The Six Sigma Performance Handbook

Citation

Kuei, C. (2005), "The Six Sigma Performance Handbook", International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 22 No. 9, pp. 1005-1006. https://doi.org/10.1108/02656710510625257

Gupta's book opens with an introductory chapter providing a layout for the entire book. The layout highlights the following critical components of six sigma initiatives: the current status of six sigma management, the balanced approach to planning, the roadmap for six sigma deployment, the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) cycle, TQC and six sigma, and lean six sigma enterprises. The author stays true to the layout plan and strikes a good balance between strategic deployment and operational planning. For example, the author makes it very clear in the opening that firms need to view six sigma management as a strategic asset, not merely as a problem‐solving method through applications of the DMAIC methodology. The author uses Motorola and Bank of America as examples to illustrate the importance of enterprise wide policy deployment, and business process and project management. In this context, six sigma management helps to align a firm's business processes with its customers' interests and requirements, and to respond to the needs of customers quickly, reliably, and cost‐effectively. Specifically, senior executives need to launch six sigma initiatives along the following five dimensions: understanding the business (the who), understanding the drivers of opportunities (the why), identifying short‐term and long‐term goals (the what and when), identifying capability and resources (the how), and establishing focus (the where). Firms must excel at all five dimensions to sustain and enhance performances. As for operational planning, the author introduces a number of Six Sigma project forms, highlighting the five phases of DMAIC. These forms are briefly discussed:

1. 1.

   Define phase – central themes include project description and objectives, critical customer requirements, stakeholder analyses, critical to quality requirements, problem attributes (in order of significance), and customer or operations related measurements.

2. 2.

   Measure phase – to ensure that the defined goals are being monitored, three measurement forms are introduced: project descriptive statistics, cost of quality, and performance measurements such as C_p, C_pk, DPMO, and Sigma level.

3. 3.

   Analyze phase – traditional quality tools such as fishbone diagrams and process flow charts are employed to understand areas that need improvement or immediate attention.

4. 4.

   Improve phase – given sources of process or product defects (from the Analyze phase), the aim here is to study workflows, identify input factors, and conduct experiments. The attempt in the initial stage of experiments is to find the most important input factors. In the follow‐up stage, general or specific solutions need to be identified and implemented to minimize the gap between the current process state and the new, intended system state.

5. 5.

   Control phase – this phase begins with process flow charts documenting the process with critical parameters for control, and ends with the audit for Six Sigma and management review actions.

These six sigma project forms can be used to encourage participation of everyone in the firm and lay out a sound, operationally validated plan. From chapters 4 to 8, the author provides more elaborated versions of this five‐stage approach. In the next two chapters, the focal points are on how to optimize performance and become a lean six sigma enterprise. Chapter 11 contains frequently‐asked questions, followed by detailed discussions.

The goal of this book is to show practitioners how to manage their portfolio of performance improvement in a structured way, and at the same time, balance short‐term gain with long‐term value creation. In my opinion, the author has achieved this goal and also changed the landscape of six sigma management profoundly. Anyone looking for a suitable handbook in six sigma management will find this book useful and highly readable.