W. Edwards Deming
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William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 - December 20, 1993) was an American statistician, widely credited with improving production in the United States during World War II. However, Deming is perhaps best known for his work in Japan; where from 1950 onward he taught top management the principles of Statistical process control (SPC), a forerunner of Total quality management (TQM). Under Deming’s stewardship Japan became renowned for producing innovative high quality products. Deming is regarded as having had more impact upon Japanese manufacturing and business than any other individual not of Japanese heritage.
"Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught that by adopting appropriate principles of management, organizations can increase quality and simultaneously reduce costs (by reducing waste, rework, staff attrition and litigation while increasing customer loyalty). The key is to practice continual improvement and think of manufacturing as a system, not as bits and pieces."[1]
In the 1970s, Dr. Deming's philosophy was summarized by some of his Japanese proponents with the following (a) vs. (b) comparison:
(a) When people and organizations focus primarily on quality, quality defined by the following ratio:
<math>Quality\ = \frac{results\ of\ work\ efforts}{all\ costs}</math>,
then quality tends to increase and costs fall over time.
(b) However, when people and organizations focus primarily on COST, then costs tend to rise and quality declines over time.
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Early life and work
Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Deming was raised in Polk City, Iowa on his grandfather's farm, then later in Powell, Wyoming. In 1917, he enrolled in the University of Wyoming at Laramie, graduating in 1921 with a B.S. in electrical engineering. In 1925, he received an M.S. from the University of Colorado, and in 1928, a Ph.D. from Yale University. Both graduate degrees were in mathematics and mathematical physics.
He studied for several years with Dr. Walter A. Shewhart of Bell Telephone Laboratories. Shewhart's theories of statistical control became the basis for Deming's own work.
Deming developed the sampling techniques that were used for the first time during the 1940 U.S. Census, and taught statistical process control (SPC) techniques to workers engaged in wartime production. They were widely applied during World War II, but faded into disuse a few years later in the face of huge overseas demand for American mass-produced product.
Work in Japan
After World War II, Deming was involved in early planning for the 1951 Japanese Census. His expertise, combined with his involvement in Japanese society, led to his receiving an invitation by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE).
The JUSE members had studied Shewhart's techniques, and as part of Japan's reconstruction efforts they sought an expert to teach statistical control. In 1950, Deming gave the first of a dozen or so lectures on Statistical Quality Control (SQC). Unlike his previous lectures, he aimed this message at Japan's chief executives: improving quality will reduce expenses while increasing productivity and market share.
Several Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely, and experienced new international demand for Japanese products.
In 1960, Deming became the first American to receive the Second Order of the Sacred Treasures from Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. An accompanying citation stated that the people of Japan attributed the rebirth and success of their industry to his work.
Later work in the U.S.
David Salsburg wrote:
- "He was known for his kindness to and consideration for those he worked with, for his robust, if very subtle, humor, and for his interest in music. He sang in a choir, played drums and flute, and published several original pieces of sacred music." (page 254, The Lady Tasting Tea)
Deming continued running his own consultancy business in the United States, largely unknown and unrecognized in his country of origin and work. In 1980, he was featured prominently in an NBC documentary titled "If Japan can... Why can't we?" about the increasing industrial competition the United States was facing from Japan. As a result of the broadcast, demand for his services increased dramatically and Deming continued consulting for industry throughout the world until his death at the age of 93.
The JUSE association eventually introduced an annual award for the best proponent of Total Quality Management in Japan. To recognize the contributions of Deming, they named this award the Deming Prize.
Over the course of his career Deming received dozens of academic awards, including an honorary Ph.D. from Oregon State University. Upon his death in 1993, the William Edwards Deming Institute was founded as a think tank in Washington D.C. to promote his ideas.
In the early 1980's Dr. Deming presented his "14 Points" and his "Seven Deadly Diseases".
Deming's 14 points
Deming offered fourteen key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness. In summary:
- Create constancy of purpose for the improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, stay in business, and provide jobs.
- Adopt a new philosophy of cooperation (win-win) in which everybody wins and put it into practice by teaching it to employees, customers and suppliers.
- Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality. Instead, improve the process and build quality into the product in the first place.
- End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag alone. Instead, minimize total cost in the long run. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, based on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
- Improve constantly, and forever, the system of production, service, planning, of any activity. This will improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs.
- Institute training for skills.
- Adopt and institute leadership for the management of people, recognizing their different abilities, capabilities, and aspiration. The aim of leadership should be to help people, machines, and gadgets do a better job. Leadership of management is in need of overhaul, as well as leadership of production workers.
- Drive out fear and build trust so that everyone can work more effectively.
- Break down barriers between departments. Abolish competition and build a win-win system of cooperation within the organization. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team to foresee problems of production and use that might be encountered with the product or service.
- Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets asking for zero defects or new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
- Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership.
- Remove barriers that rob people of joy in their work. This will mean abolishing the annual rating or merit system that ranks people and creates competition and conflict.
- Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
- Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.
Seven Deadly Diseases
The Seven Deadly Diseases:
- Lack of constancy of purpose.
- Emphasis on short-term profits.
- Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance.
- Mobility of management.
- Running a company on visible figures alone.
- Excessive medical costs.
- Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees.
A Lesser Category of Obstacles:
- Neglect of long-range planning.
- Relying on technology to solve problems.
- Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions.
- Excuses such as "Our problems are different".
References
- Deming and his statistical methods are profiled in Chapter 24 of The Lady Tasting Tea by David Salsburg.
- Also refer to The Deming Management Method.