Ron Basu - Green Six Sigma: A Lean Approach to Sustainable Climate Change Initiatives

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 7
6. Chapter 8
7. Chapter 9
8. Chapter 10
9. Chapter 11
10. Chapter 12

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 8
7. Chapter 10
8. Chapter 12

Ron Basu

This edition first published 2021
Copyright 2022 by Ron Basu.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is Available:

ISBN 978-1-119-86123-2 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-119-86125-6 (ePub)
ISBN 978-1-119-86124-9 (ePDF)

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Cover Images: Mendelex/Shutterstock; NPeter/Shutterstock; Courtesy of Ron Basu

To Catherine, Theresa, Harriet and Georgina

While sailing on a Princess Cruise a few years back I had the privilege to listen to a lecture by Mary Robinson, previously President of Ireland and also UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. She spoke for half an hour on how to avoid climate change disaster. The idea of writing a book to address these issues was conceived then in my mind. Before Mrs Robinson's lecture I was also influenced by the Blue Planet II documentary on plastics pollution by David Attenborough and the movie An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore. Then, on the eve of COP26 in Glasgow there were climate-related disasters in Western Europe, North America, China and South Asia. I decided that it was now the time to write a book on climate change so that I can look into the eyes of my grandchildren and say that I have tried to do my bit.

I am not an environmental scientist but have some expertise in Six Sigma applications in achieving operations excellence in organisations. My research revealed that there were many publications on climate change and also on Six Sigma and its hybrids (e.g. Lean Six Sigma) but there was no bridge between the two. Thus, the concept of Green Six Sigma, which is basically the adaptation of Lean Six Sigma for climate change initiatives, was developed.

There are 12 chapters in this book. Three chapters are devoted to the concept of Green Six Sigma with its tools and techniques. The other nine chapters deal with the causes of climate change and how we can mitigate and adapt to its consequences, assisted by Green Six Sigma. Green Six Sigma is not a silver bullet. It is a catalyst to accelerate climate change initiatives leading to sustainable processes and environmental standards.

This book is aimed at a broad cross-section of readership including:

• Leaders of the global community with the responsibility for climate change initiatives will find this book informative to sponsor the training and applications of Green Six Sigma in the current and future projects of climate change.
• Functional managers, participants and practitioners in Six Sigma and Operational Excellence will find that this book will provide them with a comprehensive insight into the tools and techniques of sustainable improvement in a single package for climate change initiatives.
  • Senior executives, both in the manufacturing and service industries, will find that this book gives them a better understanding of basic tools and techniques and helps them to support climate change initiatives and sustain a strong competitive position.
• Professional management and training consultants will find the comprehensive approach of tools and techniques as an essential handbook for Six Sigma related climate change assignments and seminars.
• Universities, management schools, academies and research associations will find this book valuable to fill the visible gap in the basics of operational excellence especially focused on climate change.

The readership will be global and particularly cover North America, the UK, Continental Europe, Australia and the Asia Pacific countries.

I have made an effort to furnish you with both simple and more complex concepts that are nonetheless easy to understand. At the end of each chapter some simple tips named Green Tips are included. Mahatma Gandhi once said, Be the change you want to be in the world. I hope this book will in some way help you to bring about that change in climate change that we urgently need.

Ron Basu

Gerrards Cross, England

I am grateful to the many contributors for the case examples and research papers on climate change included in the book with special mentions to Dr Michael Cross and Dr Avik Basu.

Every effort has been made to credit the authors, publishers and websites for materials used in this book. I apologise if inadvertently any sources remain unacknowledged and if known I shall be pleased to credit them in the next edition.

My sincere thanks go to the staff of my publisher John Wiley & Sons Ltd, especially to Gemma Valler and Purvi Patel for getting this project off the ground.

Finally, the project could not have been completed without the encouragement and help of my family, especially my wife Moira, sister-in-law Reena, son Robi and daughter Bonnie. Bonnie's contributions to edit draft chapters have been invaluable.