Stating the obvious, this book would not exist without its first edition. Even though some have moved on, we remain deeply indebted to all those listed who made the first edition possible. Most importantly, we want to thank Leo Wright of SAS and Phil Ramsey of the North Haven Group, LLC, our co-authors on the first edition, who provided some of the original case studies and helped to make this book possible.

Both editions of the book were substantially improved by suggestions from Mark Bailey of SAS. We greatly appreciate his time, interest, valuable feedback, and insights. We want to thank Andy Liddle, now of Process Insight Consulting Limited, who assisted with the review of the original version of “Improving a Polymer Manufacturing Process” (now Chapter 9). We also want to thank Volker Kraft of SAS, who provided valuable feedback in connection with updates to this case study for the book's second edition.

This project was greatly facilitated by Stacey Hamilton and Stephenie Joyner of SAS Publishing. Their support, encouragement, and attention to detail at every step of this adventure were invaluable.

Finally, we would like to thank Jon Weisz and Curt Hinrichs of JMP for their support and encouragement in updating this book. And, as before, a special thank-you goes to John Sall, Bradley Jones, Chris Gotwalt, Xan Gregg, Brian Corcoran, and the JMP Development Team for their continuing work on a visionary product that makes Visual Six Sigma possible.