The International Society of Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP) has been around since 1997. However, the organization was focused more on holding conventions for the Six Sigma community. As Six Sigma has become more popular within more industries, the need for Six Sigma trained and certified individuals has increased. Unfortunately, there isn’t a governing body over Six Sigma, so basically anyone can set-up a Six Sigma training company. Over the past five years the number of fly-by-night Six Sigma certificate mills has exploded to the point that the value of Six Sigma is being hurt by people, who are labeled as being Six Sigma certified, but who do not have the real skills required to do the job. This leads to a failed Six Sigma deployment.
Six Sigma is an effective way to improve processes so that hard or soft money savings are achieved. This is a valuable business tool, but money is being wasted by students and businesses, when they are duped by these “training” organizations. Peter Peterka has been an active part of the Six Sigma movement, since the 1990s. He is passionate about quality improvement, process improvement, and statistical analysis based solutions, so the impact to Six Sigma (something that he truly believes in) has been frustrating.
Mr. Peterka reached out to other Six Sigma professionals, and together they created a non-profit organization that focuses on promoting the high standards and values of the Lean Six Sigma profession. The result is a revamped International Society of Six Sigma Professionals (ISSSP) that promotes the best practices of the industry with a mission to advance the discipline and practice of Lean Six Sigma.
ISSSP is committed to providing a community that offers resources and knowledge necessary to ensure that people, who choose Six Sigma as a career path, can be at the forefront of process improvement initiatives.
The goal for ISSSP will be to partner with some of the leading organizations and consultants from around the world to promote ideas and standards that will uphold the prestige of being Lean Six Sigma certified. With a board of directors and various committees consisting of ISSSP members, the organization is working to make sure that Lean Six Sigma continues to be the process improvement methodology that organizations can count on for real results.
