Business Process Improvement: The Breakthrough Strategy for Total Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness

America is in trouble, there is no doubt about it. Here is perhaps the best proof: We are now experiencing the first generation in our history in which children will reach adulthood in a poorer economic climate than thatenjoyed by their parents.

H. James Harrington, MBA, PhD, is The International Quality Adviser for the firm of Ernst and Young. He is also president of the prestigious International Academy for Quality, and the honorary adviser to the China Quality Control Association. He is a much sought-after international lecturer, and broadcasts his improvement methods regularly on the CSTN Satellite Television Network. Dr. Harrington's career in quality has been long and distinguished, including 40 years with IBM, where he became a senior engineer and project manager in Quality Assurance. After leaving IBM, he became president of Harrington, Hurd and Rieker Corporation. He served as president and chairman of the board of the American Society for Quality Control, and as national vice president of the International Management Council. In 1985, Dr. Harrington was elected lifetime honorary president of the Asia Pacific Quality Control Organization. He has been elected honorary member of six quality associations outside of North America and was installed in the Singapore Productivity Hall of Fame. He is the author of The Improvement Process (McGrawHill, 1986), selected by Library Journal as one of the best business books of 1986, and has written three other business books published by the ASQC's Quality Press.

Why Focus on Business Processes? Setting the Stage for Business Process Improvement.Organizing for Process Improvement.Flowcharting: Drawing a Process Picture.Understanding the Process Characteristics.Streamlining the Process.Measurements, Feedback, and Action (Load, Aim, and Fire).Process Qualification.Benchmarking Process.The Beginning.Appendix: Interview Guidelines.