Mr.Sridhar

Achieving better results and continuously improving performances year on year is now the driving force for any business in this competitive world. The story of successes achieved by Motorola, GE, etc. in the field of operational performance excellence is now an epic in the business world. There are now thousands of books written on this epic and on the principles of lean and six sigma – the tools that helped created this epic. The book on “Changing with Lean Six Sigma” by A.Aruleswaran is a little different from the rest of the milieu in that it focuses more on how to change for the better using Lean Six Sigma as a tool rather than doing Lean Six Sigma for a change.
The book points to the fundamental questions that you need to answer or the planning that you need to make before embarking on a journey of process improvement. The book starts with a description of the need for a structured problem solving approach for business problems and then tells you why and how lean six sigma can be a solution for solving the problems. A notable feature of the book is it does not advocate lean six sigma as a panacea for all business problems. It tells you where you can apply it and where not. The second part of the book describes the various aspects of change that need to be managed during the initiative and the resultant benefits to the organization and to the individual change agents and champions. The various references provided in the book in each chapter can be helpful for the more voracious readers to explore the topics further in detail. The last section of the book gives some insights into actual experiences by quoting cases from manufacturing and service industries.

The book is written in simple English and printed in a clear easily readable font. The cartoons used for conveying the message of various topics is quite original and appropriate. It does have some interesting points that I had not come across earlier. He has very logically outlined the various sections.

Reading the book on “Changing with Lean Six Sigma” by A.Aruleswaran has been delight for me. I would recommend this book for senior executives who would want to know the basics of the Lean Six Sigma initiative. Executives who would be responsible for operations, maintenance and service processes would know what to plan for before embarking on such an initiative. This book is also for the supervisors and mangers who would be the change agents in such an initiative in the role of Black Belts and Green Belts. This book would also help people at all levels to get a kind of induction training into the philosophies and methods of lean and six sigma, and the change that has to be managed during a Lean Six Sigma initiative.

Note on reviewer:  Sridhar is a Master Black Belt and a Lean Six Sigma consultant, currently working with Accenture India. He has led the Lean Six Sigma consulting business for Mahindra Satyam earlier. He had led consultant teams on various client engagements in manufacturing, services and IT industries. He could be reached on nsridhar9@gmail.com.