General Electric's Six Sigma Revolution: How General Electric and Others Turned Process Into Profits

Book Description

Applying this revolutionary management strategy to drive positive change in an organization
Currently exploding onto the American business scene, the Six Sigma methodology fuels improved effectiveness and efficiency in an organization; according to General Electric's Jack Welch, it's the "most important initiative [they] have ever undertaken." Written by the consultant to GE Capital who helped implement Six Sigma at GE and GE's General Manager of e-Commerce, Making Six Sigma Last offers businesses the tools they need to make Six Sigma work for them--and cultivate long-lasting, positive results. Successful Six Sigma occurs when the technical and cultural components of change balance in an organization; this timely, comprehensive book is devoted to the cultural component of implementing Six Sigma, explaining how to manage it to maintain that balance. The authors address how to create the need for Six Sigma; diagnose the four types of resistance to Six Sigma and how to overcome them; manage the systems and structures; and lead a Six Sigma initiative. This book applies the Six Sigma approach to business operations across the organization--unlike other titles that focus on product development. Plus, it provides strategies, tactics, and tools to improve profitability by centering on the relationship between product defects and product yields, reliability, costs, cycle time, and schedule.
George Eckes (Superior, CO) is the founder and principal consultant for Eckes & Associates. His clients include GE Capital, Pfizer, Westin, Honeywell, and Volvo. Eckes has published numerous papers on the topic of performance improvement and is the author of The Six Sigma Revolution: How General Electric and Others Turned Process into Profits (0-471-38822-X) (Wiley).

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended!.......2004-03-02

George Eckes' experience in quality control includes an instance where he had the temerity, just out of college, to ask W. Edwards Deming, then an octogenarian, to elaborate on his views about quality. "Those are the most stupid questions I have ever heard! Go read some of my books," the cantankerous quality czar responded. No one reading this volume can doubt that Eckes has done his homework ever since. His blend of experience, theoretical expertise and common sense make this a very effective Six Sigma manual, although it is a little light on case studies. One of the book's most valuable elements is Eckes' keen analysis of the pitfalls that can flush all your best Six Sigma intentions down the tubes, even as a row of consultants tell you it is a panacea for all your woes. We recommend this book to anyone who is about to call a consultant and venture into the Rasputin world of Six Sigma.

5 Stars= Six Sigma.......2003-09-28

Having read or attempted to read an assortment of books on Six Sigma, I must say this one was an easy, informative read. The book reads like what it is, written by a person who has taught people Six Sigma skills for years. The author seems to have used Six Sigma tools on his teachings. He has found out what areas people have had trouble comprehending and has come up with easier ways of explaining it or provides examples.
Could you read this book and come away knowing everything about Six Sigma there is to know. No, but this book will keep you interested, give you an excellent start. You could accomplish quite a bit with the tools provided here.
I would strongly recommend this book to anybody interested in Six Sigma. If you are in business today and aren't aware of the ideas of Six Sigma you are missing out.
I do have to admit to being a follower of W. Edwards Deming management methods for years and have always had a problem with Six Sigma "gurus" not admitting to using many of his ideas. I'm sure it helped win me over to see George Eckes giving Dr. Deming credit where credit is due.

The best book on Six Sigma.......2002-08-09

I like the explanations and the format of this book. Sometimes authors try to help by including strange diagrams that confuse you. This book is simple and to the point, from a person who knows how to explain things. Other books I have seen just describe what Six Sigma is or try to show why the discipline works but nothing more. I would have liked a bit more technical definitions and procedures. I hope this author makes an expanded 6Sigma book with more technical stuff, clear color charts , better paper quality, and to follow a project though from begining to end. Another great book (although with similar limitations) is Design for Six Sigma, by Subir Chowdhury.
Buy them both and compare the two disciplines.

Real-Life Success Stories are Through-Out the Book.......2002-08-08

The six sigma benefits are process management, improvement, and measurement implemented daily. Top company leaders recognize the six sigma is synonymous with constant reinvention of their business and gain success through sustained customer satisfication both internally and externally. Six Sigma business are held the highest standards of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. The belief that tool usage used for measuring results should be easy and simple. The silo-breaking effort produces strong communication and collaboration throughout the company. Core competence is improved as the company makes a strong commitment to learning and training as the standard. The six sigma way involves increase expense for training, resource, and employee time allocation; but numerous case studies suggest the end result is increase productivity. Increased productivity can apply effectively to both service and manufacturing businesses.

