Six Sigma Green Belt Salary [ Job & Future ]

Last updated on 09th Jul 2020, Blog, General

What Six Sigma certified professionals earn!

Indeed.com is the number 1 job site in the world available across 50 countries and 26 languages. It states that the national average salary for a Green Belt in 2016 is $83000 per year in the United States.

For Certified Black Belts, it is $99000 per year. For Certified Master Black Belts, it is even more at $121000.

According to data updated in January 2017 by payscale.com the median annual salaries for Green Belt Six Sigma Certified Professionals in the United States were:

	JOB	SALARY ($)
MECHANICAL ENGINEER	75,873
MANUFACTURING ENGINEER	70,154
OPERATIONS MANAGER	80,753
PROCESS ENGINEER	72,250
INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER	65,187
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR	62,446
QUALITY MANAGER	80,232

In the Indian subcontinent, the numbers stack is equally impressive.

JOB	SALARY (INR)
OPERATIONS MANAGER	951773
QUALITY MANAGER	1018255
MECHANICAL ENGINEER	660651
OPERATIONS TEAM LEADER	469259
QUALITY ASSURANCE MANAGER	1098837
ASSISTANT MANAGER, CUSTOMER SERVICE	609304
SENIOR MECHANICAL ENGINEER	866317

Did you know?

Six Sigma certified professionals are being sought after across the world. Honeywell, GE, Volkswagen and UnitedHealth Group are in constant search for six sigma certified professionals.

Certified professionals can be hired for a variety of positions within organisations –

• Lead  Manufacturing Engineer
• Process Development Engineer
• Compliance Structural Engineer
• Reliability Engineer
• Lean Six Sigma Consultant
• Operating System Specialist
• Senior IT project manager
• Project Engineer
• Data Scientist
• Director/Manager – Operational Excellence
• Business Process Analyst

This is not an exhaustive list. Six sigma is integral to operational and manufacturing roles within all organizations.

Larger companies have a dedicated team of Six Sigma professionals. These teams work on a full-time basis in driving operations improvement strategies.

The full time ones fall into the following roles- let’s refresh our understanding on each-

• Master Black Belt (MBB):  Expert in Six Sigma methodology and statistical tools. MBB provides strategic Six Sigma guidance and technical leadership within an assigned function in an organization. MBB is responsible for coaching, mentoring and/or training BBs. They lay down the training plans and project sign-off methodology within the organization. MBBs are a critical authority in signing off BB projects.
• Black Belt (BB): Full-time professional who leads Six Sigma projects. Trained in methods, statistical tools and team skills. Provides coaching and Six Sigma expertise to Green Belts.
• Green Belt (GB): May be a full-time or part-time role. GBs are 6 sigma project leaders capable of forming and facilitating Six Sigma Teams. They manage Six Sigma projects from concept to completion. Six Sigma BBs help GBs and assist them with their projects
• Yellow Belt (YB): Has a basic knowledge of Six Sigma. Support a GB or BB project as a core team member or SME.

Country-wide statistics of average salaries

Six Sigma as a philosophy has been an inspiration for thousands of organizations. This is despite companies operating in an unpredictable and volatile environment.

A recent Global Salary Survey conducted by iSixSigma, has once again emphasised this fact. The survey consisted of Black Belts, MBBs and other six sigma professionals. Two-thirds of the respondents are from the United States and 10 percent each from Europe and India. Africa and Middle East respondents also participated, however, the scale was comparatively muted.

In Figure 1 below, Black belt salaries show a moderate increase to $84,643 worldwide. Quality Executives have the highest average salary of $140,153. Quality Professionals are earning at par with Black Belts.

Figure 1 – Worldwide Participation and Average Salaries (N=1190)

The high salary of Quality Executives is not surprising. Majority of these professionals have 15 or more years of experience. Most of them have some level of Six Sigma certification as well.

iSixSigma survey is being conducted since 2004. Per current research, average MBB salary is 42 per cent higher than the average annual BB salary (Figure2).

