Six Sigma Books

As a truly consolidated trend on the quality improvement area of the organizations, Six Sigma has a huge base of knowledge to search and develop your initiatives on.

When you perform a search on Amazon.com about Six Sigma there are nearly 7,500 books returned as result. There’s no reason to include all those books right here. Instead, only the books used as a reference to build this web site have been included on the following list.

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Getting Started in Six Sigma (2005)
by Thomsett, Michael C.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO STRIVING FOR PERFECTION IN AN IMPERFECT WORLD
Six Sigma in many organizations simply means defining and measuring quality; a working system designed to identify that elusive goal, perfection. Companies such as GE, Microsoft, and 3M have used this approach to eliminate product defects, reduce cycle time, and improve customer satisfaction. Six Sigma may sound intimidating, but the fact is that you don't have to be a high-level executive at a giant corporation to use—or understand—this concept. It is simply a way of improving quality.
Getting Started in Six Sigma is designed to show you, step by step, how Six Sigma works and how it can be used most effectively. Whether you're a manager trying to change your approach to problem solving or an employee in a corporation with a Six Sigma program, this book will clearly lead you through each step of the process. Definitions within the margins—placed at points of discussion—will help you to quickly master Six Sigma terminology as you read along.
In a straightforward and accessible style, Getting Started in Six Sigma will familiarize you with:
The real meaning of Six Sigma—technical and philosophical
The importance of both internal and external customers
DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control)—the tactical approach to Six Sigma projects
Product and service defects and how to reduce them
Effectively improving process systems
Striving for consistency
Filled with numerous examples, checklists, and graphics, Getting Started in Six Sigma will help you gain a firm understanding of the topic and illustrate how this idea can make any organization function better.

The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition (2009)
by Pyzdek, Thomas; Keller, Paul A.
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Whether you want to further your Six Sigma training to achieve a Black or Green Belt or you are totally new to the quality-management strategy, you need reliable guidance. The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition shows you, step by step, how to integrate this profitable approach into your company's culture. Co-written by an award-winning contributor to the practice of quality management and a successful Six Sigma trainer, this hands-on guide features:
Cutting-edge, Lean Six Sigma concepts integrated throughout
Completely revised material focused on project objectives
Updated and expanded problem-solving examples using Excel and Minitab
A streamlined format that puts proven practices at your fingertips
The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition is the only comprehensive reference you need to make Six Sigma work for your company. The book explains how to organize for Six Sigma, how to use customer requirements to drive strategy and operations, how to carry out successful project management, and more. Learn all the management responsibilities and actions necessary for a successful deployment, as well as how to:
Dramatically improve products and processes using DMAIC and DMADV
Use Design for Six Sigma to create innovative products and processes
Incorporate lean, problem-solving, and statistical techniques within the Six Sigma methodology
Avoid common pitfalls during implementation
Six Sigma has evolved with the changing global economy, and The Six Sigma Handbook, Third Edition is your key to ensuring that your company realizes significant gains in quality, productivity, and sales in today's business climate.

Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations (2000)
by Harry, Mikel (PhD); Schroeder, Richard
Publisher: Double Day
Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder think they've figured out a management program that really works. While at Motorola in the 1980s, they helped pioneer Six Sigma, a process that "guides companies into making fewer mistakes in everything they do--from filling out a purchase order to manufacturing airplane engines." Since then, the two have left Motorola and have turned Six Sigma into a lucrative business that saw over $100 million in consulting contracts in 1998. And now the book. In Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations, Harry and Schroeder explain Six Sigma and show how it's working at companies such as General Electric, Polaroid, and Allied Signal. The authors contend that most companies today are working at a "sigma" level of between 3.5 and 4, and that with just a one-sigma shift, companies will experience "a 20 percent margin improvement, a 12 to 18 percent increase in capacity, a 12 percent reduction in the number of employees," as well as "a 10 to 30 percent capital reduction." Sigma is a quality metric that counts the number of defects per million opportunities (DPMO). For example, a sigma level of 3.5 means that a process has 22,700 DPMO; a sigma level of 4.5, 1,350 DPMO; and a perfect six sigma, 3 DPMO. At the heart of Six Sigma is the notion that quality saves money--lots of money. Harry and Schroeder argue that for most companies "the cost of quality is roughly 25 to 40 percent of sales revenue ... at six sigma the cost of quality declines to less than one percent of sales revenue." The idea is not to create quality-assurance programs but to eliminate the need for them altogether. When a company is operating at six sigma, costs that would otherwise go to inspection, rework, warranties, and customer service drop to the bottom line. Six Sigma is a compelling concept that many companies have tied their futures to. Well written, this book is a great introduction for investors, managers, and anyone who sees Six Sigma on the horizon.

