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Product Description
Product Description
The authoritative classic--revised and updated for today's Six Sigma practitioners
Whether you want to further your Six Sigma training to achieve a Black or Green Belt or you are totally new to the quality-management strategy, you need reliable guidance. The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition shows you, step by step, how to integrate this profitable approach into your company's culture.
Co-written by an award-winning contributor to the practice of quality management and a successful Six Sigma trainer, this hands-on guide features:
- Cutting-edge, Lean Six Sigma concepts integrated throughout
- Completely revised material focused on project objectives
- Updated and expanded problem-solving examples using Excel and Minitab
- A streamlined format that puts proven practices at your fingertips
The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition is the only comprehensive reference you need to make Six Sigma work for your company. The book explains how to organize for Six Sigma, how to use customer requirements to drive strategy and operations, how to carry out successful project management, and more. Learn all the management responsibilities and actions necessary for a successful deployment, as well as how to:
- Dramatically improve products and processes using DMAIC and DMADV
- Use Design for Six Sigma to create innovative products and processes
- Incorporate lean, problem-solving, and statistical techniques within the Six Sigma methodology
- Avoid common pitfalls during implementation
Six Sigma has evolved with the changing global economy, and The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition is your key to ensuring that your company realizes significant gains in quality, productivity, and sales in today's business climate.
About the Author
Thomas Pyzdek is a Six Sigma consultant with over 40 years of experience in the field. His clients include Ford, McDonald’s, Intuit, Boeing, Seagate, Avon Products, and many other companies. Mr. Pyzdek is a recipient of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Edwards Medal for outstanding contributions to the practice of quality management and the E.L. Grant Medal for outstanding leadership in the development and presentation of meritorious educational programs in quality. He has also recently received a Lean Six Sigma Leadership award from the American Quality Institute.
Paul Keller is Vice President of and senior consultant with Quality America, a Six Sigma Training company. Nearly 3,000 students to date have used his Six Sigma training program to achieve Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt certifications. Mr. Keller is the author of Six Sigma Demystified.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is full of valuable information on Lean Six Sigma.
It covers an extensive range of tools, techniques and charts required. It also doesn't focus on technology meaning you can use it alongside Excel which is invaluable.
Having said all this, the book is also full of unnecessary references and in places, waffle! You will find yourself reading it and pulling out the facts you need from large blocks of text.
In my opinion, this could have been structured better but it seems the authors are trying to get absolutely everything packed in to make it look like a historical piece. What you need is a) what is it, b) how to implement it, etc...you don't need to know the origins & creators since they are irrelevant to anyone trying to implement any methodology. Some authors seem to focus on this as a hero worship not realising the only ones interested, are actually them!
The authors also focus too much on pure six sigma forgetting that in business, you need to be flexible. This is the drawback in six sigma though as it works with structures that are just not compatible with "real" businesses i.e. the need to redeploy black belts after 2 years into the business and obtain "new blood". Whilst this is an idea, in reality this is unlikely since black belts could be redeployed to areas where their knowledge is never used bearing in mind companies have structures. This method appears similar to internal graduate programmes where they get exposed and later find themselves not requiring half of what they have learned since they take up a permanent position that doesn't require it! The book also details what the ideal belted person should be which is also an old fashioned concept as it concentrates on the rule that anyone who is isn't a graduate, cannot operate on this level. This is flawed thinking.
I found it best to pull out key points in a flash card style to prevent you needing to read back through these blocks of unnecessary text.
The book does cover a lot of tools & techniques as well as covering the project management side which many books miss.
If you want the history of the structures, fair enough however for anyone just wanting the tools & techniques, best to skim over some of it.
This book fills in gaps in other books such as the project management side so I would also recommend The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 70 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed as a companion which is easier to use as a pocket reference and use daily.
It covers an extensive range of tools, techniques and charts required. It also doesn't focus on technology meaning you can use it alongside Excel which is invaluable.
Having said all this, the book is also full of unnecessary references and in places, waffle! You will find yourself reading it and pulling out the facts you need from large blocks of text.