Figure 2 – Difference in Average Salaries for BBs and MBBs

Globally, MBBs reported an average annual bonus of $22,057 (Figure 3)

Figure 3 – Master Black Belt Average Salary and Bonus

The 11th Global Salary survey by isixsigma.com shows some interesting trends. Look at figure 4 and 5 below

Figure 4 – Black Belt Worldwide Average Salary Year to Year

Figure 5 – Champion Worldwide Average Salary Year to Year

The Black Belt salary from 2013 to 2014 is stagnant. It remains to be seen if this trend is temporary. At the same time, Champion salary has dramatically increased during the same period. The number of data points being low, it is difficult to make any solid inferences from the data.

Figure 6 – Business Professionals by Highest Level of Certification

Figure 6 shows that 58 % of the Business Professionals are BB or GB-certified, while 29% are MBB-certified.

The trend shows certified Business Professionals increasing. This is further proof to the increasing criticality of six sigma certifications and roles in organizations.

Why is Six Sigma valued around the globe?

• In today’s world, change is imminent. The difference, if any, is that the pace of change seems to be increasing with every passing year.
• Management’s job in an organization is to design systems. Systems that create and deliver value to customers and shareholders. This is a never-ending process. Competitors innovate in an attempt to lure customers. Innovations redefine the way products and services reach customers. Customer demands change at a lightning pace. What causes delight today becomes basic tomorrow.
• The one factor that all organizations understand is “the change imperative”. Organizations that chose to resist change had to change or perished.
• Lean and Six sigma embrace change. As a philosophy, it propagates continuous improvement in both quality and timeliness. Management has to come out with innovative techniques for product and service offerings. Operational improvement becomes behaviour rather than a set of initiatives.
• Lean Six Sigma employs a structure and set of techniques. These act as a guide for managers to drive improvement within their respective areas. MBBs and BBs ensure to work along with the operations and production teams. This ensures clarity of direction and alignment of Six Sigma to business strategy.
• To achieve this, there is a need for full-time Six Sigma Certified Professionals like MBBs and BBs. They help define and drive the strategy. They are responsible for training employees on their Lean Six Sigma projects.
• Process owners support projects being champions for driving the initiatives. GBs and Yellow Belts (YB) work with their teams to ensure improvements and sustained.

What is the ROI for adopting Six Sigma?

• So, what exactly does the organization gain by investing in a Lean Six Sigma approach?
• Return on Investment compares the returns over time on total cost or investment. Six sigma adds huge value to any organization from a quality delivery standpoint. Lean ensures continuous process improvements as well.
• At 2 sigma level or 69% defect level, the cost of quality (both good quality and poor quality) is 40% of sales. Processes generating sub-quality outputs escalate costs. Reduction or avoidance of cost of poor quality is a direct benefit of applying Six Sigma.
• Returns can be hard and soft savings. Hard savings are cash savings. These result from waste reduction or headcount reduction. Soft savings are cycle time reduction or quality improvements.
• The challenge with most organizations is to measure the soft savings. This is the non-cash yielding improvements.
• Research by Invensis Global Learning Services shows that Lean and Six Sigma are the most recognized process improvement methodologies across the globe. Enterprises achieved 65% of higher project savings by adhering to Six Sigma methodology.

PROCESS IMPROVEMENT METHODOLOGIES	PERCENTAGE
LEAN	50.02%
LEAN SIX SIGMA	48%
BUSINESS PROCESS MANAGEMENT	42.4%
ISO	34%
SIX SIGMA	33%

• Invensis research also quotes – an enterprise where on average an employee adheres to Lean Six Sigma, Process Improvement Methodology achieved 40% more ROI than those who did not use it.

Six Sigma Certifications

We already spoke about the respective Six Sigma roles including MBB, BB, GB and YB.

