The Lean Design Solution


Book Description

Leaders are now recognizing that product design is the primary driver of success. They are making it their primary target in their quest for delivering customers more value at less cost. Now Bart Huthwaite, founder of the Institute for Lean Design and recognized as America's Lean Design Coach, show you how, step-by-step, to create lean products and services right from the start. He reveals success secrets and a road map for integrating lean design with six sigma design for powerful results




Agile Procurement


Book Description

This book is the second of two volumes presenting a business model to add value through Procurement. Including several case studies of successful implementation, it demonstrates how the increasing complexity of the business environment requires a significant intervention on the management of processes and information within individual organizations and through inter-company relations. Agile Procurement presents the application of the Agile method which optimizes and digitizes processes in order to reduce wastage and defects. As a method, tool and a culture aimed at effectiveness, efficiency and economy of organizations, Agile Procurement requires a change of paradigm. This volume examines these areas of improvement and presents best practice in the digitization of the processes. The last chapter examines the near future developments of the procurement, which the author labels Procurement 4.0. It presents also how new solutions, like Blockchain, could revolutionize procurement.




Procurement 4.0 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution


Book Description

We are living in the middle of a Fourth Industrial Revolution, with new technology leading to dramatic shifts in everything from manufacturing to supply chain logistics. In a lively, developing field of academic, procurement is often neglected. Despite this, procurement plays a vital role, connecting the organization with its ecosystem. At a time of change and economic crisis, a new business model is called for, which this book aims to define. Based on the applications of Industry 4.0 concepts to procurement, this book describes Procurement 4.0 as a method and a set of tools, helping businesses to improve the value of their products, reduce waste, become more flexible, and address the business needs of the future. It will appeal to academics in the area, as well as practitioners.




Insurance 4.0


Book Description

Industry 4.0 has spread globally since its inception in 2011, now encompassing many sectors, including its diffusion in the field of financial services. By combining information technology and automation, it is now canvassing the insurance sector, which is in dire need of digital transformation. This book presents a business model of Insurance 4.0 by detailing its implementation in processes, platforms, persons, and partnerships of the insurance companies alongside looking at future developments. Filled with business cases in insurance companies and financial services, this book will be of interest to those academics and researchers of insurance, financial technology, and digital transformation, alongside executives and managers of insurance companies.







The Six Sigma Revolution


Book Description

Applying this revolutionary management strategy to drive positivechange in an organization Currently exploding onto the American business scene, the Six Sigmamethodology fuels improved effectiveness and efficiency in anorganization; according to General Electric's Jack Welch, it's the"most important initiative [they] have ever undertaken." Written bythe consultant to GE Capital who helped implement Six Sigma at GEand GE's General Manager of e-Commerce, Making Six Sigma Lastoffers businesses the tools they need to make Six Sigma work forthem--and cultivate long-lasting, positive results. Successful SixSigma occurs when the technical and cultural components of changebalance in an organization; this timely, comprehensive book isdevoted to the cultural component of implementing Six Sigma,explaining how to manage it to maintain that balance. The authorsaddress how to create the need for Six Sigma; diagnose the fourtypes of resistance to Six Sigma and how to overcome them; managethe systems and structures; and lead a Six Sigma initiative. Thisbook applies the Six Sigma approach to business operations acrossthe organization--unlike other titles that focus on productdevelopment. Plus, it provides strategies, tactics, and tools toimprove profitability by centering on the relationship betweenproduct defects and product yields, reliability, costs, cycle time,and schedule. George Eckes (Superior, CO) is the founder and principal consultantfor Eckes & Associates. His clients include GE Capital, Pfizer,Westin, Honeywell, and Volvo. Eckes has published numerous paperson the topic of performance improvement and is the author of TheSix Sigma Revolution: How General Electric and Others TurnedProcess into Profits (0-471-38822-X) (Wiley).