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Leading Six Sigma
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Leading Six Sigma

A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies

Ronald D. Snee and Roger W. Hoerl
FT Prentice Hall, 2002
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Editorial Rating

8

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Recommendation

This book differs from most other Six Sigma guides in that it identifies, by name, companies that failed at Six Sigma. So many authors have presented Six Sigma as something magical that it is refreshing to see its warts. Make no mistake - the authors are not out to debunk or dethrone Six Sigma, a management philosophy and method that has been their professional life for many years. They clearly believe that Six Sigma is worth the investment of time, brain power, leadership and political capital that it requires. But they aren’t afraid to point out the fact that it does require serious investment, and that management must sustain its commitment for years to unlock the full benefit of the Six Sigma approach. The book is a tolerably good read, albeit dry. It mercifully spares the reader any puffery or promotion, and it lays out the axioms of Six Sigma life in a very lucid format. Occasionally, it stoops to cliché, but not terribly often. getAbstract.com recommends it to those who need to know what it really takes to achieve Six Sigma performance, and how to begin.

Summary

The Basics of Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a management philosophy and a methodology aimed at improving business results. The cornerstone of Six Sigma is the idea that business processes ought to be consistent, predictable and reliable. Many businesses measure performance based on averages, but the average is not an acceptable metric. It does not reflect the real experience of people who rely on the process. Suppose one customer waits 30 days for a delivery, another waits 90 days and a third waits only nine days. The average wait is 43 days. But none of the customers has experienced a wait that length. How useful would that average be to a manager?

Six Sigma recognizes that it is not average performance but consistency of performance that matters. A customer who had to wait 90 days for a delivery expected in 30 would be irate. A customer who received that delivery in nine days might also be irate, particularly if receiving an early delivery required paying early or finding storage space for the unexpected shipment. What business customers want is consistent, predictable performance. Consistency and predictability allow various business processes to happen on time, every ...

About the Authors

Dr. Ronald Snee is a principle in Tunnell Consulting’s Performance Excellence Practice, designed DuPont’s first company-wide continuous improvement curriculum, earned the American Society for Quality’s Shewhart Medal and served as a member of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Criteria Team. Dr. Roger W. Hoerl is a leader of Six Sigma at GE, Manager of GE R&D’s Applied Statistics Lab and a winner of the Society for Quality’s Brumbaugh Award. The authors previously wrote Statistical Thinking: Improving Business Performance.

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