The Power of Six SIGMA

by Subir Chowdhury

Book Overview

Getting things done right 99 per cent of the time is the best anyone can do--right? A 1 per cent defect rate means: 20,000 articles of mail lost every hour; 5,000 botched surgeries per week; four or... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0793144345
• ISBN13: 9780793144341
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Dearborn Trade
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Six Sigma, in an easy to understand format.

I was looking for a book that would explain Six Sigma, and how i works in a simple way. I didn't want read about statistics and all the tools in Six Sigma, just how the statistics and tools apply in a "real" Six Sigma project. This book was just what i was looking for! The way that the book is written is very good. It's a story about two old friends that have been in the same company for a long time. One of them very successful, the other one not. The successful one has been working as a Black Belt for some time. He explaines a Six Sigma project over lunch, there is always a dialogue between them, the non successful one is asking questions, just the questions I would have wanted to ask, and he is getting more convinced about The Power of Six Sigma the more he gets to know. This is a great book to start with if you want to know more about Six Sigma!

This book taught me what I needed to know and more

I just finished reading "The Power of Six Sigma" and enjoyed it more than I had expected. My company is starting to implement Six Sigma and I wanted to get a jump on my other fellow employees. I read it over the course of a week during my lunch break, and because it is not overly technical enjoyed doing so. I always hated textbooks back in school because it seemed they were written by experts for experts and not for real people. I'm not a mechanical engineer and I'm no statistics expert but I have used statistics software before in school and now have a working knowledge of the concepts of Six Sigma. In addition to learning the basics such as what greenbelts, blackbelts, and executive champions are, I now understand terms such as DPMO, Critical to Quality, DMAIC, Standard Deviation, and the importance of assigning numbers to measurements. The explanation of the DMAIC process was also helpful, and although we don't make pizza or burgers we can apply the main concepts and adapt them to our business and develop our own strategy for how Six Sigma will work for us. We have recently chosen our first project and because I had read the book I could explain the main concepts to my line workers. Once they knew what we were doing they opened up to us and we quickly found the cause of the problem. Our shop guys always seem to get nervous whenever someone from the office comes out to the plant to examine a defect. But if they all knew about Six Sigma and understood that we were not out their to challenge their job, but instead to improve quality, things would go a lot smoother and quality would be better. I am now a big fan of the book!

An Excellent Primer

How to describe this book? Chowdhury creates a fictional situation in which one executive, fired one morning, unexpectedly has lunch the same day with another executive employed by a different division of the same company. The former (Joe Meter) is understandably self-preoccupied as the latter (Larry Hogan) explains his involvement in Six Sigma initiatives. In effect, the reader is an eavesdropper on their conversation. Meter is the narrator. What Chowdhury provides is a primer. (For those in need of a cohesive and comprehensive explanation of this subject, I highly recommend The Six Sigma Way co-authored by Pande, Neuman, and Cavanagh.) Some reviewers have noted that Chowdbury's book is entertaining and that is true. Other reviewers seem to criticize it for what it isn't and that's not fair. It is what it is: a remarkably lucid, reader-friendly explanation of Six Sigma principles, illustrated (by Hogan's own experiences) in a fictitious but credible corporate context. I think this book would serve as an excellent introduction to The Six Sigma Way but has substantial value on its own merits. Here is a brief excerpt from the final chapter as Meter summarizes what he has learned."As I understand it, the main thrust of Six Sigma is to reduce errors and waste in every kind of business endeavor to please customers and fatten the bottom line....You do that not simply by cranking up quality control, but by taking a step back, defining where the underlying problems are -- within the business, processes, or operation -- and eliminating them....The key to doing all that, of course, is measuring where you are and where you want to go, analyzing the data, improving the situation, and controlling the activity after you fix it to make sure you don't slip."Obviously, this excerpt has been taken out of context but I want to include it to suggest the clarity and brevity of Chowdhury's writing style which is consistent throughout the narrative. Also, I share Meter's comments to suggest that the fundamental principles of Six Sigma were not invented at Motorola, Allied Signal, or GE. They have been with us since cave dwellers began to exchange large rocks for sharp sticks. But we can credit executives at the aforementioned companies for creating a nomenclature for the principles, and, for demonstrating how effective they can be if applied with appropriate passion, precision, and patience. Chowdhury's little book creates wide access to those principles. Those who require depth of analysis must seek it elsewhere.

