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Six Sigma For Dummies
Six Sigma is the most common—and perhaps least understood—methodology for streamlining processes in manufacturing, service delivery, management, and almost any other business activity. For business leaders seeking increased efficiency and customer service, Six Sigma is the key.
Written specifically for Six Sigma beginners—whether they’re small business owners who want to implement Six Sigma, or professionals and students who need to get up to speed fast—Six Sigma For Dummies is the most straightforward, non-intimidating guide on the market. Hundreds of thousands of professionals work in Six Sigma companies such as GE, Sony, Toshiba, Microsoft, and Nokia, but have a hard time fully understanding the methodology. This simple, friendly guide makes Six Sigma make sense.
Intended to help readers implement Six Sigma in their small and medium-sized businesses to improve quality and reduce costs, this no-nonsense guide explains:
What Six Sigma is
Written specifically for Six Sigma beginners—whether they’re small business owners who want to implement Six Sigma, or professionals and students who need to get up to speed fast—Six Sigma For Dummies is the most straightforward, non-intimidating guide on the market. Hundreds of thousands of professionals work in Six Sigma companies such as GE, Sony, Toshiba, Microsoft, and Nokia, but have a hard time fully understanding the methodology. This simple, friendly guide makes Six Sigma make sense.
Intended to help readers implement Six Sigma in their small and medium-sized businesses to improve quality and reduce costs, this no-nonsense guide explains:
What Six Sigma is
• What Six Sigma’s goals and objectives are
• The benefits of Six Sigma in both large and small businesses
• How the belt system works
• The DMAIC approach
• How to implement Six Sigma
• How to use Six Sigma tools
• How Six Sigma’s approach aims for zero-defects
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First published February 1, 2005
145 people are currently reading
673 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 5, 2022
The book provided the foundational knowledge of Six Sigma that I was looking for. Read for work purposes, and will help me get started in this new sector.
March 6, 2015
Decent 100 foot view of the tools used for analytics in Six Sigma processing but certainly no were near the depth needed to learn to be a Six Sigma practitioner. Just scratched the surface. Good initial read or Executive summary for leadership to know what Six Sigma can do for the company.
July 6, 2013
Very thorough and includes many statistical tools. The tools are of moderate depth. A good introduction to Six Sigma and a decent reference.
October 1, 2019
This is exactly what I needed to determine whether or not I wanted to take online classes for Six Sigma. I have been familiar with some of the Six Sigma methods but not very in depth, so this book was very helpful.
August 4, 2017
good stuff
November 7, 2021
Six sigma takeaway
1- Six Sigma is deterministic. It emphasizes the cause and effect relationship between the factors that influence a process and its result.
2- Six Sigma is the single most effective problem-solving methodology for improving business and organizational performance.
3- To navigate toward a specific outcome, follow the steps in the DMAIC process:
"Define" - Determine exactly what you want to accomplish. Be specific.
"Measure" - Decide how you’ll measure your progress. Start with the current level of performance and establish goals.
"Analyze" - Using the power of cause and effect, examine data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your process.
"Improve" - Select the variables you can upgrade and make the modifications.
"Control" - Institutionalize improvements by creating new procedures.
To improve your results, apply each DMAIC step to any business process. Repeating the DMAIC cycle for project after project for sure it will brings success.
4- The RUMBA acronym reminds you that all specifications should meet the following five criteria:
"Reasonable" - Begin with a realistic assessment of customers’ needs. Be sure your specification is relevant. Six Sigma should be driven by customers’ requirements.
"Understandable" - A specification should not be so arcane or technical that no one really knows what it means.
"Measurable" - Only use a specification that you can measure accurately.
"Believable" - Your colleagues must buy into the specification. It has to be credible.
"Attainable" - Unless the specification is realistic and achievable, you can’t expect others to strive to meet it.
5- Applying its tools will help you change the way you think about problems so you can accomplish your company’s objectives as well as your own
1- Six Sigma is deterministic. It emphasizes the cause and effect relationship between the factors that influence a process and its result.
2- Six Sigma is the single most effective problem-solving methodology for improving business and organizational performance.
3- To navigate toward a specific outcome, follow the steps in the DMAIC process:
"Define" - Determine exactly what you want to accomplish. Be specific.
"Measure" - Decide how you’ll measure your progress. Start with the current level of performance and establish goals.
"Analyze" - Using the power of cause and effect, examine data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your process.
