The Six Sigma Way

by Peter Pande, Robert Neuman, and Roland Cavanagh

Abridged 4CD Audio Book Set

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The Six Sigma Way - Peter Pande, Robert Neuman, and Roland Cavanagh - Audio Book CD  

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About The Six Sigma Way

This is the first book to provide basic, non-technical information on understanding and implementing Six Sigma.

Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1981.

Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and business processes. It uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, and creates a special infrastructure of people within the organization ("Black Belts", "Green Belts", etc.) who are experts in these methods. Each Six Sigma project carried out within an organization follows a defined sequence of steps and has quantified targets. These targets can be financial (cost reduction or profit increase) or whatever is critical to the customer of that process (cycle time, safety, delivery, etc.).

The term six sigma originated from terminology associated with manufacturing, specifically terms associated with statistical modelling of manufacturing processes. The maturity of a manufacturing process can be described by a sigma rating indicating its yield, or the percentage of defect-free products it creates. A six-sigma process is one in which 99.99966% of the products manufactured are free of defects, compared to a one-sigma process in which only 31% are free of defects. Motorola set a goal of "six sigmas" for all of its manufacturing operations and this goal became a byword for the management and engineering practices used to achieve it.

About Pete Pande and other authors

Pete Pande is a respected author and consultant in the field of business change and improvement, with more than 20 years working with companies and leaders in many industries and regions of the world. As President and CEO of Pivotal Resources, Inc. he has led successful organization change initiatives for such clients as GE Capital, Cisco Systems, Starwood Hotels, HSBC, American Express and BP.

Pete’s unique and valuable perspective on how to achieve meaningful and sustained success in business change is presented in several best-selling books, including The Six Sigma Way (named by Forbes magazine as one of the most influential business books of the past 20 years) and The Six Sigma Leader: How Top Executives will Prevail in the 21st Century (with Foreword by Jim McNerney, Chairman of The Boeing Company).

The foundation for his insights into business change was laid in Pete’s early career as a consultant and trainer in problem solving and decision making, where he had the opportunity to work directly with executives, middle managers and even front-line employees on a range of strategic and day-to-day business issues. Exposed to the difficulties leaders and managers had in clarifying challenges and developing effective solutions, he applied that experience to supporting the “Total Quality Management” movement. He counseled business leaders at Chevron, Clorox, Read-Rite and other leading companies on
how to organize and boost the impact of their change efforts.

In 1993, Pete established Pivotal Resources with the mission of providing innovative and practical support for business change of all types. Pivotal’s vision of “building enduring great companies” — organizations that achieve short-term success while creating a long-term legacy of strength, financial performance and customer loyalty — has been an inspiration for many top executives and organizations around the world.

In 1996, Pivotal was selected as one of the lead consulting providers to support the groundbreaking Six Sigma initiative at GE Capital (GECC), the huge profit engine of Jack Welch’s successful stint as head of General Electric. Pete and the Pivotal team worked closely with GECC leaders to develop a vision, train executives and management and apply business change to drive results. Even though GECC was already a powerful market leader, Pete’s guidance helped the company achieve billions of dollars in cost savings and new revenues. More importantly, many of the talented managers developed by Pivotal’s team have gone on to executive positions and expanded success both at GE and at many other companies around the world.

Several key principles have driven the success of Pete and Pivotal Resources in building long-term, value-adding engagements with many leading global companies. These include:

» Change as a Core Competency – Rather than focusing on “programs” like Lean Six Sigma or projects that have narrow impact, business leaders need to be concerned with building the ability of their organizations to adapt and evolve as quickly and efficiently as possible. Creating sustainable value and growth in the 21st century will occur only if a company can respond to changing needs and opportunities.

» Improvement as a Business Skill – Too often, efforts to improve a business and even to execute strategy are delegated to “specialists” or taken over by technical staff (IT, quality, operations). While those roles and methods are important, constantly evaluating and improving a business must be a management and leadership skill. That means concepts and methods that lead to real results must be practical, easily understood, and able to bring out the creativity and talent of many people—not just the “experts.”

» Assumption-Busting as Constant – To establish and pursue a profitable and meaningful vision, organizations need to continually review the reality and assumptions on which their actions and strategies are based. Assumption-busting does not mean constant direction-changing (in fact, too much change is more often a problem), but rather helps a business refine goals, adjust priorities and—very critically—avoid the complacency that often follows success, and which sets the stage for a business downfall.

These and other ideas, which challenge leaders and managers to think more carefully about their actions while encouraging proactive steps to drive change, have helped make Pete a valued advisor to businesses and have made Pivotal Resources a key partner to many leading firms.

Robert P Neuman, Ph.D., is a senior consultant with Pivotal Resources. He is a noted speaker in business improvement methods and Six Sigma.

Roland R. Cavanagh, P.E., is a professional engineer and consultant with Pivotal Resources. His areas of expertise include process measurement and applied statistics, business reorganization, and Six Sigma methods.

The Six Sigma Way - Peter Pande, Robert Neuman, and Roland Cavanagh - Audio Book CD