What is six sigma? 1. A focus on the customer 2. Fact based management style 3. Process focus and improvement 4. Proactive management 5. Boundaryless Collaboration 6. The drive for perfection but tolerance of failure 7. 3.4 defects per million opportunities performance standard.

What is the improvement Cycle? DMAIC (define,measure, analyze, improve, and control) 1. Identify the problem and define requirements 2. Redefine the problem and measure key steps 3. Analyze the root causes of the problem 4. Develop improvement ideas to remove root causes and create standards of performance measurement. 5. Establish control measures to maintain performance and correct problems as needed.

How does a company determine whether six sigma is right for them? The authors expand that six sigma is a company cultural change. Case studies indicate the change can be profitable but requires tremendous commitment, resources, and time to implement effectively. The authors assess readiness with three questions: 1. Is change a critical business need now 2. Can the company come up with a strong rationale for applying six sigma to their business 3. Will the existing improving systems be capable of achieving the change needed. A deeper understanding of what six sigma can do for the organization is requested. Scope analysis answers the question of what is feasible in terms of resources, attention, and acceptance. A timeframe analysis answers the question of how long will management be willing to wait for results.

Where to go from here. 1. Develop a strong rationale supporting six sigma methodology in your organization 2. Management plans and actively participates in implementation 3. Create a vision and market plan 4. Become a power advocate of the process improvement cycle 5. Set clear objectives 6. Hold yourself and others accountable 7. Demand solid measurements of progress and results 8. Communicate results and setbacks to the organization. 9. Organize roles (black belts, green belts, and master black belts) 10. Select the project with the biggest impact on the organization.

In short, The six sigma way is a big improvement over Total Quality Managment. It signifies a much higher standard of quality and connects management closer to the improvement effort. A ranking structure of black belts and master black belts brings the best expertise to facilitate improvement in the project. Accountablity and communication increase learning, cooperation, and leverage creativity and focus, in the problem solving stages. Because management is actively participating training, resources, and individual talent is effectively configured. The focus on the customer helps identify how to bring value and increase competitiveness.

The Six Sigma Revolution - The Best In Tactical Excellence!.......2001-11-25

The Six Sigma Revolution by Mr. George Eckes is an excellent road map to corporate tactical excellence.

The book leads us to a clear understanding of exactly how to implement the mission of Six Sigma: a scientific method of strategic business management by fact and data to promulgate Excellence in corporate performance and corporate culture through continuous planned quality improvements in business process management.

The Six Sigma Revolution is the best book that offers a complete process to achieve the key tactical component of Six Sigma: process management excellence!

Making Six Sigma Last, another book by the author, successfully teaches us the way to achieve the cultural component of Six Sigma: corporate cultural excellence.

The Six Sigma Revolution is an outstanding work that is enjoyable and very enlightening. It is an important contribution to Six Sigma practice that's very easy to read, comprehend, and implement.

The Six Sigma Revolution is perfect for corporate executives, managers, employees, consultants, quality practitioners, teachers and students of best business practice.

Thank you George, for the outstanding inspiration of The Six Sigma Revolution.

Book Description

A guide to achieving business successes through statistical methods

Statistical methods are a key ingredient in providing data-based guidance to research and development as well as to manufacturing. Understanding the concepts and specific steps involved in each statistical method is critical for achieving consistent and on-target performance.

Written by a recognized educator in the field, Statistical Methods for Six Sigma: In R&D and Manufacturing is specifically geared to engineers, scientists, technical managers, and other technical professionals in industry. Emphasizing practical learning, applications, and performance improvement, Dr. Joglekars text shows todays industry professionals how to:

Summarize and interpret data to make decisions
Determine the amount of data to collect
Compare product and process designs
Build equations relating inputs and outputs
Establish specifications and validate processes
Reduce risk and cost-of-process control
Quantify and reduce economic loss due to variability
Estimate process capability and plan process improvements
Identify key causes and their contributions to variability
Analyze and improve measurement systems

This long-awaited guide for students and professionals in research, development, quality, and manufacturing does not presume any prior knowledge of statistics. It covers a large number of useful statistical methods compactly, in a language and depth necessary to make successful applications. Statistical methods in this book include: variance components analysis, variance transmission analysis, risk-based control charts, capability and performance indices, quality planning, regression analysis, comparative experiments, descriptive statistics, sample size determination, confidence intervals, tolerance intervals, and measurement systems analysis. The book also contains a wealth of case studies and examples, and features a unique test to evaluate the readers understanding of the subject.