"Improve" - Select the variables you can upgrade and make the modifications.
"Control" - Institutionalize improvements by creating new procedures.
To improve your results, apply each DMAIC step to any business process. Repeating the DMAIC cycle for project after project for sure it will brings success.
4- The RUMBA acronym reminds you that all specifications should meet the following five criteria:
"Reasonable" - Begin with a realistic assessment of customers’ needs. Be sure your specification is relevant. Six Sigma should be driven by customers’ requirements.
"Understandable" - A specification should not be so arcane or technical that no one really knows what it means.
"Measurable" - Only use a specification that you can measure accurately.
"Believable" - Your colleagues must buy into the specification. It has to be credible.
"Attainable" - Unless the specification is realistic and achievable, you can’t expect others to strive to meet it.
5- Applying its tools will help you change the way you think about problems so you can accomplish your company’s objectives as well as your own
September 26, 2021
Good for beginners who wants to understand what six Sigma concept is.. why it is there in the first place.. and after you understand what it is and how to use it your organization and in your personal life.. I don't know but it seems like just common sense.. do what is right according to the process minimize the errors in the outcome by improving the process .. doing due diligence and doing root cause analysis... Dadadada.....
I think six Sigma is more general knowledge.. not like you should know A to Z about it.. but atleast you should know there is something called six Sigma and why it is there.. this book will help you to find out that!!
Happy reading!!
I think six Sigma is more general knowledge.. not like you should know A to Z about it.. but atleast you should know there is something called six Sigma and why it is there.. this book will help you to find out that!!
Happy reading!!
January 21, 2022
A Great Asset in Any Arsenal!
Although I am not in the manager part of manufacture my, I have always wondered what Six Sigma was about. This read hits all the significant points without becoming overwhelming. Its an excellent overview of the history and implementation of the Six Sigma method, and gives good insights into how the program can benefit about any business venture. Nicely laid out for all regardless of interest or ability.
Although I am not in the manager part of manufacture my, I have always wondered what Six Sigma was about. This read hits all the significant points without becoming overwhelming. Its an excellent overview of the history and implementation of the Six Sigma method, and gives good insights into how the program can benefit about any business venture. Nicely laid out for all regardless of interest or ability.
June 4, 2019
Great book for complete beginners. Enough to give you "Oh I read that before in that book" moments now and then when you go ahead with your learning.
Some solved examples lacked details making them harder to grasp but at the same time adding more fun.
Highly recommended for absolute beginners.
Some solved examples lacked details making them harder to grasp but at the same time adding more fun.
Highly recommended for absolute beginners.
July 6, 2017
This book sets the stage to learn the basic principles behind the six sigma process. I found it very helpful in setting up this system for my own business and I've adapted it to songwriting.
February 21, 2018
Six Sigma 101. Very simple overview of Six Sigma concepts. Nothing amazing to take away from this book.
September 17, 2019
Yes, count carefully and well.
January 26, 2022
Long time had a feeling that all those “dummies” books ain’t for me. Absolutely correct feeling, it turns out.
Listened to this out of OCEB2 recommended reading list. Meh.
Listened to this out of OCEB2 recommended reading list. Meh.
January 22, 2024
A self help book
Currently reading
September 26, 2016This is more of a personal reflection, or a summary, rather than a review.
Ch1: Introducing Six Sigma and arguing that it's an important methodology for doing business and not "just another initiative-du-jour", also stressing the previous point by emphasising the scientific, technical "data-driven" nature of Six Sigma (it's not just another philosophical perspective) and explaining the statistical meanings of the words "six" and "sigma".
Ch2: Describes the five principles, or pillars, of Six Sigma: the "outputs = processing-of-inputs + error" function ( Y = f(X) + e ), the focus on "causes", the inevitability of "variation", the importance of "measuring", and the concept of "leverage", i.e that there is always a set of few input variables which have the greatest effect on the outputs.
Ch3: Introducing the [R]DMAIC problem-solving approach and describing the "domains of activity", hierarchy of people involved, and the life-cycle of adopting Six Sigma in an organisation. The "domains of activity" explains that Six Sigma relates to the way people "think", the way manufacturing or business "processes" work, the way products and services are "designed" at the beginning, and finally the way top-level managers "manage" a business. The hierarchy explains the various roles of different individuals including but not limited to the management team, support team [IT, finance, HR, ect] and the actual technical problem-solving "practitioners". Finally, the life-cycle section explains the stages an organisation would go through when adopting Six Sigma, from the initial decision and "initialisation" of a system, "deploying" the system by training staff, "implementing" it in a small part of the organisation, gradually "expanding" to different parts of the organisation, and finally the "sustaining" stage where it becomes a second-nature behaviour in the organisation which would, ideally, lead to problems being solved automatically [at low-levels] without having to implement a full DMAIC project.
