Customer Reviews

Fusion Management: Harnessing the Power of Six Sigma, Lean, ISO 9001:2000, Malcolm Baldrige, TQM and Other Quality Breakthroughs of the Past Century

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As a long-term quality assurance professional, I was pleased to find in Fusion Management a book that does a good job of describing the chronological progression of, and linkages between, the various quality assurance paradigms and programs, e.g., Reengineering, Lean, ISO 9000, TQM, Six Sigma, etc. Dr. Marash describes the components of the programs and evaluates and recommends specific elements of past programs for incorporation into current quality program thinking. After a good review of quality history, Dr. Marash offers a compilation of the better elements of the better quality programs and describes how they can be synergistically integrated. He concludes with a step-by-step description of how to perform Fusion Management in your own company by identifying, selecting and integrating the "best of the best" in quality programs. This is a solid and well-presented book chocked full of quality information.

There have been so many management and quality theories over the years - but nobody has told us how they all fit together - in fact they always bad mouth different programs. This book tells how different quality philosophies build on one another. It also has real world examples of how to effectively implement ISO, Six Sigma and "Fusion Management". With the current economy and layoffs I'm ready to use the roadmap to get my company back on track. It is a good quick read, with interesting case studies (I read it on a four hour flight). It may be the most usable business book I've read in quite a long time.

Book info : 3rd edition published in 2004.
Pre required knowledge: ISO 9001:2000; 6 Sigma, Performance excellence.
Purchased price : USD 13,00
General : The book is written in a manor that half way the book you get bored. It uses quite a lot of abbreviations so that the author can show you how good he is.

Book content:
The book has got 6 chapters. Chapter 1 (13% of book content) gives a summary of the quality and management systems that have been introduced in the past century (over 30). It describes the creator of the system and it strengths and weaknesses.

Chapter 2 (16%) describes why quality systems were introduced in the industrial revolution, by government regulations and sector/customer specific. It also handles the migration from government and sector specific quality systems to general quality systems.

Chapter 3 (25%) shows that there is more then "document what we do, and do what is documented" and introduces management systems on top of quality systems. It handles the basics of Statistical Quality Control, Total quality Control, Total Quality Management, Lean , JIT and six Sigma.

Chapter 4 (12%) discusses awards like The Malcolm Baldrige National quality Award, what the requirements are for the award. Then these award specifications are compared with Six Sigma and ISO 9001:2000 and how they relate to an organisations Strategic, tactical and operational level.

Chapter 5 (13%) handles change management and what the key success factors are to achieve a successful change management.

Chapter 6 (21%) finally gives you a model for implementing fusion management, the part where you're waiting for. It is very specific and detailed; Not bad at all!

If you get passed the first four chapters you will be rewarded in chapters 5 and 6. Maybe my expectations were to high, based on the other reader's reviews, but if you are able to purchase this book for a reasonable price I recommend it.