William Edwards Deming

William Edwards Deming
See also
Armand Feigenbaum Total Quality Management Philip B. Crosby Kaoru Ishikawa Joseph M. Juran Six sigma Kaizen Toyota production system Genichi Taguchi

W. Edwards Deming

William Edwards Deming (October 14, 1900 - December 20, 1993) was one of the world's famous American Total Quality Management gurus since 1940's. He was born in Sioux City, Iowa, USA. He studied on university of Wyoming, Colorado and Yale. After studies he worked with Walter A. Shewhart in Bell Laboratories. During the World War II, he was related with military industry. After the war, he went to Japan in 1950's to help reconstruct Japanese industry. During that time he developed a theory in which he stated that: higher quality can mean lower costs. When he returned to USA, he founded a consulting company.

Japanese approach to quality management was discovered by western enterprises only in early 80-ties, after an interview with Deming in NBC. This is viewed as beginning of new quality movement in USA and Europe.

To appreciate impact of Deming on Japanese industry, his name was given to the first quality award. Deming Prize was established in Japan in 1951.

Achievements

The main Deming's achievements are:

• Deming wheel - known also as PDCA cycle or cycle of continuous improvement
• Deming's 14 principles - principles of implementing Total Quality into company
• 7 deadly diseases of enterprises

References

• Mann, Nancy (1989), "Keys to Excellence: The Story of the Deming Philosophy - 3rd Edition"
• Deming, W. Edwards (1986), "Out of the Crisis"
• Deming, W. Edwards (2000), "The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (2nd ed.)"

Author: Rafał Szkaradek