ISO 18404:2015

INTERNATIONAL ISO
STANDARD 18404
First edition
2015-12-01
Quantitative methods in process
improvement — Six Sigma —
Competencies for key personnel and
their organizations in relation to Six
Sigma and Lean implementation
Méthodes quantitatives pour l’amélioration des processus — Six
Sigma — Compétences pour le personnel clé et leur organisation en
relation avec la mise en œuvre du Six Sigma et du Lean
Reference number
©
ISO 2015
© ISO 2015, Published in Switzerland
All rights reserved. Unless otherwise specified, no part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized otherwise in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or posting on the internet or an intranet, without prior
written permission. Permission can be requested from either ISO at the address below or ISO’s member body in the country of
the requester.
ISO copyright office
Ch. de Blandonnet 8 • CP 401
CH-1214 Vernier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel. +41 22 749 01 11
Fax +41 22 749 09 47
copyright@iso.org
www.iso.org
ii © ISO 2015 – All rights reserved

Contents Page
Foreword .iv
Introduction .v
1 Scope . 1
2 Normative references . 1
3 Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms . 1
3.1 Terms and definitions . 1
3.2 Abbreviated terms . 1
4 Competency of key personnel in relation to Six Sigma, Lean, and “Lean & Six Sigma” .2
4.1 Education and training . 2
4.2 Skills and competency . 2
4.2.1 Six Sigma . 2
4.2.2 Lean . 2
4.2.3 “Lean & Six Sigma” . 2
4.3 Experience . 2
5 Adequacy of an organization with regards to its Six Sigma, Lean or “Lean & Six
Sigma” approach and deployment . 2
5.1 General . 2
5.2 Adequacy of the organization’s Six Sigma, Lean or “Lean & Six Sigma” strategy . 3
5.3 Adequacy of the organization’s Six Sigma, Lean or “Lean & Six Sigma” architecture . 3
5.4 Adequacy of the skills and competencies of the key personnel . 3
5.5 Adequacy and continual improvement of organizational deployment . 3
6 Resource management . 4
6.1 General . 4
6.2 Provision of resources . 4
6.3 Ongoing monitoring of requirements . 4
6.4 Key personnel . 4
6.5 Maintaining competence of key personnel . 4
6.5.1 Green Belts and Lean practitioners . 4
6.5.2 Black Belts and Lean leaders . 4
6.5.3 Master Black Belt and Lean expert. 5
6.6 Organization . 5
6.7 Maintaining competence of the organization . 5
Annex A (normative) Six Sigma . 6
Annex B (normative) Lean.21
Annex C (normative) “Lean & Six Sigma” .35
Foreword
ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards
bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out
through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical
committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International
organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work.
ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of
electrotechnical standardization.
The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are
described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the
different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the
editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of
patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of
any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or
on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).
Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not
constitute an endorsement.
For an explanation on the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity
assessment, as well as information about ISO’s adherence to the WTO principles in the Technical
Barriers to Trade (TBT) see the following URL: Foreword - Supplementary information
The committee responsible for this document is ISO/TC 69, Applications of statistical methods,
Subcommittee SC 7, Applications of statistical and related techniques for the implementation of Six Sigma.
iv © ISO 2015 – All rights reserved

Introduction
This International Standard sets out to clarify the required competencies for personnel and
1)
organizations in Six Sigma , Lean and “Lean & Six Sigma”. Because of the ambiguity of the many
combinations of Lean and Six Sigma, currently termed “Lean Six Sigma”, this International Standard will
use the term “Lean & Six Sigma”. Before this, there had been no universal standard on what constitutes
a Black Belt or what is required in an organization which deploys these approaches.
For example, if an organization advertises for a Six Sigma Black Belt, how can they be sure of the level of
ability of a “Black Belt”? If a supplier says it is deploying Six Sigma or perhaps Lean, how can a customer
be sure of their real abilities? A fundamental purpose of this International Standard is to assist in the
answer of such questions.
Much debate has been had on the nature of Six Sigma and Lean, their commonality and their differences.
Protagonists have argued over the content, overlap, application, supremacy and purpose of the two
approaches. Various combinations of the two approaches exist, many under the umbrella title of “Lean
Six Sigma”. Six Sigma and Lean have a commonality of field of application, i.e. process improvement.
Lean focuses on reducing ‘chronic’ waste and Six Sigma focuses on reducing the variation and thereby
its adverse effects.
This International Standard therefore sets out the separate competency requirements for Six Sigma
and Lean implementation; it also sets out a combined competency framework for “Lean & Six Sigma”.
In so doing, it focuses on the competencies (skills and abilities) to deliver benefits to an organization
rather than defining the specific educational level required for each role.
Candidates will be expected to demonstrate that they have an adequate level of competence, an
amalgamation of education, training, skills and experience necessary to fulfil their roles.
In its preparation, it has been seen to be helpful to prepare this International Standard by focusing
on Six Sigma, Lean implementation and “Lean & Six Sigma” separately and the user will come across
different tables dealing with these subjects.
1) Six Sigma is a trade mark of Motorola, Inc.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ISO 18404:2015(E)
Quantitative methods in process improvement — Six Sigma
— Competencies for key personnel and their organizations
in relation to Six Sigma and Lean implementation
1 Scope
This International Standard defines the competencies for the attainment of specific levels of competency
with regards to Six Sigma, Lean, and “Lean & Six Sigma” in individuals, e.g. Black Belt, Green Belt and
Lean practitioners and their organizations. Yellow Belt is not included in this International Standard.
This International Standard excludes Design for Six Sigma.
NOTE This International Standard sets out the required competencies for individual certification and/or an
organization’s certificate.
2 Normative references
The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are
indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated
references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
ISO 13053-1, Quantitative methods in process improvement — Six Sigma — Part 1: DMAIC methodology
ISO 13053-2, Quantitative methods in process improvement — Six Sigma — Part 2: Tools and techniques
3 Terms, definitions, and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
3.1.1
appropriate authority
authority identified and justified by an organization
Note 1 to entry: This authority can be either internal or external to the organization.
3.2 Abbreviated terms
5S sort, set, shine, standardize, sustain
CT critical to
DOWNTIME defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilization of talent, transport, inventory, motion,
extra-processing
EDA exploratory data analysis
HOQ house of quality
OEE overall equipment effectiveness
PDCA plan, do, check, act
PDM policy deployment matrix
SIPOC supplier-input-process-output-customer
SMED single-minute exchange of die
TIM WOOD transport, inventory, motion, waiting, over-processing, overproduction, defects
VOC voice of the customer
VSM value-stream map
WIP work in progress
WORMPIT waiting, overproduction, rework, motion, processing, inventory, transport
4 Competency of key personnel in relation to Six Sigma, Lean, and “Lean & Six
Sigma”
4.1 Education and training
Six Sigma, Lean, and “Lean & Six Sigma” personnel shall be competent on the basis of adequate and
appropriate education, training, skills, competencies and experience.
4.2 Skills and competency
4.2.1 Six Sigma
See Annex A.
4.2.2 Lean
See Annex B.
4.2.3 “Lean & Six Sigma”
See Annex C.
4.3 Experi
...