Customer Reviews:

GREAT REFERENCE.......2007-01-09

I WAS LOOKING FOR A BOOK TO USE AS A MFG/DESIGN ENG FOR QUICK REFERENCE TO COMMONLY USED METHODS, GAGE R&RS, POPULATION COMPARISONS, STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANTS, THIS BOOK DOES IT. VERY CONCISE AND WELL THOUGHT OUT.

Chemical Process Performance Evaluation (Chemical Industries)

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Chemical Process Performance Evaluation (Chemical Industries)
Ali Cinar , Ahmet Palazoglu , and Ferhan Kayihan
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

Industrial & Technical | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0849338069

Book Description

The latest advances in process monitoring, data analysis, and control systems are increasingly useful for maintaining the safety, flexibility, and environmental compliance of industrial manufacturing operations. Focusing on continuous, multivariate processes, Chemical Process Performance Evaluation introduces statistical methods and modeling techniques for process monitoring, performance evaluation, and fault diagnosis. This book introduces practical multivariate statistical methods and empirical modeling development techniques, such as principal components regression, partial least squares regression, input-output modeling, state-space modeling, and modeling process signals for trend analysis. Then the authors examine fault diagnosis techniques based on episodes, hidden Markov models, contribution plots, discriminant analysis, and support vector machines. They address controller process evaluation and sensor failure detection, including methods for differentiating between sensor failures and process upset. The book concludes with an extensive discussion on the use of data analysis techniques for the special case of web and sheet processes. Case studies illustrate the implementation of methods presented throughout the book. Emphasizing the balance between practice and theory, Chemical Process Performance Evaluation is an excellent tool for comparing alternative techniques for process monitoring, signal modeling, and process diagnosis. The unique integration of process and controller monitoring and fault diagnosis facilitates the practical implementation of unified and automated monitoring and diagnosis technologies.

Average customer rating:

first good statistical treatment for general distributions

Process Capability Indices
Samuel Kotz , and Norman L. Johnson
Manufacturer: Chapman & Hall/CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Quality Control | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Total Quality Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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General | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 041254380X

Book Description

A solid, rigorous, yet comprehensible analysis of process capability indices, this work bridges the gap between theoretical statisticians and quality control practitioners, showing how an understanding of these indices can lead to process improvement.

Customer Reviews:

first good statistical treatment for general distributions.......2001-05-24

The quality movement in the US in the 1980s and 1990s has led to a great deal of quality efforts that stress statistical measurements of process capability. These indices are intended to answer the question "How often will a manufactured part fall outsided specification limits?" Certain standards and tests based on capability indices have validity when the process variation has a normal distribution.

However, it has been my experience in the medical device industry that many processes are non-normal and that the application of the normal theory in these cases can lead one astray. Others have found this to be the case in the automobile industry as well as in other industries.

Also some people treat these indices as though they are known constants when in practice we almost always use sample estimates of means and standard deviations in our calculation of the index. This means that the "index" is itself an estimate of the capability parameter.

Book Description

Quality Concepts for the Process Industry prepares readers for a career as process plant operators. This book covers the classical concepts of quality control in a style and at a depth that should be acquired by all employees of the process industries. Each chapter of the text contains chapter objectives, thorough discussions of the concepts presented, a summary, and end-of-chapter review questions. There is a complete glossary of terms and a list of additional references in the back of the book.

