Giants of Quality-W. Edwards Deming

摘要

W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) was an American statistician who gained fame as an author, lecturer, and management consultant. He was educated in engineering and physics at the University of Wyoming and Yale University. He worked for Western Electric and was influenced greatly by Walter A. Shewhart, the developer of the control chart. After leaving Western Electric, Deming held government jobs with the US Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of the Census. During World War II, Deming worked for the War Department and the Census Bureau. Following the war, Deming was asked by the US government for help in rebuilding the Japanese industrial sector. He convinced top Japanese management of the power of statistical methods and the importance of quality as a competitive weapon. This commitment to and use of statistical methods played a key role in the expansion of Japan's industry and economy. The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers created the Deming Prize for quality improvement in his honor. Until his death in 1993, Deming was an active consultant and speaker; he was an inspirational force for quality improvement in this country and around the world. He firmly believed that the responsibility for quality rests with management; that is, most of the opportunities for quality improvement require management action, and very few opportunities lie at the workforce or operator level. Deming struggled to get his ideas adopted by American management; he was a harsh critic of many of their practices. In 1980, this all changed with the airing of the NBC television white paper 'If Japan Can, Why Can't We?' This brought Deming and his philosophy into sharp focus for many American managers. Much of Deming's basic philosophy is summarized in his 14 points for management. For a detailed discussion of the 14 points, see Montgomery, Jennings and Pfund.