Today, the concept of using quality as a competitive advantage has been diminished or even lost completely. It is not that there is a lack of quality improvement models, as there are many available. While each has had success, no one model that taken hold as the model. Why do improvement efforts seem to fizzle out? Why are they not sustainable? Something has been missing from the strategy, planning, and implementation of these quality efforts. That missing ingredient has been culture. This book provides the strategy, tools, and methods needed for sustainable quality. The book is based on a new quality model and explains why a positive culture is a prerequisite to sustainable quality improvement. Excellence is achieved through people, and it is this people-centric approach that should be the basis for success. By building a foundation based on inclusion, positive culture, and strong leadership, great achievements are possible. This inside-out approach creates a strong internal community which can be the catalyst for embracing change and sustainable improvement.

Quality function deployment (QFD) is an effective tool to help organizations to become more competitive by designing their products and services to satisfy customers' requirements. This book is precise and direct and focuses on the key issues in building the House of Quality otherwise known as Quality Function Deployment (QFD). By reading this book, the manager understands how to solicit customer requirement information, how design requirements are matched to customer requirements, how priorities of customer needs are established, and how activities are benchmarked. Furthermore, this new edition expands the topic to include process change initiatives on the premise that QFD cannot be achieved if the organization itself is not transformed to achieve customer satisfaction. The manager is guided on how to solve critical problems to achieve customer satisfaction. The book guides the reader to understand how companywide quality activities are related to QFD. This association is often lacking in other presentations that treat QFD as if it is independent of other quality efforts, such as process change initiative. The book will therefore include information on related quality initiatives such as: Identification of customer needs Benchmarking & re-engineering Strategic planning Quality assurance Stakeholder teams Cost control & productivity improvement Six sigma Process change initiative

Providing a framework that highlights waste and its negative effects on process performance, value stream maps (VSMs) are essential components for successful Lean initiatives. While the conventional VSM format has the basic structure to effectively describe process operations, it must be adapted and expanded to serve its purpose in the process industry. This book describes in detail how to create a complete VSM for a process industry manufacturing operation. Detailing the unique features of process operations and why they require additions and adjustments to traditional VSMs, the book walks readers through the steps in analyzing the map. It explains how to scope improvement projects, prioritize them, and then use future state VSMs to illustrate and motivate systemic improvement. In doing so, it supplies readers with a roadmap for a complete Lean transformation. Describes how to analyze the map for waste and flow issues so that they can be reduced and even eliminated Provides examples of the calculations needed for the flow parameters in data boxes Explains how the VSM concept can be applied to the entire supply chain Includes strategies for engaging your entire workforce in map creation The book introduces a target manufacturing process and uses it to describe how to create a complete VSM. The target process is complex enough to illustrate the issues often encountered in mapping a process industry operation, but straightforward enough to explain all of the mapping considerations and decisions. The book includes real examples of how VSMs brought much greater clarity to the real issues the processes faced and cases where the insight enabled management to avoid costly, inappropriate investments.

The New and Definitive User's Guide to Lean Six Sigma If you're a business leader, you already know that Lean Six Sigma is one of the most popular and powerful business tools in the world today. You also probably know that implementing the process can be more than a little challenging. This step-by-step guide shows you how to customize and apply the principles of Lean Six Sigma to your own organizational needs, giving you more options, strategies, and solutions than you'll find in any other book on the subject. With these simple, proven techniques, you can: * Assess your current business model and shape your future goals * Plan and prepare a Lean Six Sigma program that's right for your company * Engage your leadership and your team throughout the entire process * Align your LSS efforts with the culture and values of your business * Develop deeper insights into your customer experience * Master the art of project selection and pipeline management * Tackle bigger problems and find better solutions * Become more efficient, more productive, and more profitable This innovative approach to the Lean Six Sigma process allows you to mold and shape your strategy as you go, making small adjustments along the way that can have a big impact. In this book, you'll discover the most effective methods for deploying LSS at every level, from the leaders at the top to the managers in the middle to the very foundation of your company culture. You'll hear from leading business experts who have guided companies through the LSS process-and get the inside story on how they turned those companies around. You'll also learn how to use the latest, greatest management tools like Enterprise Kaizen, Customer Journey Maps, and Hoshin Planning. Everything you need to implement Lean Six Sigma-smoothly and successfully-is right here at your fingertips. Also included is a special chapter focusing exclusively on how to implement Lean Six Sigma in healthcare. When it comes to running a business, there is no better way to improve efficiency, increase productivity, and escalate profits than Lean Six Sigma. And there is no better book on how to make it work than Innovating Lean Six Sigma.

The book is divided into three parts - (1) prerequisite to regression analysis followed by a discussion on simple regression, (2) multiple regression analysis with applications, and (3) regression and modeling including the second order models, nonlinear regression, and interaction models in regressions. All these sections provide examples with complete computer analysis and instructions commonly used in modeling and analyzing these problems. The book deals with detailed analysis and interpretation of computer results. This will help readers to appreciate the power of computer in applying regression models. The readers will find that the understanding of computer results is critical to implementing regression and modeling in real world situation. The book is written for juniors, seniors and graduate students in business, MBAs, professional MBAs, and working people in business and industry. Managers, practitioners, professionals, quality professionals, quality engineers, and anyone involved in data analysis, business analytics, and quality and six sigma will find the book to be a valuable resource.

This book develops a new model for lean management. The intent is to demonstrate a model framework consisting of four critical components: leadership, culture, team and tools. The development of the model and these four components will be built from empirical theories reported in the research literature and in successful applications. This framework will offer a path to develop lean leaders with practical, actionable guidelines. The model framework is suited to broad applications offering practical guidelines for manufacturing and service environments alike. The lean model will develop each of these four components, explaining their relevance and importance for guiding internal lean initiatives. In developing the model, the text will chronicle the historical development of lean noting the significant lean contributions, contributors, and dates of these contributions. This development will trace contributions to the practice of lean back hundreds of years, prior to the contributions of Henry Ford and the contributors from the Toyota system in the 1950's. The future of Lean will also be examined with the current topic of sustainability and how it has extended lean concepts with an external focus towards product life cycle concerns and social issues. This offering is different from competing offerings in three fundamental ways. First, it offers and develops of a comprehensive lean model based on a sound framework. Second, it examines a comprehensive timeline of significant lean contributions and their contributors. Third, it extends lean by looking at the future applications in the area of sustainability.

Quality in a lean healthcare setting has one ultimate goal-to improve care delivery and value for the patient. The purpose of this book is to provide a blueprint to hospitals, health care organizations, leaders, and patient-facing workers with tools, training, and ideas to address quality within their organization. Examples from healthcare and other industries are provided to illustrate lean methodology in lean and their application in quality. The reader can learn how other organizations improve quality, what their roles are, and what they do daily. By the end of the book, you will have leaned actionable concepts and have the tools and resources to start improving quality.

This book is a concise introduction to the essential concepts and tools used in the Lean method of improving business processes. It constitutes a sufficient toolkit to enable practitioners to quickly start using Lean to improve business processes in their workplace. Alternatively, it can also serve as a textbook in undergraduate or master's programs. This book succinctly describes the benefits of Lean in manufacturing, sales, administration, distribution, health care, and other industries, as well as providing a step-by-step description of how Lean is applied.