A Magnificent Journey to Excellence
Sixteen Years of Six Sigma at Cummins Inc.
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Book Description
This book presents a model of organization transformation success. The model framework comprises a series of S-Curves (maturity curves) of planning and execution activities phased over time. The model is illustrated through description and analysis of an actual, two-decade, highly successful, global enterprise transformation Six Sigma program at a Fortune 200 company: Cummins, Inc. Lessons learned from the model and company case study are completely transferrable to other organizational culture, improvement and innovation transformation settings.
This insightful book:
• Documents a firsthand account of a successful transformation. The authors completely explain what was accomplished and the lessons learned from a 16-year deployment of Six Sigma at Cummins.
• Acts as a benchmark for those organizations interested in pursuing primarily a continuous improvement transformation, and more generally for other types of transformation efforts.
• Includes substantive interviews with ten key leaders and others who made the transformation possible.
• Helps organizations shorten the overall transformation timelines. The documentation of a transformation provides you a model for how to think about organization transformation maturity over time and plan for it.
• Recognizes the work of thousands of people involved in transforming a global company. The interviews provide extraordinary perspectives not only by executives who initiated and sustained the transformation program but also by program participants who themselves grew as managers and leaders in their careers through the program.
Essentially, this book helps early-career managers and executives see the broader picture of enterprise transformation, especially over time. This helps them be better managers and executives, and importantly, helps them better plan for and hasten their upward career trajectories. Lastly, the book describes a view of possibilities. It describes a clear, sustained success, the steps taken to get there and the measurement of progress. The result provides you with confidence that successful transformation is possible and worth the effort.
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
Foreword – Change by Frank McDonald
About the Authors
Chapter 1: Introduction and Purpose
Chapter 2: Interview with Tim Solso, Cummins CEO 2000-2011
Chapter 3: Six Sigma Pre-History
Chapter 4: The Bottom Line: Results
Chapter 5: S-Curves and Kano – Maturity and Sustainability
Chapter 6: Interview with Frank McDonald – Cummins Vice President of Quality (1999-2002)
Chapter 7: S-Curve 1 – Pre-launch
Chapter 8: S-Curve 2 – Launch and First Projects
Chapter 9: Preparing for the Next S-Curve – Cross-Curve Analysis: A Summary
Chapter 10: Interview with Joe Loughrey – Cummins President & COO (2005-2008)
Chapter 11: Moving from First Training and Projects S-Curve to the Building a Foundation S-Curve
Chapter 12: Interview with Michelle Dunlap – Master Black Belt, Quality Champion
Chapter 13: Interview with Dana Vogt – Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Quality Champion
Chapter 14: S-Curve 3 – Building a Foundation
Chapter 15: Moving from Building a Foundation to the Self-Supporting S-Curve
Chapter 16: Interview with Megan Henry – Black Belt, Master Black Belt, Six Sigma Leader
Chapter 17: S-Curve 4 – Self-Supporting
Chapter 18: Interview with Ginger Lirette – Black Belt
Chapter 19: Moving from Self-Supporting to the Business Integration S-Curve
Chapter 20: Interview with Tom Linebarger– Cummins CEO (2011+)
Chapter 21: S-Curve 5 – Business Integration
Chapter 22: Moving from Business Integration to Continued Growth and Expansion and Business System Improvement S-Curves
Chapter 23: S-Curve 6 – Continued Growth and Expansion
Chapter 24: Interview with Julie Liu – Black Belt, Quality Champion, Six Sigma Leader
Chapter 25: S-Curve 7 – Business System Improvement
Chapter 26: Interview with Holly Duarte - Black Belt
Chapter 27: The Effect of Maturity on Organizational Communication
Chapter 28: How to use S-Curves
Chapter 29: Important Considerations for a Healthy Long-Term Six Sigma Deployment
Chapter 30: Special Situations
Chapter 31: Conclusions
Chapter 32: Final Thoughts
Appendices
Index
Author(s)
Biography
George Strodtbeck is currently a Vice President with SBTI, a leading consulting firm focused on the development and leadership of continuous improvement methodologies and change management systems.
George retired as the Executive Director of Quality at Cummins, Inc in May 2015. His change leadership responsibilities included:
- World-wide implementation and continuous improvement of Six Sigma beginning July 1999. Six Sigma is a world-wide effort at Cummins. By January 2015 the company had trained 21,000+ belts, completed more than 45,000 projects, and eliminated more than $5.5B in costs.
- The Cummins Business Operating System Leadership and Practice. The Business Operating System is focused on cross-functional integration and continuous improvement of the flows and processes of the company.
Also included in George’s portfolio of responsibilities were:
- Measurement Excellence and Lab Operations
- Global Product Safety
- Quality Standards Integration (ISO/TS)
- Quality Functional Excellence
- New Product Development Processes
- Supplier Quality Functional Excellence
George graduated from West Point in 1976. He then served in the Army at various sites around the world until 1986, earning a MS in International Relations in 1984.
Following his Army service, George joined Pepsi in 1986 serving as a Fleet Maintenance and Distribution Area Manager until 1992.
At Cummins from 1992-2015 as a member of Corporate Quality, George led several change initiatives including the operational leadership of the 1997 Baldrige application and site visit, a sixteen-year Six Sigma deployment, and the deployment of the Cummins Operating System.
As a consultant with SBTI since 2015, George has applied the lessons learned from his wide-ranging career helping several companies in their quest to develop continuous improvement cultures.
George has written a book titled Making Change in Complex Organizations published in Apr ’16 by the American Society for Quality (ASQ).
George is married with 4 children and lives in Indianapolis.
Mohan V. Tatikonda is Professor of Operations Management at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, executive of the Indiana Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute, and Life Sciences Research Fellow. He previously served on the faculty at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill). He received a B.S. in electrical engineering, M.S. in systems engineering and M.B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He received his Ph.D. from the Boston University Questrom School of Management.
Mohan’s research addresses improvement, innovation and entrepreneurship in highly novel and complex technological settings, and has been published in Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, Production & Operations Management, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Industrial & Corporate Change and R&D Management. His research awards include Best Paper of the Year in the Journal of Operations Management and Best Dissertation from the Production and Operations Management Society. His teaching awards include the Eli Lilly Award for MBA Teaching Excellence (awarded by students to the top MBA faculty member) and the Schuyler F. Otteson Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence.
Mohan’s media commentary on international trade has appeared in New York Times, USA Today, Bloomberg, The Independent and Marketplace (NPR). He is an advisor to start-up firms and incubators, and has consulted for The World Bank, SAP, Pepsi, FedEx and Rolls Royce.
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