Customer Reviews

Quality Engineering Handbook, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (Quality and Reliability)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has just the right amount of pictures and charts to balance the text. I wanted a study book that would be used as a day to day reference and something that I could use during my CQE test to "jog" my memory. The numerous graphs help me to answer generic SPC problems better than all that verbage found in other "helpful texts".

I bought this book to prepare for the ASQ CQE exam. This was my primary reference book and I did pass the exam - so there must be some merit to this book. However, it is frustrating. My criticisms include:

- the index doesn't point to the right pages, making it very difficult to use (especially in an open book exam)
- some of the graphs have no labelling at all (Fig IV.28)
- some material is repeated (eg central limit theorem)

This book has some good stuff in it and is aimed at getting you through the CQE exam. It will also be useful for a practicing quality engineer. However, it is in many cases separate articles, procedures and discussions stuck together with little flow. A good review and editing would do a lot for this book.

As other reviewers mentioned, Pyzdek can help you make it over the CQE exam hurdle. In fact it is probably helpful for those who wish to clear the CQM or CQT hurdles. It may aslo be a helpful supplament for Six-Sigma folks. The volume also serves competently as a handbook and reference. Importantly, it includes an adequate bibilography so that the reader can easily pursue more specialized or more fundamental soruces.

But ...

Neither the material nor the presentation distinguishes this book from its many competitors.

Too often the index enties have incorrect page numbers. In an age of computer automated indexing, mistakes of this kind really grate on a reader who expects more. Further, a quality handbook should set a better example!

I purchased this book mostly as a desk reference. It has pretty much anything that you may need when working on corrective actions, statistical analysis, or a variety of other topics that may land on a quality engineer's plate. I will say that there is also a fair amount that you may never even look at. I am a member of ASQ but haven't quite overcome the fear that the CQE exam instills in me I believe that this would be the one reference that you would not want to leave at home when taking that exam.

This book is a great compendium of the QE skills set. It is very weak on the Statistical skills that the ASQ certification test demands.

Why I initialy purchased it as a study aid, I have found it to be an excellent resource providing practical examples for on the job use.

New @ asq.org for less. Why is it so much higher here?