Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations (Hardcover)

~ Mikel Harry (Author), Richard Schroeder (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder think they've figured out a management program that really works. While at Motorola in the 1980s, they helped pioneer Six Sigma, a process that "guides companies into making fewer mistakes in everything they do--from filling out a purchase order to manufacturing airplane engines." Since then, the two have left Motorola and have turned Six Sigma into a lucrative business that saw over $100 million in consulting contracts in 1998. And now the book.

In Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations, Harry and Schroeder explain Six Sigma and show how it's working at companies such as General Electric, Polaroid, and Allied Signal. The authors contend that most companies today are working at a "sigma" level of between 3.5 and 4, and that with just a one-sigma shift, companies will experience "a 20 percent margin improvement, a 12 to 18 percent increase in capacity, a 12 percent reduction in the number of employees," as well as "a 10 to 30 percent capital reduction." Sigma is a quality metric that counts the number of defects per million opportunities (DPMO). For example, a sigma level of 3.5 means that a process has 22,700 DPMO; a sigma level of 4.5, 1,350 DPMO; and a perfect six sigma, 3 DPMO.

At the heart of Six Sigma is the notion that quality saves money--lots of money. Harry and Schroeder argue that for most companies "the cost of quality is roughly 25 to 40 percent of sales revenue ... at six sigma the cost of quality declines to less than one percent of sales revenue." The idea is not to create quality-assurance programs but to eliminate the need for them altogether. When a company is operating at six sigma, costs that would otherwise go to inspection, rework, warranties, and customer service drop to the bottom line. Six Sigma is a compelling concept that many companies have tied their futures to. Well written, this book is a great introduction for investors, managers, and anyone who sees Six Sigma on the horizon. --Harry C. Edwards

From Library Journal

A hot new management tool; from the cofounders of the Six Sigma Academy, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday Business; 1 edition (December 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385494378
• ISBN-13: 978-0385494373
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #232,918 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 112 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Well-Written Appetizer but No Entree Included, February 26, 2000

By	Chris Mastro (Colonial Heights, VA) - See all my reviews

A well-written book that gives insight into what 'Six Sigma' is all about - a change strategy for relentlessly driving defects out of your products, processes and services to increase profitability. It's about leadership and a structured, data-based approach to problem solving. Having been a Wave 1 Black Belt at AlliedSignal during the launch of Six Sigma, I can verify that the Breakthrough methodology (DMAIC)really does work. For those of you who have been through numerous 'TQ initiatives' and countless SPC campaign with no real impact on business performance, the case studies presented in this book are enlightening.

On the negative side, for those who want a complete A to Z textbook on how to implement Six Sigma in their own organization, prepare to be disappointed. No information is provided on the statistical tools that go hand-in-hand with the DMAIC roadmap (I guess the Six Sigma Academy can't give away all their secrets).

In summary, thumbs up if you want an overview and real-life examples of what Six Sigma is all about. Thumbs down in you want a detailed textbook or reference book on the subject.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Better Title, "Come to the Six Sigma Academy!", September 27, 2000

By	Randy Teegarden (Acworth, GA USA) - See all my reviews

I first ordered and read this book when I was just beginning my journey down statistics and the Six Sigma Quality initiative training. Back then, I would have rated this book a 4 or a 5. But as my learning grows, so does my dissappointment in this book. If you have no knowledge of Six Sigma whatsoever, here's a heads up: "THIS BOOK IS JUST AN ADVERTISEMENT." I found "The Six Sigma Way" by Peter Pande a much better written, much more meaty book that has something for you no matter where on the scale of understanding you are. Not to slam too hard on the superficial content of this book, I have been told that Mikel Harry has written some better books in greater detail on the Six Sigma process but right now I'm afraid to shell out bigger bucks to have bigger dissappointments.

36 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A commercial book, January 18, 2000

By A Customer

Reading this book is like watching the author doing a long TV commercial advertising his Six Sigma Academy. The conclusion I reached, however, is that Six Sigma is just another expression of taking special project(s). The very concept of being a Six Sigma company doesn't make much sense: A company may have many 6-sigma processes but may never eliminate those low sigma processes in which "the inherent capability is poor" (p.133). Moreover, one can just simply move USL up and LSL down to increase the sigma reading (p.185). No wonder some companies can schedule to claim their Six Sigma titles on a given date. So what? A cleaning has a greater effect on a messier room!

There are about 100,000 words in this book about flawless processes. At 6-sigma level, one would expect to find 0.34 error. Naturally, I was quite disappointed to pick up over a dozen of them. Example 1: according to the formula on p.211, a company with $1 billion in annual revenues would need 1,000 Black Belts and 100 Master BBs, not 100 and 10, respectively. Example 2: line 6 from bottom of p.142, 1.5/4.5 should equal 0.33, not ".375". So, even the master of Six Sigma failed to reach 6-sigma! Summary: All quality programs have their unique merits, so is Six Sigma. However, the impact of the Six Sigma is way over-blown by the author. It is a story that Wall Street loves to play with (p.182).