Six Sigma Quality for Business and Manufacture (Hardcover)

~ Joseph M J Gordon Jr. (Author) "In all fields of business there are many identified and unidentified variables that affect the input and output of the operation..." (more)
Key Phrases: manual adjustment chart, sigma process control, special cause signals, General Electric, Hunkar Laboratories, Measure of Spread Average (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book comprises eight chapters supported with 89 figures and 29 tables. The 7-page content lists in detail what is covered in each chapter. The 34-page glossary defines all the terminology used in the book. The book is easy to read and covers concisely the theme of Six Sigma. Some of the chapters contain mathematical formulae that may act as a turn-off for some readers. Yet, this book is very useful not only for readers interested in SS, but for those interested in the field of quality management."
THE TQM MAGAZINE. Vol. 18, No. 4; 2006, K. Narasimhan, Learning and Teaching Fellow, Bolton Institute, UK

Product Description

Six Sigma is Business and Industry's newest recognized quality program. This text provides information and instructions for new and current quality professionals in order to help employ methods to attain Six Sigma defect quality assurance within their company.

All areas of business and manufacture are covered. Detailed checklists, questionnaires and forms assist personnel in developing their own programs to 'prevent' problems from occurring and to solve new and long-term problems in services and manufacturing. Examples and formulae are provided for use to determine if, when and then how much a process may be adjusted for reaching higher quality assurance levels. Knowledgeable readers will be able to use this comprehensive text immediately in the workplace.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 572 pages
• Publisher: Elsevier Science; 1 edition (November 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0444510478
• ISBN-13: 978-0444510471
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,620,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Practical Approach, January 23, 2004

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The phrase "Six Sigma" derives from assuming a Normal distribution of some random variable that you are measuring. This distribution has a standard deviation, sigma. Then, if you measure the area under the curve that is greater than 6*sigma from the mean, you get something like under 10^-6. So the idea is that if you make something with a property that can vary from item to item, you want to reduce the deviation so that all items within 6*sigma of the mean are acceptable. And thus, unacceptable items are less than one in a million.

Of course, if the distribution is not Normal, then this is not necessarily true. In this case, Six Sigma is used metaphorically. The basic idea is the same.

The Six Sigma approach has been widely publicised in recent years. Perhaps the best known proponent in the United States is Motorola, who claimed that they successfully applied it to their manufacturing operations. Especially those for cellphones and microprocessors.

Perhaps its greatest merit is that it stresses hard numerical criteria that are easily and economically measurable. So that you can conduct these measurements on a large subset of the items you are making. Or indeed perhaps on all the items.