The College of Engineering, and in turn, The University of Oklahoma were the second university in the country to offer certification programs in “lean/six sigma” to their students and to local interested corporate partners in 2006. “Achievement” certificate through Green Belt recognition is offered to interested parties. First workshop, “Lean/Six Sigma Fundamentals”, is over five days and covers the background and essentials of both topics. Green Belt workshop is offered to those who have passed the Fundamentals certification examination. Green Belt workshop also requires successful completion of an end-of-workshop examination. In addition, a project is required to be completed over a six month period. All workshops are offered on OU campus, mostly over weekend dates, one complete sequence (Fundamentals and then Green Belt) during each semester. If there is sufficient interest, a May (weekday) workshop sequence is also offered.

Lean and Six Sigma are benchmark process improvement approaches for manufacturing, and service, in both public and the private sectors. Certification to these topics brings credibility to the practitioner. For more information and for specific dates of the next available workshop sequence, please write to Dr. B. M. Pulat at bpulat@ou.edu.