Ch1: Introducing Six Sigma and arguing that it's an important methodology for doing business and not "just another initiative-du-jour", also stressing the previous point by emphasising the scientific, technical "data-driven" nature of Six Sigma (it's not just another philosophical perspective) and explaining the statistical meanings of the words "six" and "sigma".
Ch2: Describes the five principles, or pillars, of Six Sigma: the "outputs = processing-of-inputs + error" function ( Y = f(X) + e ), the focus on "causes", the inevitability of "variation", the importance of "measuring", and the concept of "leverage", i.e that there is always a set of few input variables which have the greatest effect on the outputs.
Ch3: Introducing the [R]DMAIC problem-solving approach and describing the "domains of activity", hierarchy of people involved, and the life-cycle of adopting Six Sigma in an organisation. The "domains of activity" explains that Six Sigma relates to the way people "think", the way manufacturing or business "processes" work, the way products and services are "designed" at the beginning, and finally the way top-level managers "manage" a business. The hierarchy explains the various roles of different individuals including but not limited to the management team, support team [IT, finance, HR, ect] and the actual technical problem-solving "practitioners". Finally, the life-cycle section explains the stages an organisation would go through when adopting Six Sigma, from the initial decision and "initialisation" of a system, "deploying" the system by training staff, "implementing" it in a small part of the organisation, gradually "expanding" to different parts of the organisation, and finally the "sustaining" stage where it becomes a second-nature behaviour in the organisation which would, ideally, lead to problems being solved automatically [at low-levels] without having to implement a full DMAIC project.
October 17, 2014
Ik hoopte een pragmatisch boek te lezen die heel praktisch uitlegt hoe 6sigma werkt zodat ik het verschil kan zien met TPM en WCM, maar het is een heel wollig boek waar vooral nogal arrogant gedaan wordt over 6sigma.
Zo wordt er beweerd dat 6sigma veel betere doorbraken kan realiseren dan bvb TPM (en Kaizen), maar het wordt nergens geargumenteerd waarom dat zo is. Er staat ook dat "het empirisch bewezen is" dat 6sigma beter is dan alle andere praktijken, maar er wordt nergens naar dat empirisch onderzoek verwezen.
In het begin wordt er zelfs verwezen naar "good to great" van Jim Collins. Als je naar een pseudowetenschappelijk boek refereert, dan ben je toch niet goed bezig om mij te overtuigen.
Ken iemand een beter boek over 6sigma?
Zo wordt er beweerd dat 6sigma veel betere doorbraken kan realiseren dan bvb TPM (en Kaizen), maar het wordt nergens geargumenteerd waarom dat zo is. Er staat ook dat "het empirisch bewezen is" dat 6sigma beter is dan alle andere praktijken, maar er wordt nergens naar dat empirisch onderzoek verwezen.
In het begin wordt er zelfs verwezen naar "good to great" van Jim Collins. Als je naar een pseudowetenschappelijk boek refereert, dan ben je toch niet goed bezig om mij te overtuigen.
Ken iemand een beter boek over 6sigma?
Read
February 29, 2016I liked it. Simple, easy to understand. It is very thorough covering lots of topics, concepts & principles of LEAN SIX SIGMA. There's lots of material on statistical tools. Yes, a good introduction to Six Sigma & will be good for later review & refresher! I will refer back to it from time to time. Don't let the title mislead you. It's a handy book.
July 7, 2009
This book was useful as a companion to start my first 6 sigma project. It gave me the lingo and the context for my project. I also know I need to focus on using control charts with the help of minitab to proceed further.
August 5, 2007
This sits on my desk at work - it's a cr@ppy book but I like to have it sitting there.
February 29, 2016
As they usually are, a nice intro to the subject. It gave me some ideas of how it would apply I my own work with data.
May 11, 2018
Review to come...
October 26, 2020
A very great introduction on the topic. Easy to understand with adequate example
February 25, 2016
Kill me now....another book for work...arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews