Product Description
Brand new book, autographed by author.
Customer Reviews:
Everything you need to know about the subject!.......2007-09-26
This one book has it all! The author hasn't left any segment of Six Sigma uncovered. The index is detailed, making it easy to find a particular thing in the book. The language is easy to follow.
Wow Book.......2007-09-07
This book is worth the price. A good guide indeed, covering theoretical perspective and making practical sense as well. A must for those new and enthusiastic readers of Six-Sigma.
My Six Sigma Handbook Review.......2007-09-01
The Six Sigma Handbook was a required reading as part of the Black Belt Certification I am taking. I have read the entire handbook. I found some chapters easier to read than others. There are other books, on Six Sigma, that may easier for the novice to read. This book is a great desk-top reference for anyone who is in the manufacturing line of business because most of the examples are focused in that direction. The book does contain some transactional examples from service companies that are helpful.
Review.......2007-07-17
The book is very good on stats and very comprehensive. However for a book this size, would like to have seen a bit more on problem solving tools
Book used as part of a Black Belt Program.......2007-05-14
I am reading the book as part of a SixSigma Black Belt program, currently at page 327. Reading as I am for comprehension, I find that there is a information in just about every line of the book. Pyzdek demonstrates his experience in the field of improvement, as all dimensions are thoroughly addressed. As an experienced engineering manager, I do not see too many stones unturned.
Book Description
The companion follow-up to one of the bestselling Six Sigma books ever published
An alarming number of Six Sigma projects are failing--not because of misuse of Six Sigma's statistical tools but because of internal politics and poor communication between team members and the rest of the organization.
The Rath & Strong's Six Sigma Team Pocket Guide helps team leaders and members reverse this trend, explaining the interpersonal and political skills needed to make each Six Sigma project a success.
Written in the "pocket guide" format that proved so successful with the first Rath &Strong guide, and based on the firm's popular Six Sigma training workshops, this handy reference will show Six Sigma team leaders and members how to:
- Get buy-in and cooperation from all levels of the organization
- Lead or participate in productive team meetings
- Plan the people/team side just as they would plan the technical side
Download Description
"The companion follow-up to one of the bestselling Six Sigma books ever published An alarming number of Six Sigma projects are failing--not because of misuse of Six Sigma's statistical tools but because of internal politics and poor communication between team members and the rest of the organization. The Rath & Strong's Six Sigma Team Pocket Guide helps team leaders and members reverse this trend, explaining the interpersonal and political skills needed to make each Six Sigma project a success. Written in the ""pocket guide"" format that proved so successful with the first Rath &Strong guide, and based on the firm's popular Six Sigma training workshops, this handy reference will show Six Sigma team leaders and members how to: Get buy-in and cooperation from all levels of the organization Lead or participate in productive team meetings Plan the people/team side just as they would plan the technical side
Customer Reviews:
We can accomplish more together than any one of us can.......2004-01-25
My comments on this pocket guide are the same as those on the other two created by Rath & Strong, except that this pocket guide is probably the one to purchase in bulk quantity so that copies can be distrbuted among everyone directly involved with process improvement initiatives. Thus far, a substantial majority of Six Six programs either failed or fell far short of expectations. Why? Lots of reasons but one of the major ones is dysfunctional teamwork. Hence the special importance of this pocket guide.
Although Rath and Strong do indeed provide a wealth of information about Six Sigma, their "pocket guide" can be of substantial value to all organizations (regardless of size or nature) which need to simplify, thereby improve the process by which they produce whatever they offer for sale. Products, of course, but also professional services (e.g. legal, accounting, management consulting), memberships (e.g. healthcare providers as well as trade and professional associations such as chambers of commerce), and charitable support (e.g. non profit, tax exempt 501 (c) 3 organizations such as college and universities). Chapter One introduces the book's core concept, DMAIC, an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. A chapter is then devoted to each of the five separate but related process components. Rath and Strong explain how this process will guide and inform efforts to increase the ROI of resources to achieve whatever the desired objectives may be. One of this guide's greatest benefits is its ease of use: It can easily be carried within an attaché case, coat pocket, or purse, always available for direct and immediate access whenever needed. Now more than ever before, decision-makers are under great pressure to produce more and better results in less time, and with fewer resources. Hence the importance of improving first pass yield and cycle time, for example. Hence the importance, also, of enabling everyone within a given organization to understand how and why her or his efforts can -- and should -- contribute to the organization's operational excellence. For most executives, Rath and Strong offer a concise, easy-to-access, and well-written source of guidance to effectively defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling various stages of production of ideas as well as products and services.
