FAQs

The Purdue program has a reputation for excellence among employers nationwide. Unlike many other LSS programs, we have developed proprietary, quality-assured content for each of our courses. Our program also is distinguished by the experience and expertise of our instructors, their hands-on approach to teaching, and their dedication to learner success.

• There are no prerequisites for the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Lean Principles courses.
• The Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course requires that learners have completed the Lean Principles course as well as either Purdue’s Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course or the Six Sigma Green Belt Refresher course (for some learners who obtained their Green Belts elsewhere).
  • Note that it is rare that learners are required to take the refresher course.

The 3-Course Package is a bundled sequence, which includes the LSS Green Belt, Lean Principles and LSS Black Belt courses. It is an effective, cost-efficient option for professionals who want comprehensive training and complete subject-matter mastery.

It is also a good choice for anyone who wants to position themselves for leadership roles in process improvement and quality management.

If you opt for the 3-Course Package, you save 10% on the total course fee. You pay for the three courses upfront and take the courses one at a time.

To get started, contact a program advisor at LSSonline@purdue.edu or (888) 390-0499. They can help you to process your payment and create a tentative schedule for the three courses.

At their core, all three are methodologies used to increase business efficiency.

Lean focuses on eliminating waste to provide maximum value with minimum investment. It uses techniques like 5S, value stream mapping and just-in-time production.

Six Sigma focuses on reducing variation and defect rates in production processes through statistical analysis. A key component of this methodology is a process called DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control.

Lean Six Sigma merges these two approaches, incorporating Lean’s waste reduction and flow improvement strategies with Six Sigma’s focus on quality and precision.

Our article, “Six Sigma vs Lean Six Sigma: What’s the Difference?” goes into more detail about these differences and their benefits.

Our courses apply to any industry. Purdue LSS students come from a broad array of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, and automotive.

Yes! An increasing number of healthcare industry professionals are taking Lean Six Sigma courses to reduce waste and defects in their organization’s processes. Read Healthcare Advancement with Lean Six Sigma for more information.

You will find most of your course materials in Brightspace, but some courses require additional material.

• The textbook used in the Black Belt course is The Six Sigma Handbook, Fifth Edition by Pyzdek and Keller and The Black Belt Memory Jogger, Second Edition. The Black Belt also requires the use of the statistical software package QI Macros. This tool supports Lean Six Sigma analysis, which is woven throughout the course exercises and project work. Your program advisor can provide more information regarding a student rate for this software.
• Learners in Lean Principles will need Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones.

Please visit our registration page for information about our course schedule. If you decide to enroll in our 3-Course Package, we are happy to help you put together tentative schedules for completing the three courses.

It takes 10 weeks to complete the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Online Certification course, 8 weeks for the Lean Principles course, and 16 weeks for the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course. The Six Sigma Green Belt Refresher course must be completed within a 6-month window. Please click on individual program pages for details.

Yes, you can access the first learning module a week before the official start date. When you register for the course you will receive information about how to log into Brightspace. One week before the start date you will receive an email with a set of instructions that includes the password for accessing lecture videos.

Learning tracks are a way of presenting Lean Principles content in a way that is relevant to our learners’ specific industries. This includes using examples and terminology that speak to the goals of a certain sector, e.g., products per minute versus people per shift.

Purdue is one of the only Lean Principles online courses to offer specialization tracks, making this program a unique experience.

The three tracks are:

• Healthcare/Service
• General Business/IT
• Manufacturing/Production

Each pathway includes targeted instructions, readings and case studies. These tracks also extend to the discussion forums, allowing learners to connect with peers in similar professional environments.

Three different tracks are available for each learner in Purdue’s Lean Principles course, which allows for a more personalized overall experience. Learners choose their track during the first week of the course. More information will be provided during the initial WebEx session.

Yes. If the track you choose does not seem like the right fit and you would like to engage with a different track during the course, please contact your instructor for assistance.

No, you will still receive a general certificate in Lean Principles. However, you will be better equipped to apply the principles to your organization. If you elect to receive Continuing Education Units, your official Purdue record will not list a specialization.

Please contact a program advisor at LSSonline@purdue.edu or toll-free (888) 390-0499. They can talk with you about your organization and professional needs, and then recommend the best track.

The project lasts the duration of the course, and much of the coursework in the LSS Black Belt course ties back to this project.

Learners work with their instructor to choose a project that benefits their current company or an organization that they are close with, such as a nonprofit or community organization. They also choose whether to focus on Lean or Six Sigma methodologies.

Every week, learners complete assignments tied to project deliverables to stay on track. They see how the advanced content and theories they are learning can be applied practically. At the end, they have a tangible plan and demonstrable results, which they can leverage to improve their organization and validate their expertise.

Learners who cannot complete the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt project with their employer can complete it through another organization they are close to, such as a small business or nonprofit organization.

Our program advisors are available to collaborate with learners before enrollment to identify a beneficial project. Contact (888) 390-0499 to start the conversation.

Learners can complete the Black Belt project effectively without sharing proprietary information. The projects are designed to enhance organizational processes and can be structured to use non-sensitive data while still delivering significant improvements.

By focusing on general process optimization, learners can develop solutions that benefit their company without compromising confidentiality.

We do not offer the Master LSS Black Belt Certification at this time.

If you pay upfront for three courses — LSS Green Belt, Lean Principles and LSS Black Belt — you will receive 10% off the total course fee. This 3-Course Package is an effective, cost-efficient option for professionals who want comprehensive training.

To purchase the package and save up to $805, please contact a program advisor at LSSonline@purdue.edu or (888) 390-0499.

Some courses require learners to purchase additional texts and software. These are valuable materials to reference even after course completion. All exams are built into the coursework without additional fees. Please view our course pages for detailed information.

