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Six Sigma | Mere
mention of the word “quality” often produces skeptical smirks from managers
who easily associate this term with bureaucratic red tape and “quality for
quality’s sake,” heedless of customer needs and company profits. However,
Six Sigma demonstrates that a well-run quality program
can be very profitable indeed. The inventors of the method implemented at Motorola,
General Electric and AlliedSignal authored this book to elucidate the principles
that have made the Six Sigma approach successful, i.e. detailed statistical analysis
of each opportunity for defects, overall process optimization, and strategic management
of the quality process. |
Mikel
J. Harry and Richard Schroeder, Doubleday, 2000. | |
 | Gemba Kaizen | This
work of reference on the Japanese kaizen approach provides numerous practical
tips on implementing continuous quality improvement initiatives. The author explains
how a company can significantly improve performance by launching three types of
initiatives at production sites:
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Masaaki
Imai, JV&DS, 1997. | |
| Quality Wars | This
book retraces the history of Total Quality Approach initiatives launched in the
past fifteen years by large American corporations such as IBM, Caterpillar, and
Motorola. These practical examples provide good illustrations of the obstacles
encountered in implementing this type of approach, as well as the principal keys
to success. |
Jeremy
Main, The Free Press, 1992. | |
| Managing Customer Value | The
author observes that the customer value proposition could be managed more effectively
in many companies, and that successful companies are perceived by customers as
offering more value than their competitors. Based on this observation, the book
describes a whole set of methodologies to identify and compare perceived proposition
value, as well as measures to help focus company efforts on effective improvement
priorities. |
Bradley
T. Gale, The Free Press, 1995. | |
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