Excelent pocket guide for team leaders.......2003-10-14
This is a must have for all team leaders - very useful in any case (not especially Six Sigma related).
Not just for Six Sigma.......2003-04-17
A fantastic Pocket Guide for all members of any kind of Team, not just Six Sigma Teams.
Customer Reviews:
Good to Great.......2007-07-25
These disciplines are what take a company from "Good to great". The book is intense and filled with priceless intelligence that can make your organization a global force and remind you that only hard work and efficacy will get you there.
New idea; new approach.......2006-09-15
This book, Six Sigma for Marketing Processes, differs from most Six Sigma books. Its purpose is to introduce 3 new proactive methods to focused on improving core marketing / business process areas: Strategic Planning (for Portfolio Renewal), Tactical Offering Development & Launch Preparation (developing an offering), and Operational in a Post-Launch environment (managing an offering through its lifecycle). It mentions the importance of the more traditional Six Sigma methods, and discusses selecting and using the appropriate method at the right time, for the right business need.
Misleading description - not DMAIC / DMADV.......2006-06-12
As a Six Sigma Black Belt in an organization that is looking to expand outside of operations, I thought this would be a good book to give me some examples to help sell Six Sigma to my marketing colleagues. But rather than show how DMAIC can improve marketing cycle time, productivity, ROI, etc or how DMADV can lead to better new product launches, it laid out three stage-gated processes to run a marketing organization. DMADV / DFSS was barely mentioned, if at all. This book will not help a marketing organization implement traditional Six Sigma and it will not help a current Six Sigma practioner expand their program to Marketing.
Book Description
THE BRIEFCASE BOOKS SERIES
Now translated into nine languages! This reader-friendly, icon-rich series is must reading for all managers at every level.
All managers, whether brand new to their positions or well established in the corporate hierarchy, can use a little "brushing up" now and then. The skills-based Briefcase Books series is filled with ideas and strategies to help managers become more capable, efficient, effective, and valuable to their corporations.
Six Sigmaone of the hottest topics in today's manufacturing circlesis a statistical concept that characterizes nearly zero defects in any process. But its successful implementation involves a whole new set of management practices. Six Sigma for Managers will help managers better understand this concept and how to facilitate the learning, cooperation, skills improvement, and commitment required to make Six Sigma processes a reality in any organization.
Download Description
"Six Sigma for Managers is a step-by-step guidebook for understanding and managing every facet of this landmark quality initiative. The latest addition to McGraw-Hill's skills-based Briefcase Books series, it gives you the hands-on knowledge and skills you need to: Prepare employees for a full-time, committed focus on the Six Sigma initiative Use Six Sigma tools to isolateand improvefactors affecting your firm's quality and performance Sustain Six Sigma, and create a ripple effect throughout your entire organization"
Customer Reviews:
A Simplistic Overview.......2006-04-28
I picked the book off a manager's shelf to get an overview and fill some time. It does give an overview if one just accepts, can get past, cheerleading as argument and apparently incorrect statistical presentation. The author says early on that Six Sigma is an extension and refinement of quality programs, but then thereafter claims it's unrelated and totally different than those, as if he is chanting a mantra, without offering any meaningful explanation as to how. Not long after, he explains the basic statistics of calculating error rates, standard deviations, tolerances and such, but then it gets dicey: a key formula is written incorrectly (parenthesis are not used where they should be) and the forumla and text explanation do not correspond. Moreover, his more important calculations are not shown and I wasn't able to reproduce them based on the information provided (does 6-Sigma mean 6 x the standard deviation, as stated, or 6 standard deviations from the mean?). Such simple mindedness and apparent errors are disconcerting and undermine confidence in the rest of the author's presentation.
An effective overview but not more.......2005-11-02
If you know very little to nothing about quality processes, statistics or the audacious goals of a 'Six Sigma' process, then this book is an excellent choice to get an overview. Just as the title says, this book is for MANAGERS and thus takes a broad, managerial view - as opposed to the "nuts-n-bolts" of the worker-bees who will do the work. But, the manager targeted for this book seems more a remote manager not too involved in the daily tasks of a full-out six-sigma initiative. Accordingly, SS guru/author Greg Brue defines broadly "what is six sigma" and highlights the main elements of the process (define/measure/analyze/improve/control) along with the leadership roles and importance of a "top-down" commitment. (ideal to refer to the Table of Contents). He also presents the basic financial arguements of how Six Sigma can pay for itself and improve many key business metrics - albeit in the most simplistic terms and without any mention of up-front investments (nothing is free to start).
