Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
Preface Six Sigma is about radically improving the performance of an organization-a pursuit to which we have collectively dedicated more than fifty-five years of our careers. We first worked together at DuPont in the early 1980s. We continued our professional relationship over the years and, in 1995, we both independently began our work in Six Sigma. Having been involved in improvement efforts most of our careers, we were both amazed at the tremendous financial results produced by Six Sigma. We continued our discussions of Six Sigma over the next several years as we deployed the method in different organizations. While we began to see numerous books on Six Sigma, they tended to either be focused on the technical tools of Six Sigma, or were using hype and fanfare to sell the reader on implementation. Our colleagues and clients, on the other hand, were raising deeper issues about how to actually deploy Six Sigma and avoid potholes along the way. These questions highlighted to us the paucity of practical guidance on the deployment of Six Sigma. This book represents our attempt to fill this void. How This Book Can Help You Six Sigma began at Motorola in the 1980s as a statistical measure of process performance. AlliedSignal and General Electric (GE) broadened and further popularized the approach in the 1990s. Their successes encouraged other companies such as DuPont, Dow Chemical, 3M, Ford, American Express, and companies in Europe and the Pacific Rim to undertake Six Sigma initiatives. The methodology has evolved significantly along the way, and today Six Sigma has grown into a holistic strategy and methodology for improving the performance of an organization. Six Sigma integrates the improvement tools that have proven effective over the years into a comprehensive approach that improves both customer satisfaction and the bottom line. As a result, Six Sigma builds on what has been successful in the past and takes performance improvement to a new level of effectiveness. Although the theory is simple, many who implement Six Sigma struggle with the details of overall deployment. Being sold on Six Sigma is of little value if it cannot be successfully implemented. While most companies have experienced tremendous success with Six Sigma, some have not. Our research indicates there is a lack of literature on why this is so. We have examined both very successful and minimally successful organizations in order to understand the root causes for success or failure. We have found that successful companies have important similarities in deployment, as do the unsuccessful companies. Understanding these common success factors enables one to significantly enhance the probability of success, while understanding the commonalities of unsuccessful companies enables one to avoid the potholes. Of course, each organization is different. You cannot blindly adopt the Six Sigma deployment models used by other companies and expect to be successful. It makes much more sense to understand what specifically led these companies to success, and adapt those approaches and methods to your own organization. Providing a roadmap to do just this is the focus of this book. What's In This Book We present a deployment roadmap that has worked in a number of different circumstances. It shows how to get started, manage the important aspects of the initiative, maintain the momentum over time, and eventually how to scale down the initiative and institutionalize Six Sigma. Specific advice is given in such areas as: Identifying your company's most promising Six Sigma opportunities and leaders Providing leadership, talent, and infrastructure for a successful launch Implementing systems, processes, and budgets for ongoing Six Sigma projects Measuring and maximizing the financial value of your Six Sigma initiative Avoiding the subtle mistakes that can make Six Sigma fall short Our guidance is based on a total of over fourteen years' experience deploying Six Sigma in large and small companies, manufacturing and research and development (RandD), and non-manufacturing organizations such as financial services. Indeed, we have found that Six Sigma can work everywhere-different cultures, countries, industries, functions, and processes-if you follow the process. In Chapter 1 we provide an overview of Six Sigma, highlighting the difference between the deployment aspects of Six Sigma and the tools and methods used to conduct Six Sigma projects. To date the lion's share of literature has focused on the methods and tools and virtually ignored the critical subject of deployment. As a result there is precious little in the literature to guide executives as they deploy Six Sigma. Chapter 2 provides four case studies-General Electric, W. R. Grace and two less successful deployments-highlighting what has worked and what hasn't. Unfortunately, implementing Six Sigma is no guarantee of success. The focus in the press has been on the successes, but there have certainly been failures. As you will see, you can learn from both. In Chapter 3 we analyze the four case studies to identify success factors for the deployment of Six Sigma. You will see specific reasons why some companies succeeded and others didn't. These factors are identified and integrated into an overall strategy for deploying Six Sigma within an organization. The remainder