Purdue’s Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, Lean Principles, and Lean Six Sigma Black Belt courses are eligible for the Chapter 33 Post-9/11 GI Bill benefit. Check your eligibility or enrollment status on eBenefits, online at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website. Spouses are considered dependents and as such are sometimes eligible to have the Post-9/11 benefit transferred to them.

Yes, discounts are available for groups of coworkers. The total discount varies depending on the size of the group. For detailed information about group discounts, please reach out to a Program Advisor at (888) 390-0499.

To access the online course environment, you will need an Internet connection with a speed suitable for viewing streaming video. Also, students are expected to have access to standard software such as word processing and spreadsheets.

A comprehensive list of technical requirements can be found on the Purdue online admissions page.

The video lecture files are in MP4 format, and you can play them as streaming video through your media player or you can download files to your computer or handheld media player to view without an Internet connection. Your Internet connection speed can make a difference in the rate of buffering during playback and also the time required to download a video. Rarely, security/firewall settings on your computer and/or data network will prevent you from downloading or viewing the videos. This usually happens only on secure computers or corporate networks.

Occasionally, a student’s computer setup prevents them from playing the videos as described above. If you can’t stream the videos by left clicking on the file you want to watch, then do a “right click” with your mouse and select “save target as” to save the file to the hard drive. When the download is complete, “right click” on the file and select “open.” If the file doesn’t play, repeat the procedure, but select “open with” a different media player.

Sometimes a Web browser tries to open the lecture video files with Real Player if that is your default player. Most browsers have an Options area where you are able to change the default program for playing video files.

If the video still won’t play after trying the above suggestions, try copying the URL (to the lecture video file), and then opening your media player (rather than clicking on the lecture video file to start it). In the player menu, select “File/Open URL” and paste the link into the text box and hit “Enter.” You will likely only have to do this process once and it usually corrects any problems other than firewall restrictions. If these options don’t work, please try a different computer, such as one at your local library, or seek to have the setup on your own computer modified to accommodate the playing of an MP4 video file.

If you don’t have a media player installed or the player you do have installed is not successfully playing the videos, you can try installing VLC Media Player, a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols.

This question comes up when a student has responded to a fill-in-the-blank question with more words than requested. When you get a fill-in-the-blank, be sure to read the context before and after the question. For instance, if the word “percent” automatically appears after the blank that you need to fill in, don’t type the word “percent” or the sign “%” because it will cause you to get the answer wrong. Just type the number that you think is the correct answer, such as 20 or twenty. Most of the fill-in-the-blank questions have been adjusted so that the first few letters of the word you need to complete are already provided.

Yes, the quizzes are open for two weeks and you can take them up to three times. The system automatically retains the highest score from your attempts. The quiz questions refresh, so you will see a different set of questions for each attempt. The fill-in-the-blank questions are random and, as a result, are not always included by the system in every attempt.

The system was intentionally designed to ensure the rigor of the course and final exam. It blocks access to printouts of quiz answers (some of the quiz questions reappear in the final exam). You will, however, always have access to your quiz scores.

You must earn the minimum 80% of available points in each of the courses to successfully complete the course. You also are required to turn in your assignments and complete your quizzes the week that they are due. Please check the syllabus for details about course requirements. If you are missing an assignment or a quiz when the course ends, you will not pass the course, even if you have the required minimum number of points. Please refer to the letter from your instructor for details about how to work around special circumstances that might keep you from turning in an assignment or completing a quiz within the required time frame.

You have many opportunities to begin Lean Six Sigma courses each year. To re-enroll, simply register for the course you desire and understand that you will have to pay the fee to retake it.

The Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course is certified for 4.5 CEUs (continuing education units) from Purdue University. The Lean Principles course is certified for 3.5 CEUs and the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt course is certified for 9.0 CEUs. If you successfully finish a course, we send an email asking whether you want CEUs, and you have the option of completing a course CEU form. Purdue keeps track of CEUs in a cumulative CEU database. Some professions require that individuals earn a certain number of CEUs each year to maintain a license or to support professional development. We leave it up to each student to fill out the form and return it for the CEU credit. It does not require an additional fee. Please note that everyone who successfully completes the course receives a printed certificate of completion from Purdue University.

No. Each of the courses in the Purdue online Lean Six Sigma series has a final exam built into the course. The final exam is taken during the last week of learning and it is an online exam. A score on the final exam is one of the required elements for passing the course. You also will have case study assignments to submit for the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt; tools assignments in the Lean Principles course; and a management-approved project in the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

No, so many educational providers incorporate the certification process into their courses. Other providers require students to pay a separate fee to take an exam after they have completed a course. Purdue embeds the exam into its courses, so there is no additional exam fee.

Yes, we offer two project management courses – Project Management Essentials, which provides students with fundamental project management skills and a strong start on the path toward becoming a PMP^® credential holder, and our PMP® Exam Prep course. Many of our students complete both. For more information on these courses: Project Management Certification. PMP is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Learning activities in the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean Principles courses include reading; watching video lectures that cover key topics in the course material, available 24/7; participating in online discussions; completing assignments; and taking online self-tests, quizzes and a final exam. The Black Belt course utilizes a more advanced and in-depth use of the methods and tools of Lean and Six Sigma than the prerequisite online Lean Six Sigma Green Belt course. The Black Belt course requires project deliverables in addition to all of the items noted above for the other two courses. For information on our more advanced course, please see the Lean Six Sigma Black Belt page. With all courses, you have an opportunity for coaching via email and phone with your instructor.

All course work is completed individually.

Discussion boards are available in most courses to reach out to fellow online learners to brainstorm ideas, suggestions, etc.