What should my Green Belt Project be? (#25)

When it comes to your Green Belt (or Black Belt) Certification, you can either take an exam through the International Association for Six Sigma Certification (https://www.iassc.org/) or complete a project through SSDSI. Our projects have a typical deadline of six months after your last day of class, but you can take up to one year to complete a project or exam.

What do you have to do to complete a Green Belt Project?

Your Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course provides all of the tools that you will need to use to complete future Lean Six Sigma Projects. To complete your certification, your initial project has several requirements that must be met. These requirements are directly related to the toolset that a Green Belt Practitioner needs to be skilled at. We have several suggestions that would contribute to a successful Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Project.

From the data we have collected, we have seen that a typical Green Belt Project can save the average organization about $150,000. SSDSI does not have a ROI numerical value of savings, however our projects must have a measurable effect on organizational value to meet the necessary requirements. To determine if your project will have a measurable effect, you must develop a Six Sigma Project Charter.

What are the characteristics of a successful Green Belt Project?

First of all, there should not be a readily available solution. If there was, there would be no need for a project at all. A well-developed Six Sigma project will help you find the solution through Analysis.

Secondly, you need to understand how to measure the Output (“Y”) to determine if the project was successful or not. What would be the terms of a good project versus a bad project? Is this line subjective or is it a set standard that can be understood by everyone?

Third, you need to understand how to measure the Input (“X”) in measured and controlled terms. Your Green Belt Project should have inputs that provide Attribute/Discrete Data along with Variable/Continuous Data. To understand the difference in these attributes, read this example. Soda Companies have a specific process to fill their soda bottles the exact same way, every time. Some example “X’s” that a Soda Company could have would be as follows:

  • Fill Date (Discrete)
  • Fill Time (Discrete)
  • Fill Operator (Discrete)
  • Fill Weight (Variable)
  • Fill Height (Variable)
  • Fill Liquid Pressure (Variable)


All of these “X’s” have a measurable impact on the Outputs (“Y”). These inputs can create variation amongst the Outputs, which resulting measurements can vary drastically between good and bad. The “Y” can also measure Capability by using CpK/PpK. Without a set standard for your inputs, the resulting outputs could vary drastically and cause severe amounts of financial and labor-intensive wastes.

When working your Green Belt project, collect past data to fill your Multi-Vari sheet. Excel is a great tool to use in this task, since you can make the spreadsheet visually reflect each “X” and “Y” with the columns and rows. For example, every time a Soda bottle is filled with coke, the measurement for every “X” automatically creates the measurement for every “Y.” If we use a sample size of 150 Soda bottles, we will have 150 rows of data; which will help us perform hypothesis testing and statistical analysis to completely understand the flow of your current process.

One task of your Green Belt Project should be finding the Key Process Input Variables (KPIV’S). However, the inputs that directly affect the KPIV’s may not be so easy to determine. Example: Fill Liquid Pressure is a KPIV; however, the Optimal Pressure Tolerance (Upper Spec Limit, Target and Lower Spec Limit) resulting in an Optimal Product (Output “Y”) is unknown. To find the Optimal Pressure Tolerance, use a Design of Experiments (D.O.E). Results of these experiments may vary between Industrial and Service disciplines in Six Sigma Green Belt Projects.

What is your experience of Six Sigma Green Belt Projects in your organization? Have you used any of the attributes listed above?


About Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc.
We are Certified as an Accredited Training Organization with the International Association of Six Sigma Certification (IASSC)
“The IASSC Accredited Training Organization (ATO) designation validates Six Sigma Development Solutions, Inc. has demonstrated adequate management systems, courseware with a high degree of correlation to the subject matter contained in the IASSC Bodies of Knowledge, delivery schema consistent with such content and highly qualified instructors.”
We Provide Public Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certification Training Courses in 34 Cities across the globe.
Our Training Centers are located in: Albuquerque, New Mexico | Anchorage, Alaska | Atlanta, Georgia | Austin, Texas | Boston, Massachusetts | Calgary, Canada | Charlotte, North Carolina | Chicago, Illinois | Cincinnati, Ohio | Cleveland, Ohio | Columbus, Ohio | Dallas, Texas | Denver, Colorado | Detroit, Michigan | Dubai, UAE | El Paso, Texas | Fort Smith, Arkansas | Honolulu, Hawaii | Houston, Texas | Indianapolis, Indiana | Jacksonville, Florida | Kansas City, Missouri | Las Vegas, Nevada | London, England | Los Angeles, California | Louisville, Kentucky | Memphis, Tennessee | Mexico City, Mexico | Milwaukee, Wisconsin | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Montreal, Canada | Nashville, Tennessee | New Orleans, Louisiana | New York City, New York | Northwest Arkansas | Orlando, Florida | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Phoenix, Arizona | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Portland, Oregon | Raleigh, North Carolina | Salt Lake City, Utah | San Diego, California | Seattle, Washington | St. Louis, Missouri | Tampa, Florida | Toronto, Canada | Vancouver, Canada | Washington, DC

We Provide Onsite Lean Six Sigma Certification Training. Some of the training's we provide are: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt, Lean Six Sigma Champions Training and Lean Certifications for Healthcare, Finance, I.T, Manufacturing, Processing, Logistics, Retail Sales and Government.
SSDSI will come to your site to train for your choice of the Lean Six Sigma Certification Levels. Onsite training is more cost effective than open enrollment training when training larger groups of team members.
Benefits of Onsite Training:
The Training is focused on Your Opportunities
SSDSI uses your opportunities in class (vs. generic examples)
You will get the experience of a seasoned Lean and Six Sigma Master Black Belt who will help mentor you while completing your Lean and Six Sigma Project
You can train up to 20 employees for one fixed cost (this cost includes course ware and the instructors travel & lodging)
Our courses are full of games, simulations, and active learning to help the adult learner
SSDSI can customize the training to meet your company’s particular training needs
Call Kevin Clay at 214-731-3176 or email at kclay@sixsigmadsi.com for more information

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