• Six sigma levels are gaining popularity in different industries. Six Sigma professional roles are key to achieving breakthrough improvements and cost reduction. Each plays a significant role in the organization, irrespective of its size.
• The following table provides a snapshot of Lean Six Sigma Black Belt courses offered by various institutes in India-

	GREYCAMPUS	QAI GLOBAL	KPMG	VARSIGMA
ACCREDITATION	ACCREDITED BY IASSC	–	–	ACCREDITED BY EXEMPLAR GLOBAL
DURATION OF TRAINING	5 DAYS, INSTRUCTOR-LED CLASSROOM	10 DAYS, TWO PHASES, INSTRUCTOR-LED CLASSROOM	8 DAYS, TWO PHASES, INSTRUCTOR-LED, CLASSROOM	6 DAYS, TWO PHASES, INSTRUCTOR-LED, CLASSROOM
CERTIFICATION	CERTIFICATE BY GREYCAMPUS(IASSC EXAM & CERTIFICATE- OPTIONAL)	CERTIFICATE BY QAI	CERTIFICATE BY KPMG	CERTIFICATE BY VARSIGMA
COST	RS.17,000/-	RS.48,000/-	RS.60,000/-	PROPOSAL-BASED
TRAINING MATERIAL & INSTRUCTOR SUPPORT	ONE YEAR E-LEARNING ACCESSLIFETIME ACCESS TO ALL TRAINING MATERIAL, HAND-OUTS, TOOLS AND CALCULATORS	SHARED DOCUMENTS LIKE – ARTICLES, TEMPLATES, CALCULATORS	HARDCOPY OF THE TRAINING MATERIAL FOR REFERENCE	“HARDCOPY OF BLACK BELT BOOK OF KNOWLEDGEPREPARATORY MODULE15 E-BOOKS ON LEAN SIX SIGMA RELATED CONTENT”
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS	LEARNING AIDS LIKE FLASHCARDS, DOWNLOADABLE E-BOOKSSIMULATED MOCK EXAMS45 PMI PDUS FOR PMI CREDENTIAL HOLDERS	PROJECT SUPPORT BY EXPERTS FOR 1 YEAR POST TRAINING70 PMI PDUS CONFERRED ON COMPLETION	–	PROJECT ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT FORUM MEMBERSHIP24-HOUR MINITAB PRACTICE54 PDUS FOR PMI CREDENTIAL RENEWAL

The following table provides a snapshot of Lean Six Sigma Green Belt courses offered by various institutes in India-

	GREYCAMPUS	QAI GLOBAL	KPMG	VARSIGMA
ACCREDITATION	ACCREDITED BY IASSC	–	–	ACCREDITED BY EXEMPLAR GLOBAL
DURATION OF TRAINING	3/4 DAYS, INSTRUCTOR-LED	4 DAYS, INSTRUCTOR-LED	4 DAYS, INSTRUCTOR-LED, CLASSROOM	4 DAYS, INSTRUCTOR-LED, CLASSROOM
CERTIFICATION	“GREYCAMPUS(IASSC CERTIFICATE- OPTIONAL)”	QAI	CERTIFICATE BY KPMG	CERTIFICATE BY VARSIGMA
COST	RS.15,000/-	RS.17,500/-	PROPOSAL-BASED	RS.16,250/-
TRAINING MATERIAL & INSTRUCTOR SUPPORT	ONE YEAR E-LEARNING ACCESSLIFETIME ACCESS TO ALL TRAINING MATERIAL, HAND-OUTS, TOOLS AND CALCULATORS	VARIETY OF ARTICLES AND TEMPLATES SHARED	–	HARDCOPY OF GREEN BELT BOK10 E-BOOKS ON LEAN SIX SIGMA RELATED CONTENT
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS	LEARNING AIDS LIKE FLASHCARDS, DOWNLOADABLE E-BOOKS3 SIMULATED MOCK EXAMSLIVE ONLINE AND SELF-LEARNING MODULES ALSO AVAILABLE	PROJECT SUPPORT BY EXPERTS FOR 6 MONTHS POST TRAININGRECOGNIZED BY PMI FOR 28 PDUS	–	PROJECT ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT FORUM MEMBERSHIPSAMPLE QUESTION PAPERS36 PMI PDUS CONFERRED

With Greycampus, all the certifications are available in online self-learning mode as well. Post enrolment the student gets access to all training material.