of the book provides detailed advice on each step of this strategy. The focus of Chapter 4 is on launching the initiative, probably the most important phase of Six Sigma. If Six Sigma is poorly launched, it will be difficult to reorganize and regain momentum. The pros and cons of full (across the company) and partial deployment are addressed. Particular focus is placed on selecting the right projects and the right people. Chapter 5 focuses on managing the ongoing effort, highlighting the need for supportive managerial processes and systems. After Six Sigma has been launched, there is often a loss of momentum as other priorities take center stage. It's these management systems that enable Six Sigma to continue to work and change the culture. Chapter 6 introduces ways to sustain momentum and growth longer term. Using a sports analogy, it focuses on the defensive effort needed to hold the line and the offensive effort needed to score more points. Issues such as system reviews, ongoing training systems, and expanding Six Sigma throughout the enterprise and to suppliers and customers are addressed. The use of Six Sigma as a leadership development tool is also discussed. Bringing Six Sigma to the level of day-to-day work is the focus of Chapter 7. This includes the integration of Six Sigma with operational and managerial processes as well as developing an overall organizational improvement system. The integration of Six Sigma with ISO 9000, Baldrige assessment criteria and lean manufacturing is also discussed. Chapter 8 provides additional guidance for leaders: deepening understanding of Six Sigma, ensuring success of individual improvement projects and the overall initiative. Particular attention is placed on helping managers understand what actually goes on in Six Sigma projects without getting buried in the details of the Six Sigma tools. The concluding section focuses on answers to more than thirty frequently asked questions, and references that will help deepen your knowledge of Six Sigma. These questions have been the most critical that we have been asked by a variety of organizations implementing Six Sigma. They concern issues that almost all those deploying Six Sigma encounter at one time or another. An example deployment plan is shown in the appendix. How to Use This Book Using this book as a guide, you can get your Six Sigma deployment process off to a solid start and help assure its continuing success. A body of knowledge of how to properly deploy Six Sigma, as well as the pitfalls to avoid, is provided. You can speed up the deployment and success of Six Sigma if you utilize what those who have gone before you have learned; as such you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Each element of Six Sigma is relatively simple. However, putting it all together is the hard part. This book not only provides a roadmap for deploying Six Sigma but also highlights the keys to successful deployment, and a way to maintain the gains-putting it all together in a single document. By reading this book you will learn what works and what doesn't, learn effective deployment strategies and become fluent in the language of Six Sigma. Of course, a roadmap is not a cookbook-each organization will still need to customize its approach based on its own unique situation. All those involved in Six Sigma can benefit from this book. Executives will learn how to design and lead the deployment process and how to focus on critical improvement areas. Champions will learn how to select and charter projects and how to select and guide Black Belts and Green Belts. Master Black Belts will learn the deployment process, a knowledge that is needed to work effectively with management, Champions and the Black Belts and Green Belts. Black Belts and Green Belts will learn more about the Six Sigma deployment process which will deepen their understanding of their role. It is becoming increasingly recognized that Six Sigma is not only an effective process improvement methodology, but also an effective strategy for culture change and leadership development. Six Sigma obviously emphasizes the use of facts and data to guide the decision making process. But the improvement project selection and review, recognition and reward, and communication processes used to support Six Sigma are also effective culture change vehicles. Increasingly, companies are seeing Six Sigma as an effective leadership development methodology with companies such as GE, Honeywell, 3M and DuPont requiring Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt experience for managerial advancement.
From the Back Cover
In Leading Six Sigma, two of the world's most experienced Six Sigma leaders offer a detailed, step-by-step strategy for leading Six Sigma initiatives in your company. Top Six Sigma consultant Dr. Ronald D. Snee and GE quality leader Dr. Roger W. Hoerl show how to deploy a Six Sigma plan that reflects your organization's unique needs and culture, while also leveraging key lessons learned by the world's most successful implementers.
Snee and Hoerl share leadership techniques proven in companies both large and small, and in business functions ranging from R&D and manufacturing to finance. They also present a start-to-finish sample deployment plan encompassing strategy, goals, metrics, training, roles and responsibilities, reporting, rewards, and management review.