Positive points: clear language, nice paper quality, not one of those tiny paperbacks(!), an easy-to-read type-set, not too technical for the beginner, decent graphs, and mostly just a good overview of the many considerations and tools for the Six Sigma process.
But, if you are a person who is more technical, statistical or has been to business school, this book is probably way too simple for other than a short reminder of what is important. You'll quickly read it through and say, "What's next?" The basic teachings here will really not equip you to lead a Six Sigma effort or effectively use its analytical or statistical tools in a meeting setting (not enough detail). Also, there were not enough detailed or compelling examples of how to use the statistical tools or and in-depth analysis of the financial payoffs. The few examples were only about 1-2 paragraphs in length so that should give you an idea of its depth. Again it is not a textbook but a quickie overview of what to consider and why it is important and how it can pay off. But, it should leave you with a firm sense of how Six Sigma is not merely "another quality program" but a company-wide, integrated initiative towards maximizing profitability, productivity and customer satisfaction (to name a few things) through measuring everything of importance from manufacturing processes to accounts receivable. And towards that goal, I found it useful to start the journey. Next stop ... a fat textbook with lots of graphs, charts, equations and highly-detailed business examples.
If you did not know, "Six Sigma" refers to the statistical level of quality as measured by a defect rate (non-comformance to some spec) of only 3.4 per 1,000,000 occurances (or 99.9997% in-spec). Prior to the 80's this audacious goal was really unheard of until the age of precision electronics manufacturing and one alert Motorola engineer who first defined the goal and started this train rolling.
the first six sigma book I provide to my clients.......2005-10-10
This is a perfect entry level book for mid/top managers willing to know the basic about Six Sigma. Very easy to read and understand.
It's not bad.......2005-05-19
I already knew what six sigma was and I already had a basic grasp of statistical concepts. I got what I expected from the book, a high level overview of six sigma.
This book is about 160 pages long, I think the author could have easily trimmed some fat and fluff and condensed it to less then 100 pages.
Overall, I'm glad I bought the book, it's inexpensive and I feel I've gotten my money's worth.
Good Introduction for those who are confused about Six Sigma.......2004-08-22
I wanted to know about Six Sigma. I read some articals, but did not get a good picture of Six Sigma. This book is quite readable, interesting and provides a good introduction to Six Sigma. I recommend it to any one as the first book towards Six Sigma initiative.
Book Description
Use Six Sigma to achieve and sustain excellence in product development and commercialization!
To sustain growth and profitability, companies must tightly align product development and commercialization to fast-changing customer requirements. In this book, Clyde Creveling identifies the four process areas most crucial to doing soâand shows executives and managers how to optimize each of them.
Creveling introduces a Six Sigma-enabled workflow that encompasses strategic product/technology portfolio definition and development, research and technology development (R&TD), tactical design engineering processes for commercialization, and operational production and service support. He presents tools, methods, and best practices for selecting the right projects, prioritizing them, and executing them rapidly, consistently, and successfully.
-
Integrate all key technical processes so they work together in harmony
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Create Phase/Gate control plans for delivering products with minimal risk
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Establish scorecards for risk management in technical processes
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Use Six Sigma tools, such as Monte Carlo and FMEA, to improve project management
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Bring discipline to your product and technology portfolio renewal processes
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Systematically optimize your commercialization processes
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Define stripped-down âFast Trackâ processes for commercializing high-risk, high-reward opportunities
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Provide effective operational support after you launch your product
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Preview the future of âleanâ and Six Sigma in technical processes
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Use lean techniques to streamline repeatable processes such as R&D, product design, and post-launch production engineering support
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Learn how to manage the risk of doing a fast track commercialization project when you really must cut corners to get a product out into the market before your opportunity evaporates
Foreword by John Boselli xiii
Preface xv
About the Author xxi
Chapter 1: Introduction to Six Sigma for Technical Processes 1
Chapter 2: Scorecards for Risk Management in Technical Processes 21
Chapter 3: Project Management in Technical Processes 35
Chapter 4: Strategic Product and Technology Portfolio Renewal Process 51
Chapter 5: Strategic Research and Technology Development Process 95
Chapter 6: Tactical Product Commercialization Process 163
Chapter 7: Fast Track Commercialization 275
Chapter 8: Operational Post-Launch Engineering Support Processes 293
Chapter 9: Future Trends in Six Sigma and Technical Processes 317
Glossary 323
Index 351
Customer Reviews:
Intended for the Six Sigma practitioner looking to branch out..........2006-12-16
Having read a fair number of business books over the years, I am somewhat aware of Six Sigma concepts. But as a software developer, it's never been anything I was directly involved with in terms of process. When I saw the book Six Sigma for Technical Processes: An Overview for R&D Executives, Technical Leaders, and Engineering Managers by Clyde M. Creveling, I thought that I might be able to learn more about Six Sigma for my technical pursuits. Unfortunately, I don't think I was the intended audience. The book's not bad, it's just that I didn't have the prerequisite knowledge to tackle it.
