Lean Sigma: A Practitioner’s Guide Reviews
Lean Sigma: A Practitioner’s Guide
The Practical, Easy-to-Use Guide to Lean Sigma Problem-Solving Lean Sigma delivers results—if you use the right tools and techniques. In Lean Sigma: A Practitioner’s Guide, Dr. Ian Wedgwood captures best-practice Lean Sigma experience from multiple projects and industries, helping any professional identify the solution that will work best—and implement it. Wedgwood’s exclusive “project roadmaps” present the fastest, most effective route to solving a wide range of problems—and explain why those solutions make sense. His “discovery roadmaps” help you identify potential Lean Sigma projects, even in processes where there are no obvious targets. The heart of Lean Sigma is Wedgwood’s 48 individual “tools roadmaps”: step-by-step instructions revealing exactly how and when to use all these Lean Sigma tools… • 5 Whys • 5S • Affinity • ANOVA • Boxplots • Capability tools • Cause & effect matrices
Complete and easy to read,
I agree with the other reviews and will not repeat their praises here. Keep in mind that, as Wedgwood says in his book, you need a statistical reference to understand the details of statistical tests; he does offer a high level view of the statistics to help a mathematically challenged person better understand what the test is all about and why it’s being used. To execute a particular statistical test will require more than is found here but that is not a problem. I find his explanations of tool use to be generally more understandable than in other references. Wedgewood has an uncanny sense of exactly what it is you need to know and understand about a tool and it’s use to be effective in using it. We adopted this as our text for the Six Sigma Black Belt training because the students most often needed help when deciding which tool to use and when to use it. Wedgwood is unique in creating 25 categories of problems into which most projects can be sorted. During the “define” phase he urges the practitioner to decide where in these 25 categories the particular problem best fits. Such a task forces a special attention to the nature of the problem and once it is properly categorized there is a set of sensible suggestions offered to point the way to generating a solution. As a result of the categorization this book is not designed to be read through from beginning to end. It is a useful reference and self directs attention to where the problem solver needs to go. No other book is like this hence it needs to be on your shelf!
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|An outstanding contribution to the literature of Lean Six Sigma,
The key to Lean Six Sigma’s success is the effective combination of two things: roadmaps that lead the practitioner down the problem-solving path and the tools that he or she will use along the way. Dr. Wedgwood’s new book is as complete an exposition of both as I have seen. This volume is a very cleverly organized work as well. He begins with the matching of roadmaps to process problems – each of some 25 specific problems (high schedule variation, broken measurement system, etc.) has 3-4 pages devoted to the correct roadmap to follow to fix it. These roadmaps reference the tools that can be used, and these are then described individually and in depth in a following chapter. There are also a couple of short and helpful chapters devoted to tools for discovery and process control.
You won’t become a Six Sigma Blackbelt by reading Dr. Wedgwood’s book…but if you are one, “Lean Sigma, A Practitioner’s Guide,” will be a great addition to your bookshelf. It’s an excellent book and bound to become the standard for Lean Six Sigma classroom instruction and a best friend of the practioner in the field.
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|Lean Sigma and Problem Solving,
Ian Wedgwood has written a book that is a roadmap in itself to problem solving using the combined toolset from six sigma and lean. This book is not just another book of tools. It shows the reader how to define the problem and then how and why to apply tools to solve the problem. This book is the best book I’ve read on six sigma or lean that is focused on helping project leaders find a solution. It is designed as a roadmap for business leaders to understand the nature of their problem; know which tools are best to solve their problem; know when, how, and why to apply each tool; and how to get a problem solution. An aspect I found most useful was the section on identifying the problem and defining it in measurable terms. I known much about the tools individually, but this book has helped me get projects started the right way. I now see that the section on “Define Tools” would have helped me get to a problem solution much quicker had I applied the principles outlined in this book. It seems so simple after reading this book, but I can see where a simple roadmap to identifying the problem first would have made me much more efficient in the application of six sigma tools. This book helps make the not so obvious simple to understand.
After helping the project leader know how to define the problem correctly, Dr. Wedgwood then explains each tool in a unique way. He actually helps the business leader know why the tool is important in addition to how to use the tool. Wedgwood makes sure that the belt knows more than just which tool to use, he makes sure the belt knows why the tool is essential to business improvement. Charts and roadmaps make the task of process improvement easy. And, since everything is explained so well, the project leader is better informed and can answer questions from others. Although not written as a textbook, its clear roadmap for problem solving makes this a book I would want all my students to have on their professional bookshelf. It has already helped me in getting started on a new project myself, and I’ve been around the academic side of six sigma for many years.
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