Mastering Statistical Process Control: A Handbook for Performance Improvement Using Cases provides for a welcome addition to the literature on statistical process control. The reader will first notice that this book is directed at practitioners. Furthermore, it is written with a problem‐based focus that is supported in later chapters by the requisite theory. What makes this book unique is that the way the theory is presented does not adversely impact the readability of the book. Once the concepts are understood by the reader, then the book can serve as a suitable reference book in your library. It is not meant to be read once and not to be used again. Rather, it can be deployed when the reader needs to ascertain the appropriateness of any one of the many tools discussed. The book facilitates its use as a reference by including many flow charts that can be used to determine which tool to use in which situation.
There are many strong features of this presentation that are worth noting. The book can be read from two different perspectives depending on whether you want to cover the theory (Part 4) before the cases (Part 3) or vice versa. Clearly, the author of the book prefers the later since he believes that this best supports the practitioner approach. The very informative cases make up Chapters 5 through 20 of the book. The cases are non‐overlapping so that the reader can pick and choose which specific topics he/she would like to cover. Each case chapter follows an identical format. There is an introduction to the business problem, some relevant background information, case analysis, comments, calculations, summary and the statistical control charts used in the particular case. The reader will find this consistency across cases very helpful in navigating the material. After several cases, this consistency adds to the ability to assimilate the subject matter.
Readers of Benchmarking will appreciate Chapter 13 which focuses on benchmarking in the context of a drilling industry application. Lest the reader be concerned, the author provides a very large number cases devoted to non‐manufacturing applications. This feature gives the reader the advantage of gaining knowledge about the specific business application as well as the relevant statistical control chart.
Another important contribution of this book is the manner in which the author chooses to present the pros and cons of statistical process control charts along with the more traditional approaches to problem analysis. He devotes several chapters to demonstrating the shortcomings of more traditional methods and then summarizes his conclusions in an easy‐to‐read tabular format. Clearly, he makes a strong case for using control charts over other approaches.
It is easy when writing a book on statistical process control, to populate the presentation with well‐behaved data. Not so in this instance. Stapenhurst rightfully points out that in the real world things are not always as tidy as one would like. By not “sanitizing” the data, the reader gets the opportunity to grapple with realistic applications and to gain insight from the author on how to proceed in the proper fashion. To this degree it parallels the real world.
This book is well‐written and edited. It is also visually appealing with a large type and suitable font. The diagrams are plentiful and positioned near to where the material is explained. As I reviewed the book, it was very clear to me that it need not be limited to just the practitioner. Chapter 30 is devoted to a collection of very useful exercises that are followed by solutions. There is also a very effective comprehensive case study that can be the basis for a meaningful training exercise. Other nice features of this book include the following: a chapter on six sigma written by a guest author, a briefly annotated bibliographic reference section, relevant web sites and a glossary of terms. I have taught this material in both an academic and industrial setting and would have no reservation about adopting this book as a reference for either venue.
Conclusion
A book on statistical process control can be a very intimidating challenge to understand by the typical practitioner in business. Not so in this case. Tim Stapenhurst has found the right mix blending a healthy dose of theory that supports a practical solutions‐based focus. Unlike most presentations of this topic, the reader is able to add unique flexibility to the mastering process. The flexibility to choose the order of coverage, the choice of which topics to cover, the depth of coverage (broad or intense) and finally, hands‐on, tool centric or business, problem focused. If you are looking for that one book on statistical process control for your business library, you have found it with Mastering Statistical Process Control by Tim Stapenhurst.