A Practical Guide to Statistical Quality Improvement: Opening Up the Statistical Toolbox

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A Practical Guide to Statistical Quality Improvement: Opening Up the Statistical Toolbox
Michael R. Beauregard , Raymond J. Mikulak , and Barbara A. Olson
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Quality Control | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Food Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0442234392

Statistical Case Studies for Industrial Process Improvement (ASA-SIAM Series on Statistics and Applied Probability)

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Statistical Case Studies for Industrial Process Improvement (ASA-SIAM Series on Statistics and Applied Probability)

Manufacturer: Society for Industrial Mathematics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

Applied | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0898713943

Book Description

American industry is becoming more aware of the importance of applying statistical methods to improve its competitive edge in the world market. Examples of real industrial applications can serve as a major motivator for industries that want to increase their use of statistical methods. This book contains a broad selection of case studies written by professionals in the semiconductor industry that illustrate the use of statistical methods to improve manufacturing processes. These case studies offer engineers, scientists, technicians, and managers numerous examples of best-in-class practices by their peers. Because of the universal nature of statistical applications, the methods described here can be applied to a wide range of industries, including the chemical, biotechnology, automotive, steel, plastics, textile, and food industries.

An adaptable problem-space-based search method for flexible flow line scheduling.(Statistical Data Included): An article from: IIE Transactions

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An adaptable problem-space-based search method for flexible flow line scheduling.(Statistical Data Included): An article from: IIE Transactions
Mary E. Kurz , and Ronald G. Askin
Manufacturer: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from IIE Transactions, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on August 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1546 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: An adaptable problem-space-based search method for flexible flow line scheduling.(Statistical Data Included)
Author: Mary E. Kurz
Publication: IIE Transactions (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2001
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: 33 Issue: 8 Page: 691

Article Type: Statistical Data Included

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Assembly/test combo cuts rejects, aids SPC. (statistical process control): An article from: Tooling & Production

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Assembly/test combo cuts rejects, aids SPC. (statistical process control): An article from: Tooling & Production
Jacques E. Hoffmann
Manufacturer: Nelson Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Tooling & Production, published by Nelson Publishing on December 1, 1993. The length of the article is 1146 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: An assembly process with integrated testing can monitor quality and can minimize the cost of rework or scrap. Typical tests integrated with assembly include gaging and leak testing. The test instruments can store all data on disk for statistical process control analysis. Moreover, the integrated assembly and testing system tracks the contents of each pallet and notes the condition of the contents.

Citation Details
Title: Assembly/test combo cuts rejects, aids SPC. (statistical process control)
Author: Jacques E. Hoffmann
Publication: Tooling & Production (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 1993
Publisher: Nelson Publishing
Volume: v59 Issue: n9 Page: p30(3)

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Assessing multivariate process/product yield via discrete point approximation.: An article from: IIE Transactions

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Assessing multivariate process/product yield via discrete point approximation.: An article from: IIE Transactions
Jeff Duffy , Songquan Liu , Herbert Moskowitz , Robert Plante , and Paul V. Preckel
Manufacturer: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from IIE Transactions, published by Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE) on June 1, 1998. The length of the article is 6685 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: The assessment of multivariate yield is central to the robust design of products/processes. Currently, yield is evaluated via Monte Carlo simulation. However, it requires thousands of replications per simulation to achieve an acceptably precise estimate of yield, this is often tedious and time consuming, thereby rendering it unattractive as an evaluation tool. We propose a discrete point approximation on each design variable, using general Beta distributions, for assessing reasonably precise multivariate yield estimates, which require only a minute fraction of the Monte Carlo replications/simulations required to estimate yield (e.g., 3 and 5 design variables would require only [3.sup.3] = 27 and [3.sup.5]= 243 replications, respectively). The Beta distribution has the desirable property of being able to characterize a wide variety of processes that may or may not be symmetric and which may or may not have a finite operating range. Using an approach that computes the roots of a polynomial, whose degree is determined by the number of discrete points, discrete three point approximations are obtained and tabulated for twenty-five different Beta distributions. Based on several test examples, where design parameters are modeled as independent Beta random variates, our approach appears to be highly accurate, achieving virtually the same multivariate yield estimate as that obtained via Monte Carlo simulation. The substantial reduction in the number of replications and associated computational time required to assess yield makes the iterative adjustment of design parameters a more practical design strategy.

Citation Details
Title: Assessing multivariate process/product yield via discrete point approximation.
Author: Jeff Duffy
Publication: IIE Transactions (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1998
Publisher: Institute of Industrial Engineers, Inc. (IIE)
Volume: v30 Issue: n6 Page: p535(9)

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