. If EMP students have taken and satisfactorily completed the required courses after that date they are automatically granted the BB certifications.
- Some of our alumni and current students, such as yourself, took the required courses before the fall semester of 2005 and are still interested in receiving the BB certifications. In this case, there are two options, both of which require that the material is learned and competency in it is demonstrated.
Option 1: Take the required course sequence for credit. Even though students have already taken these courses, they may enroll again, but this time the courses will not be counted towards a graduate degree. This option would work best when the student’s employer will cover the cost of for-credit courses.
Option 2: Purchase the CDs from CAETE for the required courses and contract with Statistical Solutions (a Division of the Center for Computational, Mathematical and Statistical Solutions at CU-Boulder) to administer the exams for each class and notify ROI Alliance that competency has been demonstrated. The current cost for this route is $550/course - $300 to CAETE for the purchase of the CD’s (This pricing is only available to EMP alumni as the normal CAETE rates for purchase of a class is $5000) and $250 to the Center for the grading of the exams and notifying ROI Alliance. Going this route, the extra cost, beyond completion of the EMP degree, will cost anywhere from $550 (if only one course needs to be taken) to $2200 if four classes need to be taken. This route is likely the lowest total cost solution.
Will the Green/Black Belt/Master Black Belt training enable me to take a third-party Black Belt certification test?
At this time there is no national consensus on what a Green, Black, or Master Black Belt should know, and as a result there is high variability in the skills people possess who say they are Black Belts. Two organizations have recently put forward certification tests and seek to become recognized as de facto third-party certification bodies. Third party certification is not required in addition to certification received from the Engineering Management Program. Third party certifications are not considered a professional license, although they do offer some degree of standardization. Our Six Sigma training will prepare you for either third party test. In both exams there are some topics in each that we do not cover, since our experience is that Black and Master Black Belts do not perform those functions, or in the case of ASQ's certification, that the technique is invalid. So if you do want to proceed with third-party certification, we recommend that you reduce your stress by discussing these topics with your instructor and/or by purchasing a study guide from the respective organization.
If I already am certified by another organization as a Green Belt, can I just add the two courses required to become a Black Belt in your program? Or, if I am already certified elsewhere as a Black Belt, will the Engineering Management program accept this certification and allow me to take two additional courses to become a certified Master Black Belt?
There is no national consensus on what a Green, Black, or Master Black Belt should know, and as a result there is high variability in the skills people possess who say they are Green or Black Belts. As a result, and to protect the integrity of our program, we cannot accept outside certification without some analysis of the skills you actually possess. We have created a diagnostic instrument for the Green Belt level, and a second instrument for the Black Belt level. After you take the appropriate exam, we will identify the deficiencies in your previous training, and recommend a potentially modified list of courses you would still have to take in order to be certified in our Green or Black Belt program. It is possible, of course, that there will be no deficiencies identified, and you will be able to proceed to the next level.
