It boosted productivity and increased profits for such top-shelf companies as General Electric, AlliedSignal, and Motorola. It is a way of life for managers driven to create world-class organizations. Its quantitative approach fuels effectiveness and efficiency and has made it the most popular quality improvement methodology in history. How can you put the awesome power of Six Sigma to work for your organization?



The Six Sigma Revolution shows managers and implementers how to create and sustain a Six Sigma initiative in any organization. This hands-on resource explains how and why Six Sigma is superior to other quality improvement methods. Unlike other books on this topic, it lays out the strategic component of Six Sigma and demonstrates how to create the infrastructure for its successful implementation in any company of any size.



Simple but detailed Six Sigma tactics drive improved effectiveness, efficiency, and profits. This easy-to-use, step-by-step guide describes these powerful tactics and shows managers how to:



Create charter teams to work on processes that directly impact strategic objectives

Calculate sigma at the process level

Create specific, measurable problem statements for project teams to solve

Use analysis and improvement tools to optimize sigma performance

Transfer an improved process and sustain it over time

Recognizing the need to manage cultural change connected with the initiative, this book helps you make the transition to managing with facts and data; diagnose and overcome four major types of resistance; and create a business quality management counsel to ensure the success of the initiative. Finally, you?ll discover the ten ways in which Six Sigma initiatives can fail and how to avoid or overcome them to become another Six Sigma success story.



Filled with real-world case studies that illustrate the right and wrong ways to implement Six Sigma, as well as dozens of helpful charts and tables that help you track your progress, this practical guide makes for fast, easy reading that will help you transform your organization from an also-ran to the leader of the pack.



Contents:

Foreward

Preface

Acknowledgments

Ch. 1. Introduction to Six Sigma

Ch. 2. The strategy of six sigma : eight steps to strategic improvement

Ch. 3. Profits = customer + process + employee

Ch. 4. Project start-up : tactical six sigma

Ch. 5. Measuring project sigma : how close are you to perfection?

Ch. 6. Data and process analysis : the keys to the project

Ch. 7. Root cause analysis : never stop asking "why"

Ch. 8. Selecting solutions that drive sigma performance

Ch. 9. Holding the gains : making sure your solutions stick

Ch. 10. How six sigma initiatives fail and how to avoid mistakes

Appendix

Index



About the Author

GEORGE ECKES is founder of EAI, a Colorado-based consulting group specializing in results-driven continuous improvement, Six Sigma training and implementation, organization development, and managing change. His recent Six Sigma clients include Volvo Trucks North America, Lithonia Lighting, and General Electric. In 1996, Eckes and Associates, Inc. was chosen as a primary consulting organization for General Electric in their Six Sigma Quality initiative.