The Ice Cream Maker

October 3, 2005
Pete, hero of this rapturous business novella, manages an ice cream factory where "the low hum of mediocrity filled the air...like an offensive odor." Desperate to boost margins, Pete makes a sales call to the local Natural Foods grocery store, where he is amazed by "how clean and fresh, warm and welcoming the store was," by the cheerfulness of the employees, and by charismatic store manager Mike, who expounds legendary Natural Foods founder Glen Goodwill's philosophy of putting quality before profit. "Mike...I need help," Pete sobs, in the throes of a conversion experience, "tell me what I can do to make quality a part of our culture." He learns to empower his workers, listen to customers and obsessively measure every detail of production processes with an eye to continuous improvement. Soon lumpy texture and leaky cartons are a thing of the past, profits soar, Pete is promoted to company president and he even applies Mike's teachings to enhance the quality of his marriage and parenting. Chowdhury, author of The Power of Six Sigma, extends Total Quality Management from a managerial program into a journey toward spiritual redemption. He conveys its principles through a smattering of process-engineering argot ("we reduced tolerance of variables on our mix-ins to .1 grams and the depth of each tub to two millimeters"), golf and football parables, and cultic incantations like "you have tilled the soil, to prepare it for the seed of quality." Although less than convincing as a motivational tract, this book provides a readable, if sketchy, introduction to TQM precepts.

October 15, 2005
This brief but timely volume provides much-needed advice and insight into improving quality in American business practices. Chowdhury (CEO, ASI Consulting Group; "The Power of Six Sigma") offers a parable in which the manager of an ice cream manufacturing company learns from a successful grocery retailer how success is achieved. Through a fascinating dialog between the two men, readers will learn about the -Listen, Enrich, and Optimize (LEO) - concept. Chowdhury, an internationally known management and quality consultant, drives home the important point of building and providing quality in every aspect of the organizational culture to establish and retain a position in the global market. He also reaffirms the idea that -the bottom line in quality is defined by the customer. - For a company to be successful, its products must meet customers' expectations, performing as promised, even exciting or delighting the customer. Small-business owners/managers and business students and faculty will all learn from this practical parable with the moral that in the long run -quality is cheaper -& -than good enough.' -" -Susan C. Awe, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque"

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