Structure of the Book
We structured the book strategically into five main sections, each building upon each other and each expanding your knowledge so that eventually you can complete a process improvement project on your own.
We use the analogy of building a house in how we structured this book.
Section I—Building a Foundation of Process Improvement Fundamentals
- Chapter 1—You Don’t Have to Suffer from the Sunday Night Blues!
- Chapter 2—Process and Quality Fundamentals
- Chapter 3—Defining and Documenting a Process
One of the first steps to building a house is to lay down a foundation. The first section creates your foundation in process improvement by taking you through the process and quality fundamentals you need as you build up your knowledge base. It goes into further detail on many of our nine principles for process improvement, principles critical to your understanding of this material.
Section II—Creating Your Toolbox for Process Improvement
- Chapter 4—Understanding Data: Tools and Methods
- Chapter 5—Understanding Variation: Tools and Methods
- Chapter 6—Non-Quantitative Techniques: Tools and Methods
- Chapter 7—Overview of Process Improvement Methodologies
- Chapter 8—Project Identification and Prioritization: Building a Project Pipeline
You cannot build a house without tools and without understanding how and when to use them, right? The second section creates your toolbox for process improvement by not only teaching you the tools and methods you need to improve your processes but teaching you when and how to use them.
Section III—Putting It All Together—Six Sigma Projects
- Chapter 9—Overview of Six Sigma Management
- Chapter 10—DMAIC Model: “D” Is for Define
- Chapter 11—DMAIC Model: “M” Is for Measure
- Chapter 12—DMAIC Model: “A” Is for Analyze
- Chapter 13—DMAIC Model: “I” Is for Improve
- Chapter 14—DMAIC Model: “C” Is for Control
- Chapter 15—Maintaining Improvements in Processes, Products-Services, Policies, and Management Style
When you build a house you need a framework or guide to follow to make sure you build the house correctly; it’s called a blueprint! Once that beautiful house is built you need to maintain it so it stays beautiful, right?
The third section is analogous to the blueprint of a house, and it is where we put everything you have learned together to complete a project. We use a specific set of steps—kind of like a blueprint—to keep us focused and make sure we do the project correctly. Those steps are called the Six Sigma management style. Like the maintenance of a new house, once we improve the process, the last thing we want is for the process to backslide to its former problematic state. We show you how to maintain and sustain those improvements.
Section IV—The Culture Required for Six Sigma Management
- Chapter 16—W. Edwards Deming’s Theory of Management: A Model for Cultural Transformation of an Organization
The fourth section of this book discusses an appropriate culture for a successful Six Sigma management style. We can use the house building analogy because a house has to be built on a piece of property that can support all its engineering, social, psychological, and so on needs and wants. Without a proper piece of property, the house could fall into a sinkhole.
Section V—Six Sigma Certification
- Chapter 17—Six Sigma Champion Certification (online-only chapter)
- Chapter 18—Six Sigma Green Belt Certification (online-only chapter)
The fifth section discusses how you can become Six Sigma certified at the Champion and Green Belt levels of certification. Certification is like getting your house a final inspection and receiving a Certificate of Occupancy so you can move in. (This section can be found online at www.ftpress.com/sixsigma.)
We hope you enjoy this book. Feel free to contact the authors concerning any mistakes you have found, or any ideas for improvement. Thank you for reading our book. We hope you find it an invaluable asset on your journey toward a Six Sigma management culture.
- Howard S. Gitlow, PhD
- Professor
- Six Sigma Master Black Belt
- Department of Management Science
- University of Miami
- hgitlow@miami.edu
- Richard J. Melnyck, MBA, MS in MAS, and MAS in CIS
- Six Sigma Master Black Belt
- Assistant Vice President for Medical Affairs
- Executive Director of Process Improvement
- Office of the Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean
- University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
- rmelnyck2@med.miami.edu
- David M. Levine, PhD
- Professor Emeritus
- Department of Statistics and Computer Information Systems
- Baruch College
- City University of New York
- DavidMLevine@msn.com