Cambridge Business Association
The Power of Design for Six Sigma
Book

The Power of Design for Six Sigma

Subir Chowdhury
Kaplan Publishing, 2003
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

When last we saw Joe Meter, the fictitious hero of Subir Chowdhury’s last Six Sigma book (The Power of Six Sigma), he was looking for work. His friend Larry Hogan introduced him to Six Sigma, which made Joe a huge success. According to the story, which is a novelistic construct for conveying business advice, now Joe is going to tutor Larry on a more advanced form of Six Sigma, one that delves into the very process of system design. This “meta-Six Sigma” appears to be a natural evolution of the basic Six Sigma approach, namely, to uncover the root causes of defects, inefficiency and customer dissatisfaction – and to fix them as part of the intrinsic design of the company and its processes. This book covers the design concept, but not the initial details of Six Sigma itself. Here, Chowdhury again explains a complex subject in a lucid manner, if you don’t mind an alphabet soup of acronyms. This book will help anyone in management or anyone who is going through a change initiative.

Summary

Post Six Sigma?

Is there life after Six Sigma, the internationally recognized system for enhancing efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction? The short answer is "yes," but like any other form of life, it requires adaptation. Companies that have instituted Six Sigma have learned that, as with any other new system, a point comes at which maximum gains have been realized, diminishing returns have been reached and productivity enhancements have begun to level off.

When this happens, do executives sit back in their leather chairs and say to themselves, "Well, we had a good run with that Six Sigma while it lasted." Of course not. Complacency goes against the tenets of Six Sigma.

Instead, executives can now reach new heights by designing for Six Sigma. For the maximum benefit, instead of just practicing Six Sigma, allow it to change your company's processes. Designing for Six Sigma opens up unprecedented opportunities to improve efficiency and quality beyond your highest expectations.

Essential Ingredients

For any change initiative to work within a company, communication from the top executives is critical. Even organizations that aren't particularly...

About the Author

Subir Chowdhury is the author of nine books, including The Power of Six Sigma and Management 21C. The executive vice president of the American Supplier Institute (ASI), he speaks and writes internationally as a consultant on quality and management. His clients include Fortune 100 companies and small organizations, both public and private.

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