Joseph Sorrentino has spent more than three decades in the Quality Systems area starting with a stint in the Navy and continuing on as a consultant to industry and military organizations. His vision is that managers would do well to apply the principles of excellent Quality Systems to just about every aspect of enterprise management.
Sorrentino states that “New management enterprise is based on understanding configuration management.” He then sets about explaining his view of what configuration management actually is. While enterprise management, in the 21st century, comprises much more than configuration management (CM) alone, certainly CM is an integral part of the tool set needed. According to Sorrentino, the purpose of CM is “to ensure that a product maintains the same design, materials, composition, or processing as was originally intended, from delivery through its entire life cycle.”
Sorrentino draws upon his Navy and consulting experience to weave interesting stories into this detailed text lending a more readable style to the topic and providing illuminating case studies. From the overview chapter on “Turning perception into reality” to the closing chapter on “Measuring and analysis for continuous improvement,” Sorrentino alternates from detailed information on machining or quality control techniques to generalized management concepts.
The reader will have to keep her/his wits about them to follow Sorrentino’s fast paced book which quickly shifts from general information and commentary down to the details of, for example, surface characteristics of metal. This book should be on the shelf of any manager, supervisor or production lead in the manufacturing industry.
And, as a companion book, you might want to look into Lean Quality Systems if you are moving to ISO9100C, training new employees or starting a quality initiative. This workbook will provide an excellent reference and resource.
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