Contents: Introduction to Six Sigma for Technical Processes; Scorecards for Risk Management in Technical Processes; Project Management in Technical Processes; Strategic Product and Technology Portfolio Renewal Process; Strategic Research and Technology Development Process; Tactical Product Commercialization Process; Fast Track Commercialization; Operational Post-Launch Engineering Support Processes; Future Trends in Six Sigma and Technical Processes; Glossary; Index
The Six Sigma program is most commonly associated with manufacturing entities that want to lower defects, increase quality, and reduce manufacturing time. Through a very rigorous and defined process, the manufacturing process is tracked, measured, and adjusted to get the desired results. Very formal, but successful if you're willing to commit to it. Six Sigma for Technical Processes covers the application of the process to research and development, as well as the task of bringing new products to market. Rather than just building something that "seems" to be cool or is based on the hunch of some senior executive, Six Sigma processes are set in place to review each product idea from inception to launch. These processes assess risk, ability to produce, customer needs, and a host of other variables that can make or break your product. Six Sigma doesn't substitute for the creativity in coming up with ideas (although there are processes for generating potential products), but it systematically evaluates the ones you do have in order to focus efforts on ideas that have the best chance for success.
The book assumes a comprehensive understanding of Six Sigma concepts before you start reading. The introduction isn't so much "what's Six Sigma" as it is "how does Six Sigma fit into technical design and research". Acronyms abound throughout the book, and you're best off already knowing what they mean. Otherwise, you will get lost pretty quickly. And if you're not familiar with things like Monte Carlo simulations and analysis of means/variances, you won't get up to speed here. That background is assumed. As such, this book is really intended for the Six Sigma practitioner who is ready to apply the program to more than just the manufacturing arena.
If you fit the right criteria, I can see where this book would give you everything you'd need to move in the desired direction. It's just that I didn't fit that criteria... :)
Book Description
Step by step, Facilitating the Project Lifecycle guides the project manager/facilitator in making smart choices about when and how to pull key talent together to spell success for the project and ultimately the organization. The authors will help you understand the benefits of using facilitated group work sessions to get real work done during a project and get it done better and more efficiently than more traditional individual work approaches. In addition, the book includes:
- Recommendations for capitalizing on group knowledge to accelerate the building of key project deliverables and ensure their quality as they are built
- A work session structure for planning, delivering, and following up facilitated work sessions
- Guides for building key project deliverables
- Sample agendas
- Proven techniques for managing the group dynamics
Download Description
Step by step, Facilitating the Project Lifecycle guides the project manager/facilitator in making smart choices about when and how to pull key talent together to spell success for the project and ultimately the organization. The authors will help you understand the benefits of using facilitated group work sessions to get real work done during a project and get it done better and more efficiently than more traditional individual work approaches. In addition, the book includes: Recommendations for capitalizing on group knowledge to accelerate the building of key project deliverables and ensure their quality as they are built A work session structure for planning, delivering, and following up facilitated work sessions Guides for building key project deliverables Sample agendas Proven techniques for managing the group dynamics
Book Description
Six Sigma is a collection of ideas and tools that many organizations are using as part of their efforts to improve the quality of their products and services. Six Sigma for Project Managers explores the concepts that project managers need to know to make six sigma work for their organizations.
Product Description
The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola...
Copyright 2000
McGraw-Hill Publishing
The Six Sigma Handbook: A Complete Guide For Greenbelts, Blackbelts ...
Copyright 2001
McGraw-Hill Publishing
Book Description
Every company wants to improve the way it does business, to produce goods and services more efficiently, and to increase profits. Nonprofit organizations are also concerned with efficiency, productivity, and with achieving the goals they set for themselves. Every manager understands that achieving these goals is part of his or her job.
In this balanced treatment of the field of business process change, Paul Harmon offers concepts, methods, cases for all aspects and phases of successful business process improvement. Updated and added for this edition are coverage of business process management systems, business rules, enterprise architectures and frameworks (SCOR), and more content on Six Sigma and Lean--in addition to new coverage of performance metrics.
