Lean Six Sigma for
Service: How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma Quality to Improve Services and
Transactions, by Michael George
I
recall back in 1989, my boss Tony Lawrence (then Design Director at Concord
Lighting) and I taking a long winding motorway trip to Lucus Aerospace Systems, Coventry, UK.
Back
then, it was a bit of an can-opener
to the world of not merely world class quality assurance in new product
development; but the commitment to what it takes to achieve a status where literally
products have less than 1.3 defects out of one million: yes 1.3 out of
one-million units!
For
those of you who are unfamiliar with 6-Sigma, it is a fact these days that 1.3 Parts Per Million (PPM) quality assurance is becoming standard. And because
of that, customers expect that level of quality in everything, and that includes
not just consumer gadgets, but trips on holiday, banking transaction, shopping
experience, even hospital treatment and – yes – even YMCA hostels are beginning
to look at 6-Sigma.
The
good news is that 6-Sigma is now being rolled-out in the service industries too.
In
fact, the UK’s Royal Wedding last year was a 6-Sigma occasion (and now you know
why it went so smoothly). Now Marks and Sparks, many large scale Law firms, and
many of the best practice service institutions such as Bank One (Chase
Manhattan) and Stanford University Hospital are adopting 6-Sigma.
The book: Lean Six
Sigma for Service: How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma Quality to Improve
Services and Transactions, really does move all this on. It is practical,
insightful and above all, useable with plenty of references to other reverent sources
of information.
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