Except for the place they work and the positions they hold, there is no information about the four authors. This may be due to them being well known in the field of quality management, as the first edition of this book appeared in 1995. Dr Howard S. Gitlow has recently been elected by the American Society for Quality (ASQ) Board of Directors to the position of ASQ fellow. David M. Levine is Professor of Statistics and Computer Information Systems at Bernard M. Baruch College (City University of New York) is the co‐author of a number of books on Business Statistics.
The book comprises 20 Chapters grouped into four parts and four Appendices. Part 1 focuses on the fundamental concepts underpinning quality management in four chapters. Chapter 1 is about the fundamentals of quality including the basics of processes, a discussion of “funnel experiment” and Deming's red bead experiment that highlight the differences in common and special variations, and the relationship between quality, cost, and productivity. Chapter 2 focuses on W. Edwards Deming's System of Profound Knowledge, and his theory of management (14 points and the importance of reducing variation). Fundamentals of statistical studies are covered in the following chapter. The final chapter deals with the key topic of defining and documenting a process.
The theme of Part 2, the longest part (456 pages) with nine chapters, is Tools and Methods for Analytic Studies. Continuous process improvement methods and tools such as descriptive statistics and graphical methods, analytical methods such as brain storming, control charts, cause‐and‐effect diagrams, and design of experiments (including fractional factorial designs) are covered in some depth.
The authors point out that Part 3 on Administrative Systems for Quality Management comprising five chapters, and Chapter 20, which forms Part 4, are entirely new to this addition. In Chapter 14, an analogy of a fork (represented by the handle, neck and three prongs) for quality management is introduced, and the importance of the handle (management's commitment to transformation) to generate and direct the energy of the organization is discussed. In Chapter 15, the emphasis is on the need for top management to keep up to date with theoretical and practical underpinnings of the System of Profound Knowledge and Deming's 14 points covered Chapter 2. The next three chapters deal respectively with the three prongs: daily management using the Plan‐Do‐Study‐Act cycle, cross‐functional management for managing processes across divisions and departments, and policy management to ensure organizational performance is in tune with customer needs and wants. Chapter 19 is a discussion of the resource requirement for organizational transformation.
The final chapter is a discussion of six sigma management based on the define‐measure‐analyze‐improve‐control (DMAIC) model to improve processes. A fictitious case study is used to illustrate a green belt project.
Chapters are well supported by examples and illustrations from manufacturing, service, education and government organizations. Minitab and Microsoft Excel are used in the illustrations to provide clear examples of how these commercial tools can be used. The Student CD‐ROM that is included with the book contains 122 Minitab data files and PowerPoint slides for all the chapters. The reviewer has not tried to test the files using Minitab software and therefore cannot comment on the usefulness of the CD‐ROM.
