Dr. W. Edwards Deming

“We have learned to live in a world of mistakes and defective products as if they were necessary to life. It is time to adopt a new philosophy in America.”

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is known as the leading quality guru in the United States. Trained as a statistician, his expertise was used during World War II to assist the United States to improve the quality of war materials.

In the 1950s Deming went to Japan and gave seminars to Japan’s top management at the request of the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers. They asked Dr. W. Edwards Deming how long it would take to shift the perception of the world from existing paradigm that Japan produced cheap shoddy imitation to one producing innovative quality products.

Dr. Deming told the group that if they followed his instructions they could achieve the desired outcome in five years. Some of the leaders were skeptical, but they were ashamed to say so and would be embraced if they failed to follow his suggestions. As

Dr. Deming told it, “They surprised me and did it in four years.”

He was invited back to Japan time after time where he became a revered counselor.

For his efforts he was awarded the Second Order of the Sacred Treasure by the former Emperor Hirohito.

With stiff competition from the Japanese American companies began to see their own failing in quality and productivity. In his book “Out of the Crisis “aimed at American Management, Deming voices his concerns about America as a nation. He states that with the skills and knowledge so underutilized in America, “The United States may be the most underdeveloped country in the world.”

Deming believes that people can do their best and it is the system, not people that must change to improve quality. Deming manages to summarize his management theories into 14 points, which can be applied to almost any successful implementation of TQM (Total Quality Management).

Дата добавления: 2015-08-17