In my opinion, this could have been structured better but it seems the authors are trying to get absolutely everything packed in to make it look like a historical piece. What you need is a) what is it, b) how to implement it, etc...you don't need to know the origins & creators since they are irrelevant to anyone trying to implement any methodology. Some authors seem to focus on this as a hero worship not realising the only ones interested, are actually them!
The authors also focus too much on pure six sigma forgetting that in business, you need to be flexible. This is the drawback in six sigma though as it works with structures that are just not compatible with "real" businesses i.e. the need to redeploy black belts after 2 years into the business and obtain "new blood". Whilst this is an idea, in reality this is unlikely since black belts could be redeployed to areas where their knowledge is never used bearing in mind companies have structures. This method appears similar to internal graduate programmes where they get exposed and later find themselves not requiring half of what they have learned since they take up a permanent position that doesn't require it! The book also details what the ideal belted person should be which is also an old fashioned concept as it concentrates on the rule that anyone who is isn't a graduate, cannot operate on this level. This is flawed thinking.
I found it best to pull out key points in a flash card style to prevent you needing to read back through these blocks of unnecessary text.
The book does cover a lot of tools & techniques as well as covering the project management side which many books miss.
If you want the history of the structures, fair enough however for anyone just wanting the tools & techniques, best to skim over some of it.
This book fills in gaps in other books such as the project management side so I would also recommend The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 70 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed as a companion which is easier to use as a pocket reference and use daily.
Format:Hardcover
I am in two minds about this book. It is an important work and I would not be without it. However, I would like someone to rewrite it, or write another book that makes this one unnecessary.
On the good side, this is a very thorough introduction to the tools and techniques of Six Sigma. There is an introductory section explaining the purpose of the method, and later sections cover people issues as well as technical aspects of Six Sigma.
On the downside, the text is really rather dull. There is a tendency to state the obvious, which has the unfortunate impact on this reader of provoking skim reading - which is not what this book was designed for. A knowledgeable editor could probably cut out about a third of the text by assuming that the reader knows the basics of business processes, such as "what is a sample survey".
At times, it goes into rather more detail than this reader would like. For example, in the "Analyze Phase" chapter there are detailed examples of a huge range of analytical methods that really belong to a workbook.
The book does attempt to cover strategic aspects of Six Sigma, and the integration of this method into business strategy. However, it is probably not well suited to the needs of senior managers who want to get to grips with the method for management purposes, without actually becoming a Green/Black Belt themselves. The "high level" perspective tends to lack any new insight, and go to great lengths to say something mundane, suggesting it is more appropriate to the neophyte in business than to the experienced manager. For example, the section on "External Roadblocks" to change takes three paragraphs to say that stiff regulation, plus worries about liability, make people prone to view change as risky. There are probably more interesting things to say about external roadblocks to change, and this wastes half a page saying nothing surprising.
For the patient junior person intending to become a Green/Black Belt or equivalent, particularly if they are already familiar with university level mathematics, this will be a long and difficult read, but probably very worthwhile. The book has a very extensive discussion of mathematical methods and their application to process control, and connects this to the real world issues of business cost and quality levels. This is really what Six Sigma is all about, and for the right audience this is a valuable book.
On the good side, this is a very thorough introduction to the tools and techniques of Six Sigma. There is an introductory section explaining the purpose of the method, and later sections cover people issues as well as technical aspects of Six Sigma.
On the downside, the text is really rather dull. There is a tendency to state the obvious, which has the unfortunate impact on this reader of provoking skim reading - which is not what this book was designed for. A knowledgeable editor could probably cut out about a third of the text by assuming that the reader knows the basics of business processes, such as "what is a sample survey".
At times, it goes into rather more detail than this reader would like. For example, in the "Analyze Phase" chapter there are detailed examples of a huge range of analytical methods that really belong to a workbook.
The book does attempt to cover strategic aspects of Six Sigma, and the integration of this method into business strategy. However, it is probably not well suited to the needs of senior managers who want to get to grips with the method for management purposes, without actually becoming a Green/Black Belt themselves. The "high level" perspective tends to lack any new insight, and go to great lengths to say something mundane, suggesting it is more appropriate to the neophyte in business than to the experienced manager. For example, the section on "External Roadblocks" to change takes three paragraphs to say that stiff regulation, plus worries about liability, make people prone to view change as risky. There are probably more interesting things to say about external roadblocks to change, and this wastes half a page saying nothing surprising.