MASS ADOPTION OF THIS BOOK WILL HELP ORGANIZATIONS

Wow!!! This book made my day. It took me only 2 hours to read on the flight. I was extremely fascinated. I am a "worker bee" as defined by the author. As the author wrote in the PREFACE, "Most of all, this book is for the REST OF US: the line workers, support staff, and others in nonmanagerial positions who fear yet another program coming down the pike and what it might mean to US and our jobs. This book will help us ALL." The author kept his PROMISE. My organization has adopted Six Sigma and currently conducting Black Belt, Green Belt Training etc., but it failed to effectively communicate the Six Sigma methodology to everyone of the organization. As soon as I see the subtitle: An INSPIRING TALE of how Six Sigma is tranforming the way we work; 2 words got my attention : INSPIRING TALE. I am totally honest that I can relate myself as the book's character : Joe. I wish I have a friend like book's another character (Larry) so that he can explain me the Complicated SUBJECT so plainfully. This book simplified everything.Author's analogy on Six Sigma is BRILLIANT. In summary, the author defined: The Power of Six Sigma = PEOPLE Power + PROCESS Power The author is absolutely correct. Most of the time, senior management forget about the PEOPLE POWER. Author wrote: "One of the most important elecments of Six Sigma is the role everyone plays," he said. "This is the People Power side of the equation. Any football coach will tell you the same thing: Every player must have specific role, clearly defined, with consequences for not coming through and rewards for doing their particular job well. And that goes for everyone, from the quarterback to the waterboy." Perhaps, the most powerful thing of the book is the simple real life examples author used to clarify the complex subject. Both characters Joe and Larry used a very lively conversational style sometimes I totally forgot I am reading a Business Book. Hope in the 21st century we have MORE this kind of books and authors.When the book is defining the Process Power, I loved the "DMAIC" process - it is convincing that this process works, it is not a program of the month. READ Page 93, and look at the PULL Quote and you will discover how enjoyable reading it is.In the end, as a reader I STONGLY RECOMMEND this book to everyone. After reading it myself I gave the book to my wife to read it as she works for a Jewellary shop. Even a Jewellary shop manager will have fun reading it and will wonder "Why her organization does not practice Six Sigma?"Top Management of any type of organizations (who are struggling to COMMUNICATE SIX SIGMA methodology effectively to every employee) MUST ADOPT THIS BOOK and distribute to the whole workforce.

Excellent!!! Finally A Book on Six Sigma for All of Us

Six Sigma is a NEW management initiative which has been successful in GE, Allied Signal etc. I always wanted to learn about the subject; and bought 2 previously published books on Six Sigma and all are DIFFICULT to understand as I am not from Quality field. I always embrace any book which explains in a simple tone.The Power of Six Sigma is an EXCELLENT book that explains the complex subject in a non-threatning way for anyone to understand. The book reminded me 3 books: "THE GOAL", WHO MOVED MY CHEESE" or "FISH". If someone wants to understand what is the true power behind Six Sigma, please READ THIS BOOK. This is a STORY BOOK, which is for blue collars to white collars - for everyone.All the organizations which are implementing Six Sigma MUST ADOPT THIS BOOK and MUST DISTRIBUTE THIS BOOK to EVERY EMPLOYEE. I mean every employee. I emphasize EVERYONE - because successful implementation of any major initiatives depend on everyone's acceptance. This Book WILL work as A CATALYST.I strongly RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.