The Six Sigma approach has been adopted by a growing majority of the Fortune 500
companies, as well as many small and mid-sized organizations. Its application in both for-profit and
non-profit organizations is a reflection of its broad objectives in improving processes at the core of an
organization’s mission. While initial perceptions often focus on quality improvements, successful deployments
look beyond to profitability, sustainability, and long term growth.
As these words are written, what is now the longest and deepest recession since the Great
Depression has upset a record period of global growth and expansion. During the expansion, Six Sigma proved a
valuable strategy to meet the strong market demand for products and services through capacity and productivity
improvements and focus on reduced time to market. Where competitive pressures from emerging global markets were
especially strong, service improvement, cost of delivery and cost to manufacture strategies proved successful.
This recession has been labeled a “game changer” by more than a few economists, upsetting supply chains and forcing entire industries to rethink their business model. There will certainly be many organizational casualties of this recession in a wide array of industries. Yet, there will undoubtedly be survivors, who will gain market share and become the pillars of this new century. Those organizations will focus first on core businesses, ensuring continued market share and profitability. They will apply structured Six Sigma efforts directed at key cost, quality and service objectives. This will demand a fresh look at their internal processes, from the eyes of their customer base, to maximize value and reduce cost. They will then seize new opportunities, left open by the weakened strugglers. Their ability to expand into these markets will depend on diligent planning and successful execution, hallmarks of a Six
Sigma approach. The simplicity and adaptability of the DMAIC approach will provide the means towards achieving a
strengthened competitive advantage.
The key benefits we sought to achieve in this third revision include:
- Clearly define the management responsibilities and actions necessary for successful deployment.
- Fully incorporate Lean, Problem Solving and Statistical techniques within the Six Sigma methodology.
- Create an easy to use reference guide written in easy to understand language.
- Provide examples using Minitab, Excel and other software to demonstrate application of
problem-solving and statistical techniques in a variety of settings.
- Emphasize service applications of Six Sigma, since all organizations are at their core a
service organization.
We direct this revision towards executive-level management, or those who aspire to those
positions, as a means to discover the potential of a properly designed and deployed Lean Six Sigma effort.
Operational-level practitioners will also value the detailed deployment plans, and structured approach to the
tools and methods used by project teams,. The core principles and tools of Lean, with the statistical validation,
root-cause analysis and DMAIC problem-solving methodology, are integrated throughout this handbook. The presentation
of this third revision is based on the implementation strategy for Six Sigma: initial topics cover the management
responsibilities, with subsequent topics addressing the details of the Lean Six Sigma DMAIC problem solving methodology.
We hope you enjoy it.