For the patient junior person intending to become a Green/Black Belt or equivalent, particularly if they are already familiar with university level mathematics, this will be a long and difficult read, but probably very worthwhile. The book has a very extensive discussion of mathematical methods and their application to process control, and connects this to the real world issues of business cost and quality levels. This is really what Six Sigma is all about, and for the right audience this is a valuable book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
26 reviews
34 of 37 people found the following review helpful
If I didn't already know about Six Sigma, this book would not have taught me
2 Feb 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book contains a lot of information, but it's very difficult to learn from it. I already knew the basics of 6 Sigma, so I was able to understand what the author was talking about. If I didn't already know the concept, it would have been like reading greek. The book never gives a simple overview of what 6 Sigma means. He explains the details of each piece of the jigsaw puzzle, but doesn't tell you what the puzzle will look like in the end. The book begins not with an explanation of what 6 sigma is, but with the benefits of it. He provides equations on limits of r, u, np, sigma, averages charts, and others, early on, but doesn't explain what those charts are until chapter 8. I kept reading and re-reading, thinking that I missed something. Another example: He uses the term "subgroup" in equations, examples, and descriptions of situations. The term "subgroup" is not defined until page 235. Sure, I tried to look it up in the glossary -- it isn't there. I tried the index, as well. It's not there either. Believe me, if you need to read a book in order to learn and understand 6 Sigma, look elsewhere. I admit, I didn't read the entire book. That's because I didn't learn anything in the first 250 pages.
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Indispensable reference from the authority
25 Dec 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Thomas Pyzdek has been doing 6 sigma and 6 sigma training for many years. The reference manual is an indispensable tool for any SSGB/SSBB. It is extremely comprehensive and thorough and goes over each stage in the DMAIC road map, along with the tools, in a very high level of detail. If you are not enrolled in a SS training course or if you are new to SS, this is not a book you want to be using as a self teaching book - however, for everyone else (those who are SS certified or are going through certification), this handbook is a treasure trove of tools, tips, and techniques for everything six sigma related.
Remember, this book is not designed as a self-study guide (you could use it, but because it jumps into a lot of the more high level material, it would be confusing to many new to SS). This book is designed as a road map and a reference guide for those already familiar with the SS process and methodology and want to gain a better understanding of each of the DMAIC/DMADV process steps, as well as a very thorough overview and in depth discussion of each of the statistical tools. The biggest improvement of this book over the second edition was a more in-depth review of software tools as well as an expanded appendix reviewing statistical charts.
Remember, this book is not designed as a self-study guide (you could use it, but because it jumps into a lot of the more high level material, it would be confusing to many new to SS). This book is designed as a road map and a reference guide for those already familiar with the SS process and methodology and want to gain a better understanding of each of the DMAIC/DMADV process steps, as well as a very thorough overview and in depth discussion of each of the statistical tools. The biggest improvement of this book over the second edition was a more in-depth review of software tools as well as an expanded appendix reviewing statistical charts.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
A Must HAVE- But a hard read....
22 Jan 2010
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I took a very in-depth online Six Sigma certification class. This book was the required textbook for the course. It does thoroughly cover all aspects of Six Sigma, but BE WARNED!! It is dry reading FILLED with acronyms that I don't think even certified black-belts could remember all of. I was glad to see another reviewer comment on the writing style. I also found it poorly written. The author reminds me of a boss I once had- it's the classic "I'll just keep talking over everyone's head, until they see my superior intellect or I convince them of their own stupidity." I consider myself to be well educated, and one who picks up almost any project easily. I found myself scratching my head and asking, "SERIOUSLY? Is this guy for real??" While it probably is the definitive Six Sigma textbook, be prepared for the math, algebra, an alphabet soup of acronyms and more corporate "buzz word" speak than you can shake a stick at!
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