Praise for Best Practices in Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement

"Dr. Schonberger reveals why successful companies lose their way on their continuous improvement journey and the magic formula for achieving rapid continuous improvement. This is a must-read for those who must develop or broaden their competitive advantage."

David L. Schlotterbeck, CEO of Clinical and Medical Products, Cardinal Health

"With a stature built on decades of research, reading, and reporting, Schonberger in this book sets about one of his favorite routines: debunking what most consider to be established truths; questioning questionable practices, and offering valuable new insights. With all his opinions solidly backed up with research data, this provocative read will undoubtedly contribute new angles to the worldwide discourse on operations improvement."

Koot Pieterse, Professor, Lean Manufacturing Group, Business School, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

"Finally, a true thought leader, Dick Schonberger, has stepped forward to give clarity to why companies either get better or plateau. Continuous improvement has been misunderstood over the years because most leaders have not fully understood the benefits and shortcomings of the individual methodologies, how they should fit together and how they are best used to engage every associate. The future clearly belongs to those who understand how to organize the pieces effectively into a robust systematic approach.

Table of Contents

Part I. Hypercompetition.

Chapter 1. Magnitude Advances In Competitive Standards And Technologies.
Chapter 2. Global Leanness — An Unstable Phenomenon.
Chapter 3. Big Question: Does Lean Beget Financial Success? (A Short Chapter).
Chapter 4. Ultimate Trend: Improving The Rate Of Improvement.

Part II. Improvement Gone Wrong — And Made Right.
Chapter 5. Waste Elimination, Kaizen, And Continuous Improvement: Mis-Defined And Misunderstood.
Chapter 6. The Metrics Trap.
Chapter 7. The Case Against (Much Of) Management Goal-Setting.

Part III. A Competitive Fortress.
Chapter 8. Fortress By Culture.
Chapter 9. Vengeful Numbers.
Chapter 10. Process Improvement: Stretching Company Capabilities.
Chapter 11. Unique Business Models (Big Ideas).
Part IV. What Goes Wrong: Impressive Companies And Their Weak Spots.
Chapter 12. Does Rapid Growth Put The Brakes On Lean?
Chapter 13. Losing Their Way—Or Not.

Part V. Leanness: A Changing Landscape.
Chapter 14. Global "Lean" Champions: Passing The Torch.
Chapter 15. How Overweight Companies Get Lean.
Chapter 16. Flow-Through Facilities.
Chapter 17. External Linkages.

Part VI. Why Industries Rank Where They Do.
Chapter 18. Leanness Rankings For 33 Industrial Sectors.
Chapter 19. Electronics: A Metamorphosis.
Chapter 20. Motor-Vehicle Industry: Earliest But Lagging.
Chapter 21. Aerospace-Defense: OEM’s Soaring, Suppliers Not.
Chapter 22. Other Industries.