Whether you're a CEO, line-of-business leader, or a project leader, Leading Six Sigma gives you the one thing other books on Six Sigma lack: a clear view from the top.
Proven techniques for leading successful quality initiatives.
Leading Six Sigma offers an insider's view of what it really takes to lead a successful Six Sigma initiative, drawing on the authors' experience at the top levels of the world's largest and most challenging organizations.
Dr. Ronald D. Snee shares experiences drawn from executive-level consulting at over 30 major companies. Dr. Roger W. Hoerl teaches powerful lessons from his experience in pioneering Six Sigma throughout GE during the Jack Welch era. Together they offer unprecedented executive guidance on the issues most crucial to senior managers, covering every stage from planning through ongoingmanagement.
Snee and Hoerl offer practical solutions for the cultural challenges and human resistance that face any executive seeking to initiate Six Sigma or improve an existing program. They even explain how and when to "wind down" initiatives, transitioning Six Sigma to a "fact of life" that doesn't require the support of a massive centralized infrastructure.
"This is a truly insightful and well-researched book on Six Sigma by two of the leading experts in the field. Theirroadmap for successful deployment is supported by the experiences of major corporations, including GE and Honeywell. Itis extremely well presented in a step-by-step manner and backed up by real business-case examples. Bravo to the authors inbringing us a book that should be at the ready reach of leadership of organizations and the practitionersof Six Sigma. It reminded me so much of 'In Search of Excellence' as far as its potential impact on the way businessescan be successful."
-William J. Hill, Ph. D.
Research Fellow & Six Sigma MBB Program Leader
Honeywell International
"Leading Six Sigma promises dramatic performance improvement and significant bottom line results for businesses. So... why is there so much variation in the actual impact that the many businesses that are pursuing Six Sigma are experiencing? Leading Six Sigma reveals the root causes. Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl, two respected and seasoned practitioners, take readers beyond the technical 'methods-and-tools' view of Six Sigma and instead focus their practical insights on what leaders must do to unlock the transforming power of Six Sigma. Their advice is not theoretical but rather distilled to proven approaches based on their experiences as consultant and GE insider. Whether you are engaged in Six Sigma now or are tempted to launch the initiative, this book will help you do it right."
-Eric Mattenson
VP, Six Sigma Quest Diagnostics
Formerly Six Sigma Process Leader for GE Capital
"Leading Six Sigma does an excellent job of explaining the value of using Six Sigma to drive business performance and giving practical guidance for implementation. Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl have made it simple, understandable, and compelling. The examples they use from different companies such as GE and Grace prove without question that Six Sigma works in companies of very different sizes and cultures. If you are interested in upgrading the capabilities of the people in your company, improving its performance quickly, and positioning it for better results in the future, read this book!"
-Paul J. Norris
Chairman, President, and CEO
W. R. Grace & Co.
"Ron Snee and Roger Hoerl are to be congratulated on writing a book that draws from their diverse firsthand experience with Six Sigma deployment. Much has been written about the DMAIC project implementation strategy, but Snee and Hoerl present a compelling, four-step initiative implementation strategy that goes beyond the boilerplate recommendations. They stand firm on the things that do and don't work, as well as offer options on things that may or may not work based on the implementing organization's current situation. This book is a invaluable resource for organizations in any stage of their deployment."
-Dr. Steven P. Bailey
Certified Master Black Belt
DuPont Global Services
Past President
American Society for Quality
"Leading Six Sigma is a good reference for your progress-from deployment through sustaining momentum to integration into your process-management system. Snee and Hoerl capture the essence of the leadership, commitment, and resource deployment necessary to make Six Sigma successful."
-Bill Schroer
VP of Operations and Manufacturing Strategy
Trane American Standard Companies
Leading Six Sigma: A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and Other Six Sigma Companies,Ronald D. Snee,Roger W. Hoerl,Financial Times Prentice Hall,0130084573,Business & Economics,Business / Economics / Finance,Business/Economics,Corporate & Business History - General,Entrepreneurship,Quality Control,Business & Economics / Quality Control
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