We think certification should mean you can actually do the work.
Design for Lean was built around one belief: a Lean Six Sigma belt should prove you improved something real — not that you memorized a glossary.
Multiple-choice exams don't fix processes. People do.
Most certification programs optimize for a passing exam score. A Design for Lean Six Sigma certification optimizes for something harder to fake: a documented, mentor-reviewed improvement to a real process, using the same DMAIC method taught at every level.
That means slower cohorts, smaller mentor caseloads, and a curriculum that gets rewritten whenever a mentor tells us a module isn't translating into practice. We'd rather be the certification that's harder to get and worth more once you have it.
Some organizations don't have time to wait for a cohort to finish, though — which is why the same Black Belts who mentor our capstones also run hands-on consulting engagements when a process needs fixing this quarter, not this year.
Evidence over opinion
Every capstone includes before/after data, not just a narrative.
Mentorship over multiple choice
A certified Master Black Belt reads and challenges your actual work.
Momentum over perfection
Small, shippable improvements beat a perfect plan that never launches.
Every mentor meets the same bar
Starting with our founder — real Master Black Belt certification and real operating experience, not just a job title.
Design for Lean is led by Khalid Mekki, PhD — one of a small number of consultants in the world holding Master Black Belt certifications in both Design for Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma. He brings more than 30 years of operational excellence experience spanning Baxter Healthcare, AstraZeneca–Medimmune Biologics, and Ford Motor Company, and co-authored the first published book on Design for Six Sigma for the medical device industry (2008).
- PhD, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research — University of Illinois at Chicago
- MSc, Manufacturing — University of Detroit Mercy
- BSc, Mechanical Engineering — Palestine Polytechnic University
- Master Black Belt — Design for Six Sigma & Lean Six Sigma
Master Black Belt instructors
Every instructor holds a Master Black Belt certification and has led process-improvement work inside a real organization for a minimum of 10 years — not just taught it.
Dedicated capstone mentors
Green and Black Belt learners are matched with a mentor who reviews their project at every DMAIC stage — the same person, start to finish.
Program advisors
Not sure which belt fits your role, or building a case for corporate training budget? An advisor will help you scope it — no pressure, no hard sell.
Built on an open, recognized body of knowledge
Rather than inventing our own definition of what a "Green Belt" should know, we map every module to the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Lean Six Sigma Body of Knowledge — the same reference standard used across the industry. That means what you learn here transfers cleanly to any employer, and what we teach is auditable against a public standard, not a marketing claim.
See how each belt maps to the standardDefine & Measure vocabulary, waste identification
Root-cause tools, process mapping, basic metrics
Statistical process control, full DMAIC project leadership
Design of experiments, regression, org-wide transformation
See if this way of learning fits how you work
Start with the free White Belt, or talk to an advisor about your team's goals.