Book: Six Sigma Demystified, Second Edition

Hard stuff made easy

Published: Tuesday, March 1, 2011 - 12:03

Have you considered implementing Six Sigma in your organization? You may have searched the internet for books about Six Sigma, signed in so you could “look inside,” but that’s as far as you went. All those formulas and statistical analyses! When you can’t name any of the symbols in the equations, you close the book. You concede that Six Sigma will remain a mystery and you may never know if it might apply to your business.

In the new book, Six Sigma Demystified, Second Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2011), author Paul Keller shows how to develop the tools of Six Sigma so they can be put to practical use and applied to your business. What’s more, he does it in a language you will understand—sans formulas.

Keller has taken the input of thousands of readers of the book’s first edition to further define specific topics and provide in-depth detail for using Minitab and Excel to solve problems common to service and industrial settings. Many examples are provided for service processes.

Part One focuses on the commitment needed from management for success, the selection of projects that align with your business strategy, choosing personnel to lead projects, and developing training, and a deployment plan.

Part Two discusses the define, measure, analyze, improve, control (DMAIC) methodology used to implement projects. Each stage is described in detail with examples and useful tools to achieve objectives for a particular stage.

Part Three provides a detailed alphabetical reference to the statistical, lean, and problem-solving tools most often used in deploying Six Sigma projects using DMAIC. Each tool is presented within the context of an objective for a particular stage of DMAIC, including a “When to Use” section. Detailed interpretation of each tool is given as well as reference to other tools to use in conjunction for greater effectiveness.

This book may be used for training groups of Black Belts and Green Belts or for self-study to master the tools and methodology of Six Sigma.

Paul Keller is the vice president and senior consultant for Quality America, a Six Sigma consulting, training, and publishing firm.

Six Sigma Demystified is available in paperback and as an ebook.

About The Author

Laurel Thoennes @ Quality Digest

Laurel Thoennes is an editor at Quality Digest. She has worked in the media industry for 33 years at newspapers, magazines, and UC Davis—the past 25 years with Quality Digest.