Overview
With more than 20 years of hands-on experience in Lean Six Sigma deployment, training, coaching, and practical application, our team has helped organizations achieve measurable, sustainable results. We have led and mentored hundreds of improvement projects across a variety of heavy manufacturing industries, generating more than $100 million in verified cost savings.
Our experience also extends beyond manufacturing into the public and post-secondary education sectors, where improving customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and operational effectiveness are often the primary drivers of success.
Drawing on this diverse background, Six Sigma by Design launched its training programs in 2020 with a focus on flexible, self-paced and virtual learning. Our goal is to make high-quality Lean Six Sigma education accessible to individuals and organizations regardless of location or schedule.
Coming soon, participants will have the option to add one-on-one virtual mentoring to support certification preparation for Yellow Belt, Green Belt, and Black Belt credentials.
Mission Statement
At Six Sigma by Design, our mission is to provide exceptional learning experiences centered on Lean Six Sigma principles, methodologies, and continuous improvement practices. We leverage decades of real-world implementation experience to deliver practical, engaging training that can be tailored to the needs of both individuals and organizations.
By combining expert instruction with flexible learning options, we empower our customers to build lasting improvement capabilities, solve complex business challenges, and achieve measurable operational excellence.
Our Commitment to Excellence
We believe our customers deserve practical, experience-based instruction—not just textbook theory. Every course is built on lessons learned from real-world Lean Six Sigma deployments across multiple industries.
While no single organization has experience in every business environment, we are committed to providing honest, objective, and practical guidance grounded in proven methodologies and measurable results.
Our commitment is simple: to meet or exceed our customers' expectations through high-quality content, professional instruction, and responsive support. Your success is the standard by which we measure our own.
Team Members
MASTER BLACK BELT & OWNER
Master black belt & Owner
Steve Hancock
Steve has worked in heavy manufacturing as an Operations Leader, a Black Belt and Master Black Belt for over 20 years. Steve combines these experiences with continuous improvement research to lead our team in producing high quality, customized learning.
Education
University of South Alabama
B.S., Adult Continuing Education, 2012
University of Alabama
Chemical Engineering, 1992
MBB Certification (2011)
SSA & Company (formerly Six Sigma Academy)
LEAN SPECIALIST & BUSINESS MANAGER
Lean Specialist & Business manager
Bobbie Jo Hancock
Bobbie has worked in public sector, post secondary education for over 20 years with experience in Human Resources and Business Management. Bobbie joins our team as a lean specialist and recently trained Green Belt.
Education
University of South Alabama
Master of Business Administration, 2010
University of South Alabama
B.S., Adult Continuing Education, 2004
Disclaimer - “Lean Six Sigma is not magic!”
Despite about 35 years of U.S. companies using Lean Six Sigma (LSS), the application of these methods have produced mixed results. There have also been many flavors of how to introduce LSS into an organization. Be aware that the introduction of LSS represents a change. Many people are not comfortable with change including some top leaders within an organization. When taken in this context, you can approach LSS with a realistic outlook that the tools and methods simply take practice to learn how to use the “correct” tools for a specific type of problem. Occasionally making mistakes like applying a LSS tool that does not produce results is a fundamental way that we learn. Truly viewing our mistakes as learning opportunities is at the heart of the LSS approach that we teach. A seasoned LSS practitioner will know when a “just do it” fix to a problem is the best approach versus a DOE (design of experiments).
Dealing with personal resistance or organizational resistance to change makes the overall deployment of LSS challenging; therefore, we must be cautious as LSS practitioners to not work in a vacuum. A good practice for introducing LSS into your organization might be to keep it simple and allow people to make a gradual change!
Although change management is not covered in depth in our basic modules, we want you to be aware that you will encounter resistance of some kind when attempting to apply your LSS knowledge. Be positive, recharge as needed and keep the faith in Lean Six Sigma, but remember…
Lean Six Sigma is not magic,
Lean Six Sigma is not a silver bullet,
Lean Six Sigma is simply a refined and organized set of tools we use to help solve our challenging but fulfilling problems