A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills (2009)
by Glitow, Howard S.
Publisher: Auerbach Publications
Authored by Dr, Howard Gitlow, one of the most respected Six Sigma Master Black Belts, this well-organized volume demonstrates the implementation of quality improvements into the all areas of the workplace from the shop floor through a company’s executive offices. Illustrating his points with a number of case studies, the book provides a compelling argument as to why Six Sigma should be the preferred approach. It also explains how to build an organization that both encourages and values the input of quality teams, and details the steps they must take to implement and maintain lean initiatives. Dr. Howard S. Gitlow is Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Quality, Director of the Master of Science degree in Management Science, and a Professor of Management Science, School of Business Administration, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. He was a Visiting Professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University in 2007, and a Visiting Professor at the Science University of Tokyo in 1990 where he studied with Dr. Noriaki Kano. He received his Ph.D. in Statistics (1974), M.B.A. (1972), and B.S. in Statistics (1969) from New York University. His areas of specialization are Six Sigma Management, Dr. Deming’s theory of management, Japanese Total Quality Control, and statistical quality control. Dr. Gitlow has consulted and co-taught courses with Dr. W. Edwards Deming and Dr. Noriaki Kano (Science University of Tokyo). Dr. Gitlow is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, a Fellow of the American Society for Quality, and a member of the American Statistical Association. He has served on the editorial boards of four journals. His list of consulting clients includes universities, consulting firms, city governments, healthcare organizations, insurance companies, utilities, manufacturing organizations, and service organizations. Dr. Gitlow has testified in 24 legal cases involving the following issues: critiquing and developing sampling plans, discrimination (age, race, gender, country of origin, and ethnicity), anti-trust, game fixing, jury selection, and cost/benefit analysis.

Lean Six Sigma Secrets for the CIO (2009)
by Bentley, William; Davis, Peter
Publisher: CRC Press
Going beyond the usual how-to guide, Lean Six Sigma Secrets for the CIO supplies proven tips and valuable case studies that illustrate how to combine Six Sigma’s rigorous quality principles with Lean methods for uncovering and eliminating waste in IT processes. Using these methods, the text explains how to take an approach that is all about improving IT performance, productivity, and security as much as it is about cutting costs. Savvy IT veterans describe how to use Lean Six Sigma with IT governance frameworks such as COBIT and ITIL and warn why these frameworks should be considered starting points rather than destinations. This complete resource for CIOs and IT managers provides effective strategies to address the human element that is so fundamental to success and explains how to maximize the voice of your customers while keeping in touch with the needs of your staff. And perhaps most importantly—it provides the evidence needed to build your case to upper management. Supplying you with the tools to create methods that will bring out the best in your employees; Lean Six Sigma Secrets for the CIO provides the understanding required to manage your IT operations with unique effectiveness and efficiency in service of the bottom line.

Six Sigma for Dummies (2005)
by Cygi, Craig; DeCarlo, Neil; Williams, Bruce
Publisher: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Written specifically for Six Sigma beginners—whether they’re small business owners who want to implement Six Sigma, or professionals and students who need to get up to speed fast—Six Sigma For Dummies is the most straightforward, non-intimidating guide on the market. Hundreds of thousands of professionals work in Six Sigma companies such as GE, Sony, Toshiba, Microsoft, and Nokia, but have a hard time fully understanding the methodology. This simple, friendly guide makes Six Sigma make sense. Intended to help readers implement Six Sigma in their small and medium-sized businesses to improve quality and reduce costs, this no-nonsense guide explains:
What Six Sigma is
What Six Sigma’s goals and objectives are
The benefits of Six Sigma in both large and small businesses
How the belt system works
The DMAIC approach
How to implement Six Sigma
How to use Six Sigma tools
How Six Sigma’s approach aims for zero-defects