* Extensive revision and update to the successful BPM book, addressing the growing interest in Business Process Management Systems, and the integration of process redesign and Six Sigma concerns.
* The best first book on business process, the most up-to-date book to read to learn how all the different process elements fit together.
* Presents a methodology based on the best practices available that can be tailored for specific needs and that maintains a focus on the human aspects of process redesign.
* Offers all new detailed case studies showing how these methods are implemented.
Customer Reviews:
Business Process Change.......2007-09-29
This is about the best Business Process book I have read so far. I worked in a IT transformation for a big Telecommunications company which entailed adopting a new approach to Business Process and Operational Process Development and I found this book very useful. This book with the book Business Process Management - Practical Guide to Successful Implementation provided me with most of the knowledge needed.
Harmon has created a New Standard.......2007-09-11
I have been leading business process management projects and working in the BPM space since the late 1990's. I found this book to be as complete and well written as any reference could hope to be.
From my perspective, this book does for BPM what Harold Kerzner's books do for project management - set the standard for others to follow.
The Best Overall Perspective of BPM.......2007-08-12
In 2004, I worked in a business unit at my company that had experienced a period of declining performance. Our senior management felt that one of the causes was work processes that had become cumbersome and inefficient over the years. I was asked to sponsor a process improvement initiative to try to simplify and streamline how we did work. I didn't know where to start, so I went on a crash course to learn everything I could about improving business processes. I read some great books by Geary Rummler, Roger Burlton, Michael Hammer, and many others. I learned about things like process modeling, process redesign, process improvement, process automation, BPM tools, swimlanes, value chains, CMMI, process owners, Six Sigma, Lean, process architectures--and the role of IT in enabling all of this.
This intense study provided me with a valuable foundation of knowledge, but I still didn't know how pull all of the pieces together. Organizations are extremely complex systems. To improve performance, which approaches work best under which situations? Which tools to use? What skills are needed to improve and redesign processes? What's appropriate, and what's not?
In early 2005, I discovered Business Process Change, First Edition, by Paul Harmon. This book provided me with the big picture perspective of the BPM world that I sorely needed. It helped me to ask the right questions and to structure our process improvement plans more effectively. The issues we have been addressing require long term solutions, and this work continues today. But, we are building an infrastructure that will integrate people and technology into our process change initiatives to ensure the sustainability of our efforts and results.
The First Edition not only helped me organize a more effective process improvement strategy in our business unit, but I also consider the knowledge and perspective gained to be a significant factor in my being selected to lead our relatively new Center for Process Excellence (CPE), a central BPM group located in our corporate offices. The mission of our CPE is to promote a process-based culture throughout our company. We currently lead process improvement and redesign projects to solve specific business problems, and we have begun to develop process modeling skills in our lines of business. We are now focusing on establishing an enterprise business process architecture for our organization and securing executive support for large-scale business transformation.
Thankfully, I now have the Second Edition to consult as we continue on our process journey and take our work to even higher, more ambitious levels. I bought my copy two weeks ago, and while I haven't read it cover-to-cover yet, I have read enough to know that this is not the First Edition with just some cosmetic changes. It is a complete overhaul. It reflects the newest and best thinking in business process change and management today. Like the First Edition, it is a surprisingly clear, practical and useful guide. That's the bottom line for me--what works and how can I use it.
If there was ever a must read book for business process change professionals, this is it.
The Second Edition in Virtually a New Book.......2007-07-31
Readers of the first edition of Business Process Change should know that the second edition is virtually a new book. It has been reorganized to emphasize enterprise level process activities, process level projects and implementation level activities. Major sections on enterprise frameworks, process problem diagnosis and BPMS have been added and most chapters have been reworked to add information about changes that have occured since the first book appeared in 2003.
Paul Harmon, author of Business Process Change
Book Description
Offering an insider's perspective on Six Sigma, this book looks in depth at how this methodology can be adopted and implemented in organizations for maximum results.
Written in an accessible and jargon-free style, the author highlights the `dos and don'ts' of the programme, its successes as well as its weaknesses.
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Books Index
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General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed
Statistics for Six Sigma Made Easy
The Six Sigma Project Planner : A Step-by-Step Guide to Leading a Six Sigma Project Through DMAIC
Six Sigma for Dummies
Six Sigma and Minitab: A complete toolbox guide for all Six Sigma practitioners (2nd edition)
