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by Rowland Hayler


Rowland_Hayler Management_and_Leadership English

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Two leading experts reveal the key concepts and techniques behind Six Sigma Process Management

Six Sigma Process Management (SSPM) is a structured set of tools and techniques to help executives and teams continually address their customers' expectations. What Is Six Sigma Process Management? explains the SSPM methodology, helping business leaders determine which efforts will most positively impact on their customers, employees, and shareholders. SSPM provides a system that guides leaders on what to improve first and how to establish a portfolio of the best improvement efforts in their business.

The book also offers:

Insights on process management, including identifying critical customer process metrics Guidelines to improve customer satisfaction by identifying customer-seen failures Ways to enhance overall business improvement strategy Insights on how future SSPM developments can address modern business challenges
Download What is Six Sigma Process Management? epub
ISBN: 0071453415
ISBN13: 978-0071453417
Category: Business
Subcategory: Management & Leadership
Author: Rowland Hayler
Language: English
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education; 1 edition (June 16, 2005)
Pages: 98 pages
ePUB size: 1365 kb
FB2 size: 1363 kb
Rating: 4.2
Votes: 261
Other Formats: azw lrf lrf azw

Swiang
What Is Six Sigma Process Management? is indeed a relatively quick study at just over 100 pages; however, given a methodical structure, plain language and ample diagrams the authors render the subject as simple to absorb as possible. Being a rookie in the field the book's methodology was indeed straightforward. How that translates to experienced readers, black belts and consultants in the field is best read in other reviews, but the presence of a concise description of all concepts involved was a plus in this circle. Having said that, a better compilation of definitions and a glossary are missed.

The authors' definition is that "The Six Sigma Process Management methodology is a practical approach that focuses the tools and rigor of Lean Six Sigma on your critical processes in order to help you identify the most strategic and customer-focused opportunities for Lean Six Sigma projects in your organizations." The book next relates this topic to what every company has and needs to improve upon, namely products (or services), delivery and value for employees, suppliers and customers. This is where the concept of SIPOC (Suppliers, Input, Process, Output and Customers) is connected to the basic methodology of DMAIC (define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control). In the case of the `Customers' the process must be value-add i.e. customers must be willing to pay for something the company does that can be done correctly for them the first time around that has gone through a transformation before being delivered.
This book defines what it means when it speaks of a process management in Six Sigma ("end-to-end core processes" are those high-level processes that are the primary drivers of value, satisfaction and profit), goes into detail in the implementation and management phase, discusses the tools needed and ends with a snapshot of what a future organization practicing the science would ostensibly look like. One such process is the obvious one, order-to-cash. However, an inordinate amount of emphasis is given to the management of the process. The authors emphasize the needs for constant and consistent executive sponsorship and the imperative that "process governance" be maintained. The authors' practical experience in the field likely renders the judgment that strong leadership needs to be sustained for any Six Sigma process to succeed. The presence and approval of executive leadership will prevent an emotional and practical disconnect on behalf of the participants and the failure of the project. And here is a simple formulae for measuring the effort: R(esult) = Q(uality of the solution) x A(cceptance of the solution).

As the book admits, Six Sigma Process Management (SSPM) is not for the faint-hearted. The inter-linked process requires detailed self-examination, metrics, analysis and supervision. However, it can be done and needs to be done and the tools are outlined here. Clearly, the message is that variations and detours are possible, and have been successes at companies like GE or Amex, but the hierarchy and the basics are not in doubt for these practitioners. SSPM will help identify the current processes, deducing what needs to be done and mapping a near-future strategy with the vital Voice Of Customer in mind.
Kakashkaliandiia
Writing about Six Sigma pins authors on the horns of a dilemma: Should they get specific about this complex system's methods, steps, charts and graphs, and thus risk turning off their readers? Or should they gloss over the details, perhaps using general narratives or case studies instead, whetting readers' appetites but leaving them undernourished for information? Rowland Hayler and Michael Nichols opted for the former to present Six Sigma in compact form in this short book. The authors are interested not only in the fundamental issues of Six Sigma, but also in how to use this tactic to manage a company's ongoing processes. While hardly an introductory primer, this book manages a neat balancing act. getAbstract gives it a strong recommendation, particularly to those readers with some prior knowledge of Six Sigma.
Doomblade
For the completely uninitiated the book holds a very basic framework and some simple guidance on the approach to performing enterprise-wide mapping+diagnostics+improvement. For anyone else, esp BB's and MBB's, the book may come off as lacking in substance (only 100 pages, half of which is introductory preamble), very amatuerish (eg "there was this dude named Henry Ford, you may have heard of him") and muddled (I counted a dozen instances where terms and acronyms are introduced but unexplained until several pages later).

What you do get is the skeleton of a complete process overhaul + management system for enterprise guidance on where to focus the improvement team. This seems both bland and without *any* real-world experience to put "flesh on bones" - eg my company has recently embarked on such an exercise and the complexity of numerous physical value streams, cross-functional processes, physical flow + transactional process + system layers, not to mention product and product mix questions, moving throughput bottlenecks etc. This book gives absolutely no insight into how to manage this level of complexity and seems stuck with multi-function swimlanes as its best offering. Signs to me that the authors are spinning a concept without much expertise to draw on. My experience has been that even after you get these first DMA phases out, you need much more work producing diagnostic/causal guidance on why problems occur, not just where/how. Also, there's no real advice on operational deployment and details on tactics, priorities, etc. Again, smells of a quick buck.

Get it if you know nothing of this area - otherwise you'll need a cross-section of books from Theory of Constraints, Balanced Scorecards, BPM, etc to take you to the next level. 2 stars for very basic value.
Kefrannan
Few books capture the process engineering approach taken by Motorola's wafer fabrication engineers in the mid-1980s. Process excellence lies at the heart of both Six Sigma and the Toyota Production System for the simple reason that Motorola learnt much from its joint venture with Hitachi and later on the Cherokee project with Toshiba. Why is a process perspective so important? Because everything is process and each process step depends on a previous process step? Unlike most other books on the subject, Hayler and Nichols correctly identify the importance of external and internal customers, the use of `enabling' value-added steps, and Kai-zen - making each step right. Whether or not someone uses the DMAIC improvement process, Six Sigma tools, the 3 Ms, Work-Out, or "bread and butter pudding" the goal is the same - to improve business performance.

(Andy Urquhart, ex-Chairman Motorola Six Sigma Steering Committee Austin, Texas)

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