Books Review

While doing my Post Module Assignment of Process Improvement using six sigma today I was thinking about the references I was using in backing the comments, statement and ideas I got from other sources and my thoughts. I came across various books and published articles on the same topic by two different authors who have exactly the same goal but following a completely different way to achieve that goal. For example, how to implement lean six sigma in service industries, various authors have entirely different approach to implement lean six sigma in service organization. In fact, some of them do not even think that just implementing lean six sigma is good enough to solve the problems faced by service industry. Although every author wants to make a different point depending on the approach they take however, I wonder if there is a website where people rate the books and journal depending on whether they agree with the ideology of the author or not??Does anyone know any website like that?? I have been looking at book reviews but sometimes they are good enough as often a lot of them include people who do not know enough about the topic or who are new to this topic therefore, whatever is presented in the book they are convinced it is correct so they recommend that book.

: 30 Dec 2009 15:28 |  Tags: Books Review |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

PMA_CBE experience

The PMA was interesting and exciting as I learnt a lot. First of all I would like to say that the assignment was not difficult but it was rather different than any of my previous assignments and coursework. Feed forwarding my assignment turned out to be one of the best decisions I made during my PMA work. I realized that unlike my under graduation university, where I was not expected to reference anything apart from other author’s work I was using, this module and perhaps the whole course requires evidence to back any comment or statement that I was making in my assignment. I found this strange and in the beginning I did not like it partially because I needed to spend a lot more time in going through books and journals to support my evidence which was time consuming, but after having a chat with the module tutor, who explained me the reason for supporting the statement and comments, it made perfect sense. The reason was sound and totally valid as my understanding on the subject was not deep enough to provide a new perspective on the topic or layout a new theory contradicting the old one.

My biggest and costliest mistake during the PMA was that I used Toronto style referencing system as I preferred that style over Harvard but on talking to one of the lecturers, he told me some lecturers just prefer Harvard referencing system and some of them even deduct marks for not using it (which personally I thought was a bit ridiculous as I thought the whole point of it was make the reference clear) but anyways, I spent around 13 hours just correcting my referencing in the PMA. The only good thing about it was that I learnt Harvard referencing style.

         Coming back to the positive things, I felt a dramatic change in my learning style, process and sources that I used before and after the PMA. All most all the work I did can be easily related to my future work/ career. After the PMA I can feel that I am more confident and open to new and variety of knowledge as I can see how it benefits individuals in long run irrespective of the industry they pursue their career in.

: 13 Dec 2009 14:38 |  Tags: Pma Cbe |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Statistical Process Control :Control Charts

Hi Everyone!!Yesterday one of the team came up about Statistical Process Control.Its a very effective technique which was mastered by Japanese companies.SPC is a methodology for charting the process & quickly determining when a process is out of control. This is particularly if a speacial cause is present because something unusual us occuring in the process & may continue unless action is taken.

Some of the sources of Variability:

• Variability in machine operation
• Variability in tool dimension
  
• Variability in tool setup
• Variability in materials
• Variability from operator control
• Variability in the environment
• Variability of other sources

Many organizations have used this technique to improve this technique and the result was significant improvement in quality.

: 28 Oct 2009 23:56 |  Tags: Charts Control |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem