Key things done by MBB(Master Black Belt) in six sigma:

1. Provide a strategic vision for improvement and work towards its fulfillment.
2. Secure continuing commitment and resources from business leaders.
3. Develop and organize targeted training of the work force in Six Sigma, and participate in providing this training.
4. Help select and certify black belts to be Six Sigma project leaders.
5. Identify Six Sigma projects, establish the teams, help ensure their success and quantify their impact.
6. Serve as a technical and tactical resource to all in implementing Six Sigma.
7. Be untiring Six Sigma advocates and establish and maintain a Six Sigma environment.
8. Be role models for Six Sigma in all undertakings.

To meet these challenges, MBB’s must have some unique personal traits.

These include a quick and agile mind; unflinching drive, enthusiasm and commitment; a good understanding of the business and its goals; strong technical--and quick learning--abilities; a flexible, yet visionary, mindset; uncompromising integrity; and outstanding leadership, communications and diplomatic skills. Not a small order!

Issues faced by MBB's -

First, there is a need to achieve the right level of involvement. MBB’s are held responsible for the success of the Six Sigma effort, in general, and of specific Six Sigma projects, in particular. Their greatest impact is in selecting the “right projects” initially, and in establishing effective project teams. The right projects are ones that have high potential impact, and stand a reasonable chance of success. Selection of the project team starts with finding an effective black belt to lead the project. Then, in collaboration with the black belt, the MBB helps identify a project team that is up to the task, and has the authority to proceed. Once the project is underway, MBBs take a “behind the scenes” role, letting the team do its job. If everything goes right, there is little left to do other than provide encouragement and ensure that the team gets the recognition it deserves. However, things do not always go right. The MBB needs to be sufficiently savvy and on top of things to recognize problems early and help resolve them. Irrespective of how the project is going, MBBs use their experience and understanding to provide useful suggestions. All of this requires a delicate balance between giving the team the freedom to do its job and not micromanaging its activities, and being sufficiently involved to be a positive force, when needed.

In helping make things happen, MBBs need to be positioned to exert friendly clout. MBBs usually do not run any specific line operation, such as manufacturing or engineering. The leaders and members of the Six Sigma teams generally do not report to them directly. So, why should anybody listen to them? This issue must be addressed up front. MBBs need to ensure that there is close collaboration and feedback of information, including performance, to line management. The old adage “speak softly and carry a big stick” has relevance here, and the MBBs need to have, at least, a handle on the stick.

MBBs need to have excellent rapport with business leaders and the Six Sigma Champion, if there is one. They need to help leaders keep focused on Six Sigma and maintain momentum and interest, even when Six Sigma is no longer “front page news.” They must keep leaders informed of significant progress and challenges. They need to provide a vision for the future, and lobby for the resources required to make things happen. And they should make it especially easy for leaders to communicate to the staff and to their own management by providing information in a format that can be readily passed on to others. Thus, MBBs help leaders set the tone for moving forward in making Six Sigma “the way we work.”

On a more technical note, MBBs need to ensure the thorough consideration of all key CTQs. Six Sigma projects have often addressed one or a small number of well-defined CTQs, such as reducing end of line scrap and rework. It is, therefore, possible to overlook the implications on other important CTQs—that is, fail to consider the full impact of proposed “improvements” on the entire system. Changes to reduce end of line rejects, for example, often also impact product performance and reliability. The result is often positive. But this is not necessarily the case—and depends on the specific nature of the changes. MBBs need to help define projects sufficiently broadly so that all key CTQs are considered both in the project itself and in assessing its impact.

MBBs also need to balance short-term payoffs and long-term business goals, and be customer focused. It is important to gain some big successes early, and to show clear and rapidly identifiable payoffs, perhaps in manufacturing settings. However, these may be only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what Six Sigma can do. As Six Sigma receives increased acceptance, we need to move upstream and ensure that products are designed to be maximally robust to whatever environment they may encounter, and to provide value through the entire life cycle. This requires the business to excel on all fronts, including the processes that it engenders. And it raises some special challenges in quantifying the impact of improvements. How, for example, can we quantify the financial impact of on-time delivery, or that of averting an early failure? MBBs need to provide leadership in ensuring that proper emphasis is given to projects that are critical to the business, but whose consequences are difficult, or take a long time, to measure. The transient nature of the MBB position as a path to higher management might make some MBBs reluctant to take on the riskier and less definitive tasks that long-term business needs demand—but they must.

Finally, MBBs need to evolve second-generation training programs. Training to get green belts and black belts on board initially is now well understood. But the initial training needs to be supplemented with timely “booster shots.” These have a number of goals. The first is to ensure that the basic concepts are retained and reinforced. The second is to build on “lessons learned,” based on experiences within one’s own business. The third is to make available new technology--highlighting approaches that have been found most valuable in applications, but have not been emphasized sufficiently in the original training. Two examples are essential systems to get the needed data up front and simulation tools for everything from evaluating sample size requirements to modeling a process. As areas of application shift, so need the arsenal of available tools. Some of these second-generation tools may be provided in an off-line format, and the details accessed as needed.

The role of the Master Black Belt continues to develop, and the challenges and opportunities for leadership are still evolving. The MBB position is now being combined in some organizations with other management responsibilities. How to achieve a proper balance, and to ensure that the MBB role gets sufficient attention, raises new questions. Special issues enter in introducing Six Sigma to organizations other than those that manufacture a product, such as schools, banks, hospitals and government. And so does the recent trend to work with customers directly in implementing Six Sigma. Clearly, the